The reference desk at Indiana State University's (ISU) library offers an excellent view of student work areas on the first floor. From this vantage point, the reference librarians noticed students, especially in the evening and on weekends, huddled together in small groups, with one student at the keyboard of a laptop or desktop computer. The…

In late 2006, the National Library of Australia (NLA) implemented a trial Instant Messaging (IM) service that ran in parallel with the AskNow chat reference service for a six month period. The trial was a resounding success, proving both a demand for an IM service and the suitability of the medium for reference service provision in a collaborative…

Given the many changes in our students and their study and research practices, libraries are finding it necessary to seek new ways to reach these students. The Undergraduate Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created a new model to do so. Librarian's Office Hours are a hybrid of reference and instructional services that…

Presents 20 multiple-choice and true-or-false questions that can be used to test for basic knowledge of BIOSIS Previews, a large online life sciences database. (MES)

This article enumerates factors which created demand for fee-based information service (commercial databases, competition for proprietary information in business world, effectiveness of librarians) and relates experiences at two public libraries. Sources of business, value of advertising, techniques of selling, and hiring and deployment of staff…

Describes reference tools useful for helping library patrons locate educational films. A "Film Search Form" is described which is useful as an aid to systematic film searching. (LLS)

Describes the building block, successive fractions, citation pearl growing, and interactive scanning approaches to search strategy formulation and discusses practical techniques for online bibliographic searches such as being flexible, searching the most specific aspect first, using thesauri, conceptualizing, using full text operators, and…

Defines and describes formal cooperative library reference services and discusses the major variables that produce differences in cooperative reference networks: size, composition, funding, services, delivery mechanisms, control methods, and resources. (Author/LLS)

Briefly reviews the current developments in public access catalogs and poses questions for the public service librarian. (FM)

Proposes the utilization of catalogers and other professional staff, rather than nonprofessionals, to augment reference librarian staffing. Shrinking reference staffs and lengthening service hours have created personnel shortages at the reference desk. Arguments for and against the proposal are examined. (RAA)

Argues that some reference librarians, often without knowing it, have become fact-totems--people who have made objects of worship out of facts. In suggesting an antidote to this "Gradgrind pedagogy," the author critically reviews some "reference" books. (JD)

Describes the use of search engines to search the World Wide Web for homework or reference questions in libraries. Subject directories, basic engines, and metaengines are discussed; examples of useful homework-oriented Web site directories are given; and suggestions for reference work are listed. (LRW)

Suggests reference sources most appropriate for a desert island. In addition to "Robinson Crusoe" (Daniel Defoe) and a reference guide to the literature of travel, the list includes basic books on reference work, guides to reference sources, journals, an almanac, encyclopedias, a guide to English usage, and a book of quotations. (14 references)…

Describes each of 13 steps in the reference process in terms of its objectives, facts about it, and rules for handling the facts. Rules are then discussed for today's mixed online and printed source environment as well as for an online sources-only environment. (five references) (MES)

Presents the following data by subject category on 1990 prices of periodical subscriptions: (1) average price; (2) percent increases; (3) percent increase since 1981; (4) percentage of titles increasing; (5) average price by Library of Congress classification; and (6) increases since 1977. Comparisons with the Consumer Price Index and data on…