LS407REFERENCE AND INFORMATION SERVICESSpring 2010Laura Saunders

ROLES AND EXPECTATIONS What is the reference librarian’s job?

And, what isn’t? Who relies on reference librarians?

Patrons, colleagues & support staff, employers, professional organizations, etc.

What do you expect from your career?

REFERENCE Reference Transactions are information

consultations in which library staff recommend, interpret, evaluate, and/or use information resources to help others to meet particular information needs. Reference transactions do not include formal instruction or exchanges that provide assistance with locations, schedules, equipment, supplies, or policy statements.

REFERENCE Reference Work includes reference

transactions and other activities that involve the creation, management, and assessment of information or research resources, tools, and services. Creation and management of information resources

includes the development and maintenance of research collections, research guides, catalogs, databases, web sites, search engines, etc., that patrons can use independently, in-house or remotely, to satisfy their information needs.

Assessment activities include the measurement and evaluation of reference work, resources, and services.

REFERENCE What, exactly, do reference librarians do?

USER EXPECTATIONS What do users expect? What should they expect?

EMPLOYER/COLLEAGUE EXPECTATIONS What do employers want? What do we expect of each other?

PERCEPTIONSHow do our patrons see us?

PERCEPTIONS OF LIBRARIES AND LIBRARIANS What are the perceptions of our field? Are perceptions important? Why?

PERCEPTIONS- OCLC STUDY

PERCEPTIONS

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WHAT DOES THIS TELL US…Future of librariesAreas of focusAreas of improvement

PERCEPTIONS OF LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION RESOURCESOCLC. (2005). Retrieved fromhttp://www.oclc.org/reports/pdfs/Percept_all.pdf