Reference librarians are no longer expected to know much about the information they find; they are merely expected to find it. Technological competency rather than knowledge has become the order of the day. In many respects, reference service has become a matter of typing search terms into a library's online catalog or a web search engine and providing the patron with the results of the search. Calling for a re-intellectualization of reference librarianship, this book suggests another approach to providing quality reference service--reading. The authors surveyed both academic reference librarians and public library reference personnel in the United States and Canada about their reading habits. From the 950 responses, the authors present findings about the extent to which librarians read newspapers, periodicals, fiction and nonfiction, and recount and analyze stories about how reading has made them better librarians. The authors also report that North American professors in the humanities and social sciences believe that the best reference librarians are those who have wide-ranging, subject-based knowledge as opposed to the type of process-based, functional knowledge that is increasingly dominating the curricula of many Library and Information Science programs.

This informative volume is filled with valuable insights on the reference librarian's role as a connecting link between information seekers and the resources that provide answers to their questions. The Reference Librarian and Implications of Mediation helps librarians become successful mediators by teaching them the best approaches to providing resolutions or guidance to the appropriate resources. Chapters focusing on reference skills, communication abilities, accuracy in responding to specific inquiries, and sensitivity to various groups such as paraprofessionals and nontraditional patrons teach librarians how to become more effective mediators. This provocative book encourages librarians to go beyond merely providing answers or resources to helping clients better understand the physical surroundings, the social or educational context, and the ethical, political and economic climate in which the process takes place. A broad selection of chapters interpret mediation and explore diverse topics including traditional mediation, the impact of information technologies, the need for a human context, and an increasingly diverse group of library patrons requiring mediation services. The Reference Librarian and Implications of Mediation shows librarians how to develop a full understanding of an inquiry, ferret out what a client really needs, and ultimately pursue an appropriate response. Specific chapters cover a wealth of mediation topics including: a call for a return to client-oriented mediation electronic reference services information paraprofessionals the academic librarian's role in the educational process relationship between composition teachers and reference librarians predicting mediation accuracy from user impressions the influence of a shrinking information economy academic librarians and mediation in controversial scholarly communication

Divided into dedicated categories about the subjects most meaningful to librarians, this valuable resource reviews 500 texts across all major fields. Drawing on their collective experience in reference services and sifting through nearly 30,000 reviews in ARBAonline, editors Steven Sowards, associate director for collection at Michigan State University Libraries, and Juneal Chenoweth, editor of American Reference Books Annual, curated this collection of titles, most of which have been published since 2000, to serve collections and reference librarians in academic and public libraries. From the Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Social Sciences and Encyclopedia of the Civil War to the Encyclopedia of Physics, Encyclopedia of Insects, and Taylor's Encyclopedia of Garden Plants to the formidable Oxford English Dictionary, The Reference Librarian's Bible encompasses every subject imaginable and will be your first stop for choosing and evaluating your library's collections as well as for answering patrons' questions.