This important new book will help librarians make better reference decisions, aligned to customer needs and expectations, especially significant with today’s limited budgets.

This important new book will help librarians make better reference decisions, aligned to customer needs and expectations, especially significant with today’s limited budgets.

In this sweeping revision of a text that has become an authoritative standard, expert instructor and librarian Peggy Johnson addresses the art of controlling and updating library collections, whether located locally or accessed remotely. Each chapter offers complete coverage of one aspect of collection development and management, including numerous suggestions for further reading and narrative case studies exploring the issues.

Ideal for public, school, and academic libraries looking to freshen up their reference collection, as well as for LIS students and instructors conducting research, this resource collects the cream of the crop sources of general reference and library science information.

Prepared in collaboration with the Medical Library Association, this completely updated, revised, and expanded edition lists classic and up-to-the-minute print and electronic resources in the health sciences, helping librarians find the answers that library users seek.

This revised and updated sixth edition of Reference and Information Services continues the book's rich tradition, covering all phases of reference and information services with less emphasis on print and more emphasis on strategies and scenarios. Reference and Information Services is the go-to textbook for MSLIS and i-School courses on reference services and related topics. It is also a helpful handbook for practitioners. Authors include LIS faculty and professionals who have relevant degrees in their areas and who have published extensively on their topics. The first half of the book provides an overview of reference services and techniques for service provision, including the reference interview, ethics, instruction, reader's advisory, and services to diverse populations including children. This part of the book establishes a foundation of knowledge on reference service and frames each topic with ethical and social justice perspectives. The second part of the book offers an overview of the information life cycle and dissemination of information, followed by an in-depth examination of information sources by type—including dictionaries, encyclopedias, indexes, and abstracts—as well as by broad subject areas including government, statistics and data, health, and legal information. This second section introduces the tools and resources that reference professionals use to provide the services described in the first half of the text.

Focusing on new reference sources published since 2008 and reference titles that have retained their relevance, this new edition brings O’Gorman’s complete and authoritative guide to the best reference sources for small and medium-sized academic and public libraries fully up to date.