The Reference Library User
The Reference Library User

Author: William A. Katz

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 9781560240228

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Provide the best possible service to your library patrons. With a healthy respect for those who seek assistance at the reference desk, a group of library and information service specialists examine the public whom they serve. The Reference Library User focuses on the possible interactions between the reference librarian and the library user. The authoritative contributors discuss many problems in the relationship between the public and the library, and all offer suggestions that will at least help librarians to better serve the public on a daily basis. A major emphasis of The Reference Library User is on the various populations using the library and their particular needs. For example, one chapter examines the information needs of deinstitutionalized patrons and presents methods of providing service and a rationale for community outreach. The state program in Rhode Island is outlined, describing efforts to reach community residents through public libraries and the state operated Bookmobile. Other chapters provide strategies for providing reference services to older adults, the learning disabled, the blind, and the physically handicapped. This informative new volume also deals with general concerns facing librarians today, including determining the audience for both public and academic libraries, educating the user, encouraging nonusers to become library users, and calming irate patrons. Reference librarians will be particularly interested in the problems and solutions discussed in this new volume, as will library managers and administrators who will always benefit from a fresh perspective on public service for the library user.

Library Users and Reference Services
Library Users and Reference Services

Author: Linda S Katz

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-05-13

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 1136588094

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This useful book helps reference librarians understand the information seeking needs and behaviors of the diverse groups of people in the communities they serve. With the increasing diversity of the American population, librarians striving to plan and deliver excellent reference services must enhance their understanding of how best to assist many types of individuals and groups, from children to the elderly. Library Users and Reference Services provides much-needed help in this area, delivering strategies and methods to aid readers in their quest for increasingly effective service for all members of the communities in which they work. Library Users and Reference Services is divided into four sections of chapters which cover a broad range of topics to assist readers in planning and delivering appropriate services. Section One explores customer service, economics of information, and marketing as key concepts useful in studying information needs of specific groups in the population. Section Two focuses on scholars and students in three broad academic disciplines: science, humanities, and social sciences. Section Three covers groups with special characteristics such as age, economic standing, gender, or profession. Section Four discusses evaluation and provides guidance in the use of the most widely accepted measures for assessing reference effectiveness. The book’s final chapter explores redesigning reference services for the future, providing a glimpse of how such services may change. Library Users and Reference Services is a practical guide to help readers understand the many issues related to serving diverse populations in a community. Reference librarians and graduate library school students and faculty will learn more effective ways to help a heterogeneous public with the help of this new book.

Integrating Library Use Skills Into the General Education Curriculum
Integrating Library Use Skills Into the General Education Curriculum

Author: Maureen Pastine

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 9780866568418

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This provocative new book will help you design and implement the most effective library user education possible--one that builds on basic library use skills through a progressively sophisticated program that is fully integrated into course curriculum at all levels, from the freshman year to graduation and beyond. By exploring major issues underlying the integration of library use skills and research methodologies into the general education curriculum, contributors raise important questions, offer creative ideas, and provide insight into the many improvements made in library instruction in the past few years. Following an introduction by Patricia Breivik, a recognized national authority on libraries and general education, contributors representing two- and four-year institutions and research universities discuss such issues as the relationship between high school and college programs, research skills instruction in a remote access environment, the use of microcomputers and end user searching programs to promote critical thinking, and the improved relationship between librarians and faculty. In addition to articles on library instruction geared towards question analysis, information generation by field, structure of published knowledge and dissemination of a discipline's literature, chapters identify cooperative efforts needed among school, public, special, academic libraries and other information agencies, computer center personnel, and online database vendors. Bibliographic instruction librarians who are active participants in planning and administering library user education programs will find this volume to be essential for building and developing stronger, more integrated programs.

Managing and Adapting Library Information Services for Future Users
Managing and Adapting Library Information Services for Future Users

Author: Osuigwe, Nkem Ekene

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2019-11-22

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1799811182

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Information in today’s modernized world has become much more attainable with the use of technology. A resource that has fallen victim to this are library services. What was once a staple of knowledge and communication has failed to keep pace with recent advancements in information service providers. Library practitioners need to learn how to manage change, build influence, and adapt their services to remain relevant within local communities. Libraries can continue to play a key role in future aspects of information provision, but proper research is a necessity. Managing and Adapting Library Information Services for Future Users is a collection of innovative research that encapsulates practices, concepts, ideas, and proposals that would chart pathways for libraries of all types to envision and understand how to thrive and remain relevant in the competitive information provision environment. It is expected to motivate librarians and information scientists to probe further into how libraries would better serve user communities of the 21st century who have options of accessing information from sources other than from libraries. While highlighting topics including artificial intelligence, human design thinking, and alternative finance, this book is ideally designed for librarians, information specialists, architects, data scientists, researchers, community development practitioners, policymakers, faculty members, and students seeking current research on emerging advancements in library optimization.

