School of Information Management and Systems
IMS5016, IMS3616 Information Access
Lecture 6: The reference interview; reference services
Quiz of the century!!!!
Graeme’s question to students:
Is it true that a microscopic fungus which grows on old paper in libraries
releases spores and induces hallucinations in readers?
Several students found the correct answer, which was much publicised in 1996.
It seems to me that the same story was retold in several places around the
same time. Thanks to all contributors:
1.One student found a web source, written by an anonymous author about
fungus poisons in rye grass, at:
http://www.uic.edu/classes/osci/osci590/5_1Poisons%20of%20the%20Past%20
Ergotism.htm.
It asserted that hallucinations can be induced from reading old books. The
website quoted the source of the information as an article the Chicago Tribune
dated 21st September 1996, the article title "Could it be that old books are
really, uh mind altering?" written by an Ellen Warren. However the student could
not trace her source of information because I had to pay for the article.
2.The same person undertook another search and found the web source
http://www.scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-Pilot/issues/1996/vp961016/10160036.htm:
"With this latest discovery, kids will want to get high on Herodotus"
from the Virginian Pilot dated 16th October 1996. This article it also suggests
that hallucinations can occur from old books. The source of information was The
Lancet, a British medical journal in a paper written by a Dr R.J. Hay.
3.Another student had access to the Chicago Tribune, and was able to copy the
article, providing the fullest account. But before she found it, her account of her
search is instructive. She deserves full congratulations for perseverance:
This one really got to me. Found myself obsessed!
Tried Monash Catalogue, Monash databases then the Internet. Wanted
to test out if I has developed any new skills from my reading and
assignment work. Searched Monash Catalogue with no luck, searched
OVID (thought it might be a medical topic), tried Informit and Proquest.
No luck. Got onto the Internet and used NoodleTools to construct my
quest and ended up at Ask Jeeves.
With the above forms I tried keywords, subject searches and phrase
searches with boolean operators in some or all of the above, with some
and all of the words in the question. Also tried variants of the words
in question.
The words that gave me my result were 'book fungus' which led to finding
the article attached.
Would follow this article to The Lancet and look for Dr R.J. Hay's
original article if I was going further with it. Would also follow the
responder, Monona Rossol, and possibly look further into the incident at
Las Cruces, N.M., Public Library.
Book Fungus Can Get You High, Chicago Tribune by Ellen Warren:
CHICAGO -- Getting high on great literature is taking on a whole new
meaning. It turns out that, if you spend enough time around old books
and decaying manuscripts in dank archives, you can start to hallucinate.
Really. We're not talking psychedelia, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds"
stuff, here. But maybe only a step or two away from that.
Experts on the various fungi that feed on the pages and on the covers of
books are increasingly convinced that you can get high - or at least a
little wacky -- by sniffing old books. Fungus on books, they say, is a likely
source of hallucinogenic spores. The story of The Strangeness in the
Stacks first started making its way through the usually staid antiquarian
books community late last year with the publication of a paper in the
British medical journal, The Lancet.
There, Dr. R.J. Hay wrote of the possibility that "fungal hallucinogens" in
old books could lead to "enhancement of enlightenment."
"The source of inspiration for many great literary figures may have been
nothing more than a quick sniff of the bouquet of mouldy books," wrote
Hay, one of England's leading mycologists (fungus experts) and dean of
dermatology at Guy's Hospital in London.
Well, said an American expert on such matters, it may not be that easy.
"I agree with his premise - but not his dose. It would take more than a
brief sniff," said Monona Rossol, an authority on the health effects of
materials used in the arts world.
For all the parents out there, these revelations would seem ideal for
persuading youngsters to spend some quality time in the archives. But
attention kids: You can't get high walking through the rare books section
of the library.
Rossol said it would take a fairly concentrated exposure over a
considerable period of time for someone to breathe in enough of the
spores of hallucinogenic fungus to seriously affect behavior. There are
no studies to tell how much or how long before strange behