At the reference desk, librarians engage in an often predictable sequence of instruction with students that centers on assisting students with focusing their topics before they can move to the information collection stage. It is an area of instruction that is often taken for granted and that most faculty are unaware of, but it is critical for…

This article discusses a service quality study conducted in the Pennsylvania State University Libraries. The Wisconsin-Ohio Reference Evaluation Program survey was selected as a valid, standardized instrument. We present our results, highlighting the impact on reference training. A second survey a year later demonstrated that focusing on…

A survey of community college librarians in California reveals that the nature of reference service required of them, limitations on budget, staffing, technical support, resources, decision-making ability, and professional development opportunities, affect their professional attitudes. Librarians see reference service as primarily a teaching role.…

At the beginning of last year the assistant Middle Division director at the Berkeley Preparatory School challenged his faculty to collaborate with at least one teacher from another department in the division for a portion of one unit. Because the challenge was given at the beginning of the school year, it was received with trepidation, but, after…

Use of the physical collections and services of academic libraries continues to plummet, with some exceptions, while use of electronic networked resources skyrockets. This article frames the extent of this decline with a focus on circulation and reference among ARL University, Medical, and Law Libraries, the Ivy League, other associations,…

The inclusion or not of chat services within Virtual Reference (VR) is an important topic for university libraries. Increasingly, email supported by a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) database is suggested in the scholarly literature as the preferred, cost-effective means for providing university VR services. This paper examines these issues and…

With virtual library services increasing, public services librarians may find themselves with questions such as: What instant messaging services (IM) are available? Which IM service would best suit my patrons' needs? Which IM service best suits my library's technology profile? This column describes the features and functionality of major instant…

The job of the contemporary reference librarian has a virtual component unimaginable a generation ago. Today's library professional can obtain an MLS (or equivalent) online with a minimal residency requirement. Not only the degree, but also library sources, and indeed patrons, have become virtual. Both books and periodicals can be consulted by…

In spring semester 2009, two of the authors taught LIB 5020--Information Sources & Services to graduate library science students at Appalachian State University. The course covers information seeking patterns and provides an overview of reference services. The course is also designed to examine and evaluate library reference materials and…

The topic of virtual reference has been a popular one in the past year, and this column highlights a range of those articles. Included are overviews of the topic, articles addressing specific technological solutions and concerns, and pieces that explore the intricacies of delivering and assessing a "traditional" service through a…

This article explores the different steps involved in adopting a new service model at the University of Arizona Science-Engineering Library. In a time of shrinking budgets and changing user behavior the library was forced to rethink it reference services to be cost effective and provide quality service at the same time. The new model required…

This article examines what is desirable in online reference books in science and technology and outlines a framework for evaluating their interfaces. The framework considers factors unique to these subject areas like chemical structures and numerical data. Criteria in three categories, navigability, searchability, and results, were applied to five…

The more than 4,000 "chats" received by the University of Central Florida's (UCF) Ask-A-Librarian digital reference service are the subject of this practitioner-based, descriptive case study. Question content from chats received during four semesters between January 2005 and May 2006 are categorized and plotted, by semester, to show the…

In this article, the author talks about Twitter, a micro-blogging Web site, and how librarians can use Twitter to interact with students and to monitor actual usage of library services. He shares what he has learned from twittering with library users. He learned that Twitter expands the reach of research assistance. With students using the social…

Reference desk scheduling is one of the most challenging tasks in the organizational structure of an academic library. The ability to turn this challenge into a workable and effective function lies with the scheduler and indirectly the cooperation of all librarians scheduled for reference desk service. It is the scheduler's sensitivity to such…