Library User Metaphors and Services
Library User Metaphors and Services

Author: Carl Gustav Johannsen

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2015-09-25

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 3110418568

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How do library professionals talk about and refer to library users, and how is this significant? In recent decades, the library profession has conceived of users in at least five different ways, viewing them alternatively as citizens, clients, customers, guests, or partners. This book argues that these user metaphors crucially inform librarians' interactions with the public, and, by extension, determine the quality and content of the services received. The ultimate aim of this book is to provide library professionals with insights and tools for avoiding common pitfalls associated with false or professionally inadequate conceptions of library users.

The Reference Librarian and Implications of Mediation
The Reference Librarian and Implications of Mediation

Author: Melvin Keith Ewing

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 9781560243182

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This informative volume is filled with valuable insights on the reference librarian's role as a connecting link between information seekers and the resources that provide answers to their questions. The Reference Librarian and Implications of Mediation helps librarians become successful mediators by teaching them the best approaches to providing resolutions or guidance to the appropriate resources. Chapters focusing on reference skills, communication abilities, accuracy in responding to specific inquiries, and sensitivity to various groups such as paraprofessionals and nontraditional patrons teach librarians how to become more effective mediators. This provocative book encourages librarians to go beyond merely providing answers or resources 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. A broad selection of chapters interpret mediation and explore diverse topics including traditional mediation, the impact of information technologies, the need for a human context, and an increasingly diverse group of library patrons requiring mediation services. The Reference Librarian and Implications of Mediation shows librarians how to develop a full understanding of an inquiry, ferret out what a client really needs, and ultimately pursue an appropriate response. Specific chapters cover a wealth of mediation topics including: a call for a return to client-oriented mediation electronic reference services information paraprofessionals the academic librarian's role in the educational process relationship between composition teachers and reference librarians predicting mediation accuracy from user impressions the influence of a shrinking information economy academic librarians and mediation in controversial scholarly communication

The Reference Librarian's Bible
The Reference Librarian's Bible

Author: Steven W. Sowards

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2018-07-26

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13: 1440860629

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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.

National Conference on Management of Modern Libraries (NACML)
National Conference on Management of Modern Libraries (NACML)

Author: K. Shivananda Bhat

Publisher: Allied Publishers

Published: 2014-07-15

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 8184248695

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With the advent of the information and communication technologies, traditional library activities are undergoing transformation in a big way. Modern library’s collection includes a vast array of information resources, databases, electronic journals, e-books, digital images, institutional repositories etc. To manage a modern library, library professionals need to have awareness and knowledge on management of electronic resources, federated and discovered tools for single click search, literature techniques, application of RFID and other technologies, user needs and knowledge on soft skills etc. Keeping these perspectives and issues in mind the National Conference on Management of Modern Libraries (NACML) was organized by SEARCH- The health science library in association with the department of Library and Information Science, Manipal University, Manipal The main objective of the conference was to provide an opportunity to LIS professional to explore the ways and means to manage the modern libraries where electronic resources are playing an important role in meeting the information needs of the users and to explore, discuss and share ideas and knowledge related to innovative modern library management systems to meet the needs of the changing environment. In five technical sessions under five different categories titled Technologies for Management, Best Practice in Modern Libraries, digital libraries and Role of Library Professionals in Management of Modern Libraries held over the two days, total 51 papers were presented at the conference. Various challenges and issues related to management of modern libraries were discussed in the technical sessions and some of the authors shared the best practices of their libraries. The author highlighted the importance of digital libraries and stressed the needs of various skills to work in digital environment. The papers presented in the conference have been edited and brought out in the form of a conference proceedings.

Conducting the Reference Interview, Third Edition
Conducting the Reference Interview, Third Edition

Author: Catherine Sheldrick Ross

Publisher: American Library Association

Published: 2019-07-03

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0838917275

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Based on the latest research in communication theory but tailored specifically for real-world application, this updated manual speaks equally to the needs of students preparing to enter the profession and those who are already fielding reference inquiries. The authors, working in consultation with a stellar advisory board of scholars and practitioners, present a convenient and comprehensive resource that will teach you how to understand the needs of public, academic, and special library users across any virtual setting—including email, text messaging, and social media—as well as in traditional and face-to-face models of communication. Packed with exercises and examples to help you practice effective reference transactions and avoid common pitfalls, this book tackles the fundamentals of the reference interview, from why it’s important in the first place to methods for setting the stage for a successful interview and techniques for finding out what the library user really wants to know; covers the ins and outs of the readers’ advisory interview; examines a wide range of contexts, such as children, young adults, parents, seniors, adults from diverse communities, and those with disabilities; presents case studies of innovative reference and user encounters at a variety of libraries; offers updated coverage of virtual reference, including new research, virtual reality transcripts, and a look at crowd-sourcing reference via social media; features new content on common microaggressions, with guidance on how to use awareness of emotion as a factor in reference interactions to ensure better outcomes; discusses topics such as respecting/protecting privacy, overcoming assumptions, implicit judgment, the importance of context, determining the real information need, and many other lessons learned from challenging reference encounters; and thoroughly addresses policy and training procedures, as well as the unique challenges faced by paraprofessionals and non-degreed staff. Find your bearings in the continually evolving hybrid reference environment through proven strategies, advice, exercises, and research from three experts in the field.