Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

A survival guide for professionals working in, planning, or managing reference services in libraries. Discusses changing roles and new relationships with paraprofessionals and techies, and discusses new resources, time and space considerations, reference questions on the Web, and new services such

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• List of Figures(p. ix)
• Preface(p. xi)
• Acknowledgments(p. xv)
• Chapter 1 Reference: The Nature of the Business(p. 1)
• In the Beginning: 1875-1900(p. 1)
• A Century Later: 1975-2000(p. 6)
• The Economics of the Industrial Age and the Information Age(p. 8)
• Disintermediation(p. 11)
• New Challenges(p. 12)
• Libraries or Computer Centers?(p. 14)
• Reference Service: Traditional and Proactive(p. 17)
• Chapter 2 The Changing Role of the Reference Librarian(p. 23)
• Characteristics of Reference Librarians(p. 25)
• Nonjudgmental Desire to Help Others(p. 25)
• Curiosity(p. 26)
• Ability to Shift Focus(p. 26)
• General Knowledge(p. 26)
• Good Memory(p. 27)
• Excellent Communication Skills(p. 28)
• Patience(p. 28)
• Joy of the Hunt(p. 29)
• Creativity(p. 29)
• Reference Librarians and Other Staff Members(p. 30)
• Current Awareness(p. 31)
• Managing Change(p. 37)
• Changed Relationships(p. 38)
• New Relationships(p. 41)
• Paraprofessionals(p. 41)
• Librarians versus Techies(p. 44)
• Four Strategies for Success(p. 46)
• Chapter 3 Communication Skills(p. 49)
• What's the Question? The Reference Interview(p. 53)
• The Best Approach(p. 54)
• Understanding the Goal of the Question(p. 55)
• Starting the Search(p. 56)
• Serving Multilingual Patrons(p. 57)
• Multilingual Electronic Resources(p. 61)
• Translation Aids(p. 68)
• Other Language Issues(p. 70)
• Communication Challenges(p. 70)
• Mainstreaming(p. 73)
• Four Strategies for Success(p. 75)
• Chapter 4 Resources(p. 77)
• A Brief History of the Reference Collection(p. 77)
• Reference Books(p. 81)
• Ready Reference Collections(p. 85)
• Accuracy and Bias(p. 87)
• Creating Our Own Reference Resources(p. 90)
• Format versus Content(p. 92)
• Full-Text Periodicals Databases(p. 94)
• Books in Print(p. 98)
• Outside Competition(p. 99)
• Unpublished Sources(p. 102)
• Evaluation of Web Resources(p. 104)
• Five Strategies for Success(p. 108)
• Chapter 5 Time and Space(p. 111)
• The Reference Area(p. 113)
• The Reference Desk(p. 115)
• Height of the Reference Desk(p. 116)
• Beyond the Desk(p. 119)
• Roving Reference(p. 120)
• Technical Assistance(p. 122)
• Other Reference Services(p. 122)
• Research Consultation(p. 122)
• Bibliographic Instruction(p. 126)
• Staffing(p. 127)
• On-Desk/Off-Desk Time(p. 127)
• When Does Reference Happen?(p. 129)
• Extended Services(p. 131)
• Remote Access for Patrons(p. 132)
• Distance Education(p. 133)
• Four Strategies for Success(p. 134)
• Chapter 6 Questions, in and Out(p. 137)
• Types of Questions(p. 138)
• Questions with Answers(p. 138)
• Information Requests(p. 141)
• Pointers(p. 141)
• Tricksters(p. 142)
• Problematic Questions(p. 143)
• Criss-Cross(p. 143)
• Trivia Contests(p. 145)
• Homework Questions(p. 149)
• Reference Policy(p. 150)
• Intake Methods(p. 151)
• Walk-Up(p. 151)
• Telephone Reference(p. 153)
• Offline Methods(p. 155)
• Question-and-Answer Services(p. 156)
• Ask the Expert(p. 157)
• Virtual Reference Desk(p. 159)
• Ask Jeeves(p. 161)
• Library Reference Questions on the World Wide Web(p. 164)
• Falmouth Public Library(p. 165)
• Chicago Public Library(p. 166)
• Internet Public Library(p. 167)
• Four Strategies for Success(p. 168)
• Chapter 7 Reference Librarians as Trainers and Pathfinders(p. 171)
• Training(p. 171)
• Bibliographic Instruction(p. 173)
• The Art of Training(p. 175)
• Learning Styles(p. 175)
• Ambience(p. 178)
• Beyond Leaning Styles(p. 179)
• Training Techniques(p. 181)
• Keep It Real(p. 181)
• Avoid Demo-itis(p. 185)
• Handouts, Follow-Up, and Evaluation(p. 185)
• Flow(p. 186)
• Pathfinders(p. 187)
• From Paper to the Web(p. 188)
• Class Project Pathfinders(p. 191)
• Beyond Libraries(p. 193)
• Special Projects(p. 195)
• Partnerships(p. 198)
• Five Strategies for Success(p. 201)
• Chapter 8 Statistics Can Help Ensure Quality(p. 203)
• Counting(p. 204)
• Fewer Questions, Better Service(p. 207)
• New Statistics(p. 209)
• Accuracy(p. 211)
• Room for Improvement(p. 216)
• Focus Groups(p. 220)
• Five Strategies for Success(p. 221)
• Chapter 9 World Wide Web: Challenges and Opportunities(p. 225)
• Public Workstations(p. 229)
• Sound(p. 230)
• Software Changes(p. 235)
• Printing(p. 237)
• Confidentiality: New Concerns(p. 238)
• Problems for Shared Workstations(p. 239)
• Sources of Information(p. 241)
• Acceptable Use(p. 242)
• Filtering Software(p. 243)
• Policies(p. 244)
• Beyond Reference(p. 245)
• Chat and E-mail(p. 245)
• Personalized Information Services(p. 249)
• Reference and Library Web Pages(p. 251)
• Special Collections(p. 253)
• The World Wide Web, Today and Beyond(p. 260)
• Looking Ahead: Five Trends that Will Affect Reference Services(p. 261)
• Appendix A Sample Reference Policy(p. 267)
• Appendix B Sample Survey Form(p. 279)
• Sources Cited(p. 283)
• Index(p. 285)
• About the Author(p. 291)

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Thomsen, the member service manager for NOBLE, North of Boston Library Exchange, has written a good, concise introduction to reference librarianship in an era of increasing use of electronic sources. Like her Reference and Collection Development on the Internet (Professional Media, LJ 8/96), this straightforward book is suited for a lay audience, and any administrator hoping to train a paraprofessional to work at the reference desk would do well to use it for its explanation of the reference interview, descriptions of the variety of typical reference questions, and excellent summary of the tension between how reference librarians view the Internet and patron expectations. However, there is little here that is new or helpful for a practicing librarian. Thomsen's coverage of the web is insufficient; she shortchanges the diversity of information available and gives far too few examples of excellent library homepages. The "strategies for success" at the end of each chapter are too general to be of practical help, and in only one chapter does Thomsen include "sources of information" to guide the reader in further exploration. Recommended for public libraries with paraprofessionals staffing the reference desk.--Jennifer Haven, Amesbury P.L., MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Elizabeth Thomsen is the member services manager for NOBLE, the North of Boston Library Exchange