Smart librarians have always valued their relationships with users and other librarians. The creative force of those relationships is empowered via Web-based social networking, collaboration, and sharing. At Stony Brook University Health Sciences Library in New York, students, faculty, clinicians, and residents expect the latest refinements in…

This study grew out of a need to assess reference desk data and determine two items: the number of questions handled for the last three years and the times when the desk should be double staffed. Analysis of the data by chi-square standardized residuals identified the days of the week, and the times during the day of heavy and light use. Data sort…

At Valparaiso University's main library, the Christopher Center for Library and Information Resources (formerly the Moellering Library), student employees are an integral part of day-to-day operations. Students work at the reference desk and must be able to handle reference questions. Since the fall 2000 semester, the Reference Services Librarian…

A growing number of libraries have installed wireless data connections as a way of providing access to the Internet for members of the public. Some libraries have used their wireless networks to enable staff to use wireless devices to increase their mobility, effectiveness and responsiveness to client need particularly in providing reference and…

If librarians from all areas of reference and information service understood their own roles better, then they might feel more capable of fruitful interchange transcending common institutional boundaries. (Author)

Focuses on the methods used by three academic libraries in addressing the question of whether or not to charge users for online searches. (FM)

Describes the Interactive Reference Assistance project developed at the University of Michigan to provide remote reference service for students in campus residence halls through the use of specialized software, desktop computers, and desktop cameras that allowed video and audio links directly to library reference staff. (LRW)

Discusses the evaluation of academic library reference librarians' effectiveness in providing services to patrons using electronic sources based on experiences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Topics include core technical competencies for subject specialists and reference desk service; the Internet; and methods of evaluation.…

Academic libraries increasingly rely on Interlibrary Loan (ILL) departments to obtain research materials. This adds to the workload of ILL at a time when many libraries are experiencing budget cuts and dwindling staff. Collaboration between ILL and Reference can assist ILL by providing searching expertise. Collaboration is facilitated by the…

When a university acquires the library of a national institute and the institute's active and worldwide membership expects continued and uninterrupted access to services from the collection, shockwaves can reverberate throughout the university's main library and among its staff. This was especially true for the Reference Department of the…

Categorizes and compares sample of public and academic library reference questions. (KP)

Reports on a survey of 47 academic library online facilities. Data gathered on finances, number of searches conducted, patrons served, sytems accessed, equipment used, procedures, promotion, and other facets are summarized. (FM)

Shares some of the experiences of the University of Florida Libraries' Census Access Program, which has provided print and machine-readable census products to users since 1971. Article anticipates the demand for the new data products of the 1980 census. (Author/JD)

Examines the theory and application of zero base budgeting (ZBB) and presents an example of ZBB in an academic library reference department, illustrating the preparation of a budget proposal and demonstrating the different approaches to staffing for reference services and varying funding levels. (FM)

Describes an analysis of the search engine logs of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale's library to determine how patrons used the site search. Discusses results that showed patrons did not understand the function of the search and explains improvements that were made in the Web site and in online reference services. (Author/LRW)