Reference interview

“Reference”: An Introduction : 

“Reference”: An Introduction Created by Kate Manuel (kmanuel@lib.nmsu.edu).

Reference … : 

Reference … Is another of those “tricky” library words “The act of referring or consulting” Service “Something that refers a reader or consulter to another source of information” Resources From Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.)

Reference Services : 

Reference Services Who provides it? How does it work? How do I get what I need from it?

Reference: Who provides it? : 

Reference: Who provides it? Circulation Desk To check in/out library materials Reference Desk To answer informational questions

Reference: Who provides it? : 

Reference: Who provides it? Reference Staff May be paraprofessional staff Often a professional librarian with a graduate degree in Library/Information Science Circulation Staff May be volunteers from the community May by student employees May be paraprofessional staff

Professional Librarians : 

Professional Librarians Have subject specialties as well as specialties within librarianship Cataloging Agriculture Instruction Literature Serials Social Sciences Acquisitions Law

Professional Librarians : 

Professional Librarians Do NOT assume that the person at the reference desk at any given moment is the subject specialist for your area ASK to speak with the subject specialist! Also can always ask to speak to SOMEONE ELSE

Timing matters : 

Timing matters Reference desk hours < Library building hours Individual librarian’s hours < Reference desk hours Evenings? Weekends?

Reference librarians are there to answer questions! : 

Reference librarians are there to answer questions! Versus common view: “I only ask a librarian for help when I cannot find it myself ... when I’m stuck on a certain subject or a certain aspect of my subject, then I go and ask her … If I know where it is, why should I bother her? I mean she’s here only if I absolutely, necessarily need her.” Marie Radford, The Reference Encounter (1999), pg. 114.

Reference Interview : 

Reference Interview Librarians are trained to ask certain questions What kind of information is needed? With the topic of flying saucers, do you need a definition, a history, a news story, confirmation that they exist?

Reference Interview (cont.) : 

Reference Interview (cont.) How much information is needed? And how much information do you already have? How is the information going to be used? A paper vs. an oral presentation To what degree is “popular” or “technical” information needed? Do you need general information, or specific information? How long should the information be?

Reference Interview (cont.) : 

Reference Interview (cont.) Any specific sources you must use/not use? How much time can you spend in getting and using information? When is the information needed? Are you asking for information for yourself, or for someone else? Parents & children Your grandparents

Reference Interview : 

Reference Interview Librarians also trained to AVOID certain questions Why do you need the information? The answers to these questions can be helpful in getting you to what you need, though …

Why not ask “why”? : 

Why not ask “why”? And yet … It helps to know whether someone needs to identify … A doctor Medical care information 5 sources of different types for a persuasive speech Researcher: “Do you have any information on herpes?” Librarian: “Is this for a school project?”

Ask for what you need, not what you think you can find : 

Ask for what you need, not what you think you can find Versus … “What I really want is material on the image of the ‘dark tower’ in English literature” From Thomas Mann, Library Research Models (1993), pp. 4-5). “Where are the books on nineteenth-century English literature?”

Ask your real question … : 

Ask your real question …

Youth in Asia? : 

Youth in Asia? What you say vs. what the librarian hears

What you say v. what they hear : 

What you say v. what they hear UNIX, eunuchs China/china Turkey/turkey Whales/wales Greece/grease Volume Nine/Valuline House plans/house plants Bibliographies/ biographies

Oranges and Peaches? : 

Oranges and Peaches? The importance of having the original reference /assignment Animal Graveyard v. Pet Sematary

Reference in academic libraries can be different … : 

Reference in academic libraries can be different … Point of the professor’s assignment To use information? To find information? “Yeah, some librarians are really sour and they’re like ‘Why don’t you do your own research? … Once I called up [county library] and I needed the definition of one lousy word, and she was like, ‘Well, you know, I’m not doing your research for you’” Marie Radford, The Reference Encounter (1999), pg. 114.