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The reference desk or information desk of a library is a public service counter where professional librarians provide library users with direction to library materials, advice on library collections and services, and expertise on multiple kinds of information from multiple sources. [1]
Library users can consult the staff at the reference desk for help in finding information. Using a structured reference interview, the librarian works with the library user to clarify their needs and determine what information sources will fill them. [2] [3] To borrow a medical analogy, reference librarians diagnose and treat information deficiencies.
The ultimate help provided may consist of reading material in the form of a book or journal article, instruction in the use of specific searchable information resources such as the library's online catalog or subscription bibliographic/full text databases, or simply factual information drawn from the library's print or online reference collection. Information is also provided to patrons through electronic resources. [3] Typically, a reference desk can be consulted either in person, by telephone, through email or online chat, although a library user may be asked to come to the library in person for help with more involved research questions. A staffed and knowledgeable reference desk is an essential part of a library.
The services that are provided at a reference desk may vary depending on the type of library, its purpose, its resources, and its staff. The services of circulation and reference desks are also sometimes combined.
Reference services did not become commonplace in libraries until the late 1800s. These services initially began in public libraries. [4] At first librarians were hesitant to offer reference services because many libraries did not have a large enough staff to provide the services without other duties being neglected. [4] Beginning in 1883 with the Boston Public Library, libraries began to hire librarians whose primary duty was to provide reference services. [4]
One of the earliest proponents of references services was Samuel Swett Green. He wrote an article titled "Personal Relations Between Librarians and Readers" which had a large impact on the future of reference services. [4] Utor (2008) defined reference services as a direct personal assistance to readers seeking information through direct contact between the reference librarian and the user.
Reference desks changed dramatically with the emergence of information technology. During the 2020 pandemic, there was a surge of virtual information desks. It has been found that chat, email, and web conferencing formats have become adequate substitutions for in-person conversations. [5] AI chatbots are also being used in academic libraries to address typical information inquiries, although their use is still being tested [6]
Resources that are often kept at a library reference desk may include:
Services that are often available at a library reference desk include:
The librarian who staffs the reference desk can usually do the following by virtue of their professional training and experience:
In the United States, those who staff library reference desks are usually required to have a master's degree in library science [3] from a program accredited by the American Library Association. [7] However, if there is a lack of qualified applicants, particularly in rural areas, a person with an associate degree, a certificate in library technology, or a bachelor's degree in library science may perform these duties. In many academic libraries, student assistants are used as the primary contact, sometimes at an "information desk".
In Sri Lanka, librarians at reference desks typically have master's degrees from the Sri Lankan Library Association's accredited programs.
With the development of the Web, digital reference services are beginning to take over some of the roles of the traditional reference desk in a library. There is disagreement over whether or not this development is desirable or inevitable. [8]
A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical or digital materials, and may be a physical location, a virtual space, or both. A library's collection normally includes printed materials which may be borrowed, and usually also includes a reference section of publications which may only be utilized inside the premises. Resources such as commercial releases of films, television programmes, other video recordings, radio, music and audio recordings may be available in many formats. These include DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs, cassettes, or other applicable formats such as microform. They may also provide access to information, music or other content held on bibliographic databases.
This page is a glossary of library and information science.
A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users.
The five laws of library science is a theory that S. R. Ranganathan proposed in 1931, detailing the principles of operating a library system. Many librarians from around the world accept the laws as the foundations of their philosophy.
A research library is a library that contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects. A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of topics and contain primary sources as well as secondary sources. Research libraries are established to meet research needs and, as such, are stocked with authentic materials with quality content. Research libraries are typically attached to academic or research institutions that specialize in that topic and serve members of that institution. Large university libraries are considered research libraries, and often contain many specialized branch research libraries. The libraries provide research materials for students and staff of these organizations to use and can also publish and carry literature produced by these institutions and make them available to others. Research libraries could also be accessible to members of the public who wish to gain in-depth knowledge on that particular topic.
Charles Ammi Cutter was an American librarian. In the 1850s and 1860s he assisted with the re-cataloging of the Harvard College library, producing America's first public card catalog. The card system proved more flexible for librarians and far more useful to patrons than the old method of entering titles in chronological order in large books. In 1868 he joined the Boston Athenaeum, making its card catalog an international model. Cutter promoted centralized cataloging of books, which became the standard practice at the Library of Congress. He was elected to leadership positions in numerous library organizations at the local and national level. Cutter is remembered for the Cutter Expansive Classification, his system of giving standardized classification numbers to each book, and arranging them on shelves by that number so that books on similar topics would be shelved together.
Digital reference is a service by which a library reference service is conducted online, and the reference transaction is a computer-mediated communication. It is the remote, computer-mediated delivery of reference information provided by library professionals to users who cannot access or do not want face-to-face communication. Virtual reference service is most often an extension of a library's existing reference service program. The word "reference" in this context refers to the task of providing assistance to library users in finding information, answering questions, and otherwise fulfilling users’ information needs. Reference work often but not always involves using reference works, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. This form of reference work expands reference services from the physical reference desk to a "virtual" reference desk where the patron could be writing from home, work or a variety of other locations.
In library and information science, cataloging (US) or cataloguing (UK) is the process of creating metadata representing information resources, such as books, sound recordings, moving images, etc. Cataloging provides information such as author's names, titles, and subject terms that describe resources, typically through the creation of bibliographic records. The records serve as surrogates for the stored information resources. Since the 1970s these metadata are in machine-readable form and are indexed by information retrieval tools, such as bibliographic databases or search engines. While typically the cataloging process results in the production of library catalogs, it also produces other types of discovery tools for documents and collections.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to library and information science:
A reference interview is a conversation between a librarian and a library user, usually at a reference desk, in which the librarian responds to the user's initial explanation of their information need by first attempting to clarify that need and then by directing the user to appropriate information resources.
Library circulation or library lending comprises the activities around the lending of library books and other material to users of a lending library. A circulation or lending department is one of the key departments of a library.
The State Library of North Carolina is an institution which serves North Carolina libraries, state government employees, genealogists, and the citizens of North Carolina. The library is the main depository for North Carolina state publications and serves the needs of North Carolina government agencies and state government employees by providing access to information resources that are vital to public decision-making and economic development.
The Texas A&M University Libraries support the teaching, research, and outreach missions of Texas A&M University through leadership in acquiring, managing, and delivering information in an environment that fosters learning and inquiry. In particular, Texas A&M is nationally and internationally recognized for many research collections, including:
The National Art Library (NAL) is a major reference library, situated in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), a museum of decorative arts in London. The NAL holds the UK's most comprehensive collection of both books as art and books about art, which includes many genres and time periods. The NAL is open to the public, and as a closed reference library, items must be requested through the staff and cannot be removed from the reading room. The collections cover a wide range of art and design topics, including books about artists and art techniques, and consists of many different collections materials, including archival materials, artist's books, and children's literature. The library also serves as the museum's curatorial department for book arts. As a reference library, the NAL also serves as a training library for students, curators and museum staff, and the public.
Bibliomining is the use of a combination of data mining, data warehousing, and bibliometrics for the purpose of analyzing library services. The term was created in 2003 by Scott Nicholson, Assistant Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies, in order to distinguish data mining in a library setting from other types of data mining.
A pathfinder is a bibliography created to help begin research in a particular topic or subject area. Pathfinders are also called subject guides, topic guides, research guides, libguides, information portals, resource lists or study guides. Pathfinders produced by the Library of Congress are known as "tracer bullets". What is special about a pathfinder is that it only refers to the information in a specific location, i.e. the shelves of a local library.
The Balme Library, established in 1948 is located on the main campus of the University of Ghana. The Balme Library was named after David Mowbray Balme, the first Principal of the University of Ghana. The Balme Library is the main library of the University of Ghana and is also the largest within the University of Ghana Library System (UGLS). It is endowed with information resources, IT infrastructure and expert staff. Since its establishment in 1948, the library has gone through successive growth with its printed book collection totaling over 400,000 volumes. The library subscribes to an increasing number of online databases including electronic journals (e-journals) and electronic books (e-books).
Roving reference, also called roaming reference, is a library service model in which, instead of being positioned at a static reference desk, a librarian moves throughout the library to locate patrons with questions or concerns and offer them help in finding or using library resources.
The Harold Andersen Library is the university library of the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. The building was named after Harold Gilbert Andersen, and ground breaking and construction for the building began on April 9, 1951.
The Ohio State University Libraries are the collective libraries of the Ohio State University and its satellite campuses. This system welcomes Ohio State faculty, students, visiting scholars and the general public to study and research. It includes ten libraries located on the Columbus campus, six libraries on the regional campus of the university and nine special collections. The Ohio State University Libraries offer educational resources and services to support readers to research, learn and teach. They can help researchers find and borrow physical and digital materials from articles, journals, databases, books, dissertations, theses, newspapers, streaming videos and images, etc. The Ohio State University libraries hold over six million volumes in traditional library formats and more in electronic information resources.
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