John Gottfried - Providing Reference Services: A Practical Guide for Librarians

Providing Reference Services

Practical Guides for Librarians

About the Series

This innovative series written and edited for librarians by librarians provides authoritative, practical information and guidance on a wide spectrum of library processes and operations.

Books in the series are focused, describing practical and innovative solutions to a problem facing todays librarian and delivering step-by-step guidance for planning, creating, implementing, managing, and evaluating a wide range of services and programs.

The books are aimed at beginning and intermediate librarians needing basic instruction/guidance in a specific subject and at experienced librarians who need to gain knowledge in a new area or guidance in implementing a new program/service.

About the Series Editor

The Practical Guides for Librarians series was conceived by and is edited by M. Sandra Wood, MLS, MBA, AHIP, FMLA, Librarian Emerita, Penn State University Libraries.

M. Sandra Wood was a librarian at the George T. Harrell Library, the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA, for over thirty-five years, specializing in reference, educational, and database services. Ms. Wood worked for several years as a development editor for Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Ms. Wood received an MLS from Indiana University and an MBA from the University of Maryland. She is a fellow of the Medical Library Association and served as a member of MLAs Board of Directors from 1991 to 1995. Ms. Wood is founding and current editor of Medical Reference Services Quarterly , now in its thirty-fifth volume. She also was founding editor of the Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet and the Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries and served as editor/coeditor of both journals through 2011.

Titles in the Series

1. How to Teach: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Beverley E. Crane.

2. Implementing an Inclusive Staffing Model for Todays Reference Services by Julia K. Nims, Paula Storm, and Robert Stevens.

3. Managing Digital Audiovisual Resources: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Matthew C. Mariner.

4. Outsourcing Technology: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Robin Hastings

5. Making the Library Accessible for All: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Jane Vincent

6. Discovering and Using Historical Geographical Resources on the Web: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Eva H. Dodsworth and L. W. Lalibert

7. Digitization and Digital Archiving: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Elizabeth R. Leggett

8. Makerspaces: A Practical Guide for Librarians by John J. Burke

9. Implementing Web-Scale Discovery Services: A Practical Guide for Librarians by JoLinda Thompson

10. Using iPhones and iPads: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Matthew Connolly and Tony Cosgrave

11. Usability Testing: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Rebecca Blakiston

12. Mobile Devices: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Ben Rawlins

13. Going Beyond Loaning Books to Loaning Technologies: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Janelle Sander, Lori S. Mestre, and Eric Kurt

14. Childrens Services Today: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Jeanette Larson

15. Genealogy: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Katherine Pennavaria

16. Collection Evaluation in Academic Libraries: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Karen C. Kohn

17. Creating Online Tutorials: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Hannah Gascho Rempel and Maribeth Slebodnik

18. Using Google Earth in Libraries: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Eva Dodsworth and Andrew Nicholson

19. Integrating the Web into Everyday Library Services: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Elizabeth R. Leggett

20. Infographics: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Beverley E. Crane

21. Meeting Community Needs: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Pamela H. MacKellar

22. 3D Printing: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Sara Russell Gonzalez and Denise Beaubien Bennett

23. Patron-Driven Acquisitions in Academic and Special Libraries: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Steven Carrico, Michelle Leonard, and Erin Gallagher

24. Collaborative Grant-Seeking: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Bess G. de Farber

25. Story-Time Success: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Katie Fitzgerald

26. Teaching Google Scholar: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Paige Alfonzo

27. Teen Services Today: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Sara K. Joiner & Geri Swanzy

28. Data Management: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Margaret E. Henderson

29. Online Teaching and Learning: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Beverley E. Crane

30. Writing Effectively in Print and on the Web: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Rebecca Blakiston

31. Gamification: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco

32. Providing Reference Services: A Practical Guide for Librarians by John Gottfried and Katherine Pennavaria

Providing Reference Services

A Practical Guide for Librarians

John Gottfried

Katherine Pennavaria

Practical Guides for Librarians, No. 32

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham Boulder New York London

Published by Rowman & Littlefield

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

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www.rowman.com

Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB

Copyright 2017 by Rowman & Littlefield

All images courtesy of the authors unless otherwise noted.

All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Gottfried, John, 1953 author. | Pennavaria, Katherine, 1959 author.

Title: Providing reference services : a practical guide for librarians / John Gottfried, Katherine Pennavaria.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2017] | Series: Practical guides for librarians ; 32 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017001823 (print) | LCCN 2017021316 (ebook) | ISBN 9781442279124 (electronic) | ISBN 9781442279117 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Reference services (Libraries) | Reference services (Libraries)United States.

Classification: LCC Z711 (ebook) | LCC Z711 .G68 2017 (print) | DDC 025.5/2dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017001823

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

To my wife, Linda Gottfried .John Gottfried

To my partner, Donna McKay Kasznel .Katherine Pennavaria

Preface

Some might suggest that this book shouldnt exist at all. Many library critics, after alland even a few librariansbelieve that reference services are archaic endeavors, like making buggy whips or operating a telephone switchboard. Not that these are bad professions, the thinking goesthey are simply no longer very useful. On the way to obsolescence, however, a funny thing has happened to library reference services. While changed in nature and exhibiting very different patterns of usage, reference services have nonetheless survived, and, in some institutions, thrived. Why is this so?