A dozen articles suggest a variety of ways for libraries to enhance their daily reference service and the image of librarianship, and to bring in more users. They emphasize the interaction of both the staff and the clients with new technology. Also published as The Reference Librarian, no. 39, 1993. No index. The paper edition has the same ISBN. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Information technologies are having a profound impact on the ways libraries are providing traditional services. This book identifies emerging technologies and assesses their impact on two distinct yet interdependent entities, library service and library education. While other publications identify technologies and speculate on applications, this volume focuses on the impacts of information technology on several aspects of librarianship. The book first delineates emerging technologies and their impact on reference services and bibliographic instruction. It then discusses the resultant restructuring of reference services and the relationship between librarians and patrons. Bibliographic instruction is presented as a new paradigm based on the imperative that no faculty member should teach and no student should graduate without being fully information literate. The work also discusses staffing, organization, and financial support, and the structural and political placement of the library within the parent organization.
Search skills of today bear little resemblance to searches through print publications. Reference service has become much more complex than in the past, and is in a constant state of flux. Learning the skill sets of a worthy reference librarian can be challenging, unending, rewarding, and-- yes, fun.
Innovations in library services are rapidly developing within numerous areas including building design, program and event planning, patron experience and engagement, literacy program development, and administration and management. To ensure these changes are implemented and considered successfully, a closer look at the challenges, trends, and practices of these innovations is crucial. Technological Advancements in Library Service Innovation examines the recent activities of successful and groundbreaking research and practices around the world surrounding library service innovation and presents various forward-thinking initiatives. It also provides an overview of libraries’ successful experiences, identifies emerging global themes and trends, and offers guidance to library practitioners on how to pursue the recent trends in their own library environment. Covering topics such as technology adoption and organizational structures, this book is ideal for library professionals, researchers, academicians, instructors, and students.
As classrooms and universities strive to adapt their instructional methods to an ever progressing technological age, it is imperative that academic libraries also revisit the ways in which reference and instruction services are organized and implemented. Library Reference Services and Information Literacy: Models for Academic Institutions not only advocates for a more intentional integration of reference and instructional services, but it also provides organizational background, staff objectives, and various successes and challenges that have already been experienced by real institutions. This publication is an important reference source for librarians, practitioners, and university leaders who wish to maximize the current utilization of their resources.
This comprehensive volume recounts the ways reference librarians have adapted traditional services to deal with the changes in both information technologies and library patrons. New Technologies and Reference Services shows how to provide needed services using videoconferencing, interactive classrooms, drop-in seminars, and required courses. It also discusses the other implications of new technologies, including developing trends in publishing, copyright issues, collection strategies, and decentralizing library reference services.
Offer your patrons the cutting-edge reference services they demand!In the past, a reference librarian needed to develop a command of a few reference works, master the skills of the reference interview, and interface with library users in person or via telephone. Today's reference librarian is faced with much, much more. New Technologies and Reference Services suggests ways you can tame the information explosion and take advantage of new technologies.This comprehensive volume recounts the ways reference librarians have adapted traditional services to deal with the changes in both information technologies and library patrons. New Technologies and Reference Services offers tested techniques for fostering information literacy in patrons daunted by the high-tech edge of the new library. Even computer-savvy younger students may need help learning specialized searching skills. This practical volume suggests several innovative ways to teach those skills using interactive classrooms, drop-in seminars, and required courses.New Technologies and Reference Services discusses the other implications of new technologies, including: developing trends in publishing, including value-added services and the death of the printed encyclopedia the effects of CD-ROM, electronic publishing, and the Internet on copyright issues videoconferencing at the reference desk collection strategies and budgets in an era of multiple formats decentralizing library reference services information apartheid, the growing gap between the information haves and have-notsThis helpful volume gives practical, tested advice and ideas on the broader issues of information technology. With plentiful Web addresses, New Technologies and Reference Services presents new ideas sure to make your job easier.
Social web technologies present an often confusing array of options for answering user reference questions. Applying 20 years’ experience as a reference librarian working through the development of virtual reference and the integration of new tools and technologies into the industry, Thomsett-Scott lays out how libraries are using vendor...
With this handy new guidebook, reference luminary Jo Bell Whitlatch outlines practical methods for evaluating and delivering excellent reference service to the technology-savvy library user of today.
An Introduction to Reference Services in Academic Libraries is a comprehensive textbook that presents compelling case studies and thought-provoking essays that teach the principles of reference services. Eighteen authorities from private and public academic libraries around the United States offer unique perspectives and solid information in an active learning format that requires students to think and learn. The book provides a stimulating starting point for those learning about planning, managing, and evaluating reference services. Each chapter is thoroughly referenced, and many have charts and activities to help spark student engagement in the learning process. Over 30 tables and figures make complex information easy to access and understand.
