Describes a study that replicated two earlier studies to determine whether environmental factors of reference departments and behavioral characteristics of references staff members had changed over the past ten years. Results emphasize the need for more and better education and training in conducting reference interviews and providing client…

Discusses digital reference services that provide subject expertise and information referral over the Internet to their users. Describes the history of digital reference, how digital reference services work, and explains a six-step process for building and maintaining digital reference services, including training, planning, and evaluating. (LRW)

Describes customer call centers that provide customer service and support in business and considers how their routines could be adapted to library operations. Topics include centralized staff; interactive voice response; automated call distribution; question analysis; sophisticated software; training and monitoring; telephone reference; and…

Discusses comments made in a previous column relating to reference librarians and online reference services. Topics include the inaccuracy of traditional reference services; the alleged decline in library reference activity; misunderstanding reference librarians; and perceiving Ask Jeeves as a useful alternative model to reference services. (LRW)

There comes a time when one asks even of Yahoo, even of Google, "Is this all?" Yahoo and Google do an admirable job of categorizing the Internet and making its contents more accessible. But ultimately they're search tools, not research tools. There's a great deal of information not on the Internet, particularly thoroughly researched,…

It has been an unconventional career path. Sharon Morris has been a children's librarian, a collection development librarian, a product manager for CARL, and an academic advisor in a graduate library science program. Today she's coordinator for AskColorado, the 24/7 online reference service recognized as 2004 Project of the Year by the Colorado…

In this article, the influence of timesaving and inspiring reference technologies on the field of reference services is assessed. Library media specialists are advised to be aware of and embrace such emerging technologies, as these will enable them to make information gathering effective and efficient and create information-literate students.

The process of retrieving information from reference sources can be a problem for young students due to differences in terminology. Pointers on how library media specialists can assist young children to acquire information from sources are provided.

Eva Miller has a knack for creating order out of disorder. She single-handedly brought Oregon's virtual reference service, Answerland, live in just under 90 days, says Rivkah Sass, now director of the Omaha Public Library. Miller created its web site, designed the graphics, developed marketing materials, and recruited and trained librarians--all…

How do you simultaneously renovate a grocery store into a state-of-the-art resource library, supervise the daily operations of five libraries, lead a team in reimagining reference service, and plan your wedding? Ask Lois Langer, coordinating librarian of Hennepin County Library. Her answer: "Project management--you can do anything,…

The University of Texas at Arlington's Library began using an online chat reference in 2002. The service, called Collaborative Digital Reference Service, later became "Ask a Librarian." Slightly over one year later, the library joined the University of Texas System's "Ask a Librarian" service. Both services are powered by…

Reference librarians at Georgia Institute of Technology provide computerized reference service through the Georgia Information Dissemination Center. (PF)

The computer search service provided to faculty by the University of New Mexico General Library is described. (PF)

THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: Today there are over 900 on-line data banks available for public access. Most microcomputers can use them through the aid of a modem and communication program. Major public information utilities that offer access to these on-line data bases are growing and expanding. The Source, a data base utility…

Presents a method for determining the number of days on which questions must be counted in order to achieve a given precision and confidence in reference statistics. (Author/PF)