A daily diary of actual interactions between a reference desk librarian and his patrons Reference Librarianship documents a year in the life of a young librarian working in the “trenches” at a library in the Midwestern United States. This one-of-a-kind book provides a daily diary of every librarian/patron transaction—no matter how mundane or absurd—to demonstrate not only how advances in technology have affected the reference librarian’s job, but how the public’s expectations have changed, as well. The book also includes observations by a now-retired reference librarian on the current state of the field based on these unedited interactions. Over the past two decades, the job of reference librarian has seen many changes. But in many ways, reference desk work hasn’t changed a bit, with its mix of odd, humorous, routine, and ridiculous requests that capture what it’s like to deal with patrons day after day. Reference Librarianship paints a clear picture of the field for library school students, provides emotional and philosophical support to practitioners, and reminds library administrators of what life was like on the “front lines.” A sampling of the daily transactions documented in Reference Librarianship: Monday, May 19, 2003: pencil pencil network down I tell people that I can’t sign them up for an Internet terminal because the network is down and they just stand there, staring into space One of them asks for three days worth of newspapers microfiche machine explanation Sorry, Sir, the network is still down (multiply by twenty and insert randomly into the remainder of the day) magic tricks, but he pretty much knew where they were One of our large interior plate glass windows shattered. No one was hurt and it made a fascinating noise, like a crystal waterfall landing on soil. “Books on prostitution, you know—whores?” Someone from the County called to ask if any criminal activity had occurred on a particular street. Someone else referred her to us. She was dubious—with good reason. “Math puzzles.” Okay. I show him the books. “Just math.” Certainly. I show him the books. “I need them in Spanish.” Grrr ... Reference Librarianship is an enlightening, educational, and entertaining look at the real world of reference desk work. It’s an essential read for reference librarians (both public and academic), library administrators, and library school students, as well as anyone who works with the public.

This book, first published in 1992, examines the reference librarian's role as a connecting link between information seekers and the resources they need. It provides the best approaches to providing resolutions or guidance to the appropriate resources. It analyses librarians’ reference skills, communication abilities, accuracy in responding to specific inquiries, and sensitivity to various groups such as paraprofessionals and non-traditional patrons. This provocative book encourages librarians to go beyond merely providing an answer or resource 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.

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.

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.

Here is a crucial book on the neglected issue of continuing education of reference librarians. For librarians seeking to enhance and maintain a high level of quality reference work and for managers who must assure that their staffs receive the basics in continuing education, this is essential reading. Continuing Education of Reference Librarians addresses the concerns of all librarians that they must be informed and educated in order to excel in their work. In the first several chapters of this comprehensive volume, on-the-job librarians focus on the increased need for nontraditional approaches to continuing education and training of reference staff. They offer practical ways of making additional training both useful and relatively easy to carry out within the library setting. Teachers of reference offer suggestions for contending with current formal courses, and they also examine the responsibilities of not only the reference librarian but also the bibliographer and faculty member in staying abreast of current trends. Also in this broad-based look at continuing education is a list of critical skills most librarians expect of their reference people, including reference interview techniques, mastery of basic reference sources, and an understanding of new technologies; a review of the most revolutionary change in teaching reference librarianship in the last 100 years--the online search; and a discussion on ethics, including the need for librarians to be aware of the basic documents of the American Library Association, and more importantly, the need to treat all library users equally, in terms of access and service, regardless of status and personal prejudice. Continuing Education of Reference Librarians focuses on specific types of training for librarians. Authorities explain pioneering programs in California and Maryland which deal with teaching basic reference tools to beginning librarians and paraprofessionals. They also discuss the role of multitype networks in continuing education as the most cost and time efficient means available today, and the use of self-directed contract learning as a method that requires long-term planning and rewards in contrast to the immediate results of a short-term plan of education. The management perspective of continuing education is also included. Working library directors offer their observations on sound, inspirational approaches to continuing education. They also examine the critical role department heads play as mentor to beginning reference librarians.

In recent years the number of Americans who have decided to handle their own legal affairs without the help of a lawyer has skyrocketed. Ranging from people writing their own wills or drafting a contract to those trying to represent themselves in court, they’re going to public and academic libraries for answers. As both an attorney and a librarian, Healy’s background makes him uniquely qualified to advise library staff on providing users with the legal information they seek, and in this handbook, he Provides a concise orientation on legal research, including strategies for finding information quickly and a handpicked compendium of the best resources Offers guidance on how to provide advice on legal research while steering clear of liability Covers federal legal reference as well as all 50 states, with a comprehensive list of web-based legal resources Library staff can provide valuable and ethical legal reference guidance with the practical guidance in this book.