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Let’s talk reference!
- 1. Let’s talk Reference (a.k.a. RESEARCH ASSISTANCE)! Let’s have a conversation… PD session 5 June 2013
- 2. Revisiting Reference A Vision of “Traditional” Reference Service • Green, S. (1876). Personal relations between librarians and readers. American Library Journal 1 (2‐3), 74‐81. • Samuel Green provided a seemingly contemporary account of library anxiety ‐many patrons entering a library will experience a certain degree of anxiety, and that librarians need to coax them to “say freely what they want”. • Green admonished his fellow librarians to “respect reticence,” while being careful “not to make inquirers dependent”. • He encouraged librarians to embrace personalized customer service.
- 3. Key components of reference work • Human‐to‐human interaction ‐a strength of reference – The reference interview –“…the chief point of the reference encounter is not to find the answer but to identify the question.” – User education ‐Instruct the reader in the ways of the library. – Focus on the user –personalised customer service • Goes beyond methodology and provides a clarity to the mission of reference —the service of patron communities — that is not dependent on how that service is delivered. Revisiting Reference
- 4. Key deliverables of reference work • Effective recommendationof resources, which stems from the cultivation of approachability by the librarian. Assist readers in solving their enquiries. • The librarian's ability to use reference questions to inform collection development. • The effective marketingof the library to the community emerging from interacting with patrons. Promote the library within the community. • The librarian has opportunities to improve the reading preferences of their patrons. Aid the reader in the selection of good works. Revisiting Reference
- 5. Measuring outcome and impact of reference work • What are the best measures? • An informed user? • Strong library collection? • User awareness? • A ratio based on reference enquiry answered in relation to other library services? An example: One reference enquiry answered to every ten titles circulated –assumes a correlation exists between the two measures. • Counting reference transactions –what is and what isn’t? Revisiting Reference
- 6. Questioning the relevance of reference work • Competing visions: – Eliminating the Reference Desk vsChampioning the Desk • Reference service –a thing of the past? Is traditional reference service obsolete? Revamping reference. • Are reference desks dying out? Reference beyond (and without) the reference desk. • What’s wrong with reference? What’s right with reference! • Where has reference been? Where is reference going? • Reference as service, reference as place. • The future role of reference librarians –will it change? Farewell reference librarian. • Desk or no desk ‐is it as simple as that? Rethinking Reference
- 7. Rethinking Reference Reference desk: R.A.D. Enquiry deskHelp deskReference desk: Ask‐A‐Librarian – Email, chat, skypeHelp deskiFAQ–knowledge databaseRoaming librarian: RealPurposefulTargetedRight time, right placeRoaming librarian: VirtualEmbeddededveNTUreBlogs@NTU Four dimensions of reference Static ‐REACTIVE Roaming ‐PROACTIVE Online presence Physical presence
- 8. Reconfiguring Reference Offering a suite of services: Research Assistance as a Service –RaaS Is this The New Reference? • Presumption… – Librarians are proactive –actively seeking…roaming…real world…online… – Librarians are mobile and accessible –mobile librarian (not library) service • Answer reference enquiries • Provide research consultation • Be embedded –e‐learning platform, course guides, subject rooms • Have a foot in research/course/project as a library resource person offering professional advise and research assistance • Follows up with users –the synergy between research assistance and instructional services. What’s this? Please explain! • Profile users and users’ needs –offers service to targeted user groups • Use new media –be where your users are…
- 9. Reconfiguring Reference Competencies • Must librarians now be social, a demonstrable expert and a living professional? • Diligent and persistent in the investigation of a question? • Be a skilled reference interviewer? • What other competencies are crucial now? QUESTION: Must all reference transactions then be answered by a librarian only?
- 10. Reconfiguring Reference Reference desk: R.A.D. Enquiry deskHelp deskReference desk: Ask‐A‐Librarian – Email, chat, skypeHelp deskiFAQ–knowledge databaseRoaming librarian: RealPurposefulTargetedRight time, right placeRoaming librarian: VirtualEmbeddededveNTUreBlogs@NTU What is the best fit model for NTU Libraries? Static ‐REACTIVE Roaming ‐PROACTIVE Online presence Physical presence
- 11. Reconfiguring Reference Reference desk: R.A.D. Enquiry deskHelp deskReference desk: Ask‐A‐Librarian – Email, chat, skypeHelp deskiFAQ–knowledge databaseRoaming librarian: RealPurposefulTargetedRight time, right placeRoaming librarian: VirtualEmbeddededveNTUreBlogs@NTU The new dimension of reference? Static ‐REACTIVE Roaming ‐PROACTIVE Online presence Physical presence The New Reference: Research Assistance as a Service RaaS
- 12. Reconfiguring Reference Reference desk: R.A.D. Enquiry deskHelp deskReference desk: Ask‐A‐Librarian – Email, chat, skypeHelp deskiFAQ–knowledge databaseRoaming librarian: RealPurposefulTargetedRight time, right placeRoaming librarian: VirtualEmbeddededveNTUreBlogs@NTU The new dimension of reference? Static ‐REACTIVE Roaming ‐PROACTIVE Online presence Physical presence The New Reference: Research Assistance as a Service RaaS
- 13. Reconfiguring Reference Let’s Debate! 1. There should still be RAD at NTU Libraries. 2. Support staff are expected to answer reference enquiries. 3. We should adopt roaming librarian service.