Linda C Smith - Reference and Information Services: An Introduction

Linda C. Smith

Dave A. Tyckoson

Emily J. M. Knox

Laura Saunders

Susan Avery

Kelly Jo Woodside

Lili Luo

JoAnn Jacoby, M. Kathleen Kern, and Lesley K. Mackie

Laura Saunders

Piper Martin and Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe

Cassandra Graesser and Lillian Sundell-Thomas

Amy S. Pattee

Nicole A. Cooke

Laura Saunders and Melissa A. Wong

Carol A. Singer

Michael Rodriguez

Melissa A. Wong

Opetoritse A. Adefolalu

Stephanie Davis-Kahl

Melissa A. Wong

Linda C. Smith

Neal Wyatt

Linda C. Smith

Barbara A. Alvarez

Matthew D. MacKellar

Jeanne Holba Puacz

Sarah Erekson

Celina Nichols McDonald

Celia Ross

Maura Sostack and Rebecca Davis

Shelley Sweeney

Paul D. Healey

Amy VanScoy

As the coeditor of the first five editions of Reference and Information Services: An Introduction (published by Libraries Unlimited in 1991, 1995, 2001, 2011, and 2016 in their Library and Information Science Text Series), I welcome the publication of this new sixth edition in 2020. Nearly thirty years have passed since the first edition appeared in 1991. On December 17 of that year, I attended the Third ACM Conference on Hypertext in San Antonio, Texas, and saw Tim Berners-Lee demonstrate the World Wide Web project (https://cds.cern.ch/record/1164398). I certainly did not anticipate how the Web would transform reference and information services. But by the third edition, in 2001, website URLs appeared for some sources discussed in the chapters on information sources and their use. Now, in 2020, each chapter has been updated to encompass a much more extensive list of Web resources, both freely available and licensed.

This new sixth edition reflects both continuity and change from the preceding editions. Coeditors Melissa A. Wong (a chapter author beginning with the fourth edition and coeditor of the fifth edition) and Laura Saunders (a chapter author beginning with the fifth edition) have guided chapter authors to ensure that the content reflects how reference and information services continue to be affected by rapidly developing technologies and increasing volumes of digital content. They have also placed increased attention on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and insights from critical theory. The resulting text achieves its goal to provide students and practitioners with an overview of current reference sources, issues, and services.

Continuity is reflected in the basic structure of the text. Chapters are divided into two major parts: , rather than merely describing selected reference tools, chapters emphasize the formulation of strategies for their effective use. Continuity is also reflected in the collaborative nature of the text, involving many different chapter authors who draw on their expertise as practitioners and/or teachers of reference.

Change is evident in the gradual expansion of the scope, from twenty chapters in the first edition to thirty-two chapters in the sixth edition. Comparing the lists of chapter titles for the first and sixth editions in has a chapter titled Creating the Future of Reference Service.

Not surprisingly, given the passage of nearly three decades since the first edition, I am the only author who has contributed one or more chapters to each edition of the text. Authors of the first edition all had some type of affiliation with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during their careersas a student, librarian, and/or faculty member. Over time, new chapter authors have been recruited as experts with a much wider range of affiliations, including one from Canada beginning with the fifth edition and now one from Australia in the sixth edition. Beginning with the second edition, an effort has been made to include more reference sources specific to Canada. A search of WorldCat reveals translations of some earlier editions into Spanish, Korean, and even Mongolian, expanding the potential readership even further.

My University of Illinois Library colleague Richard E. Bopp (19442011), lead editor for the first four editions, needs to be recognized for first proposing the idea of a collaboratively authored reference textbook in the late 1980s. His influence continues to be felt in the commitment to creating a high-quality text to prepare a new generation of reference librarians. I am grateful to Melissa A. Wong and Laura Saunders for all their work to accomplish this through the publication of this sixth edition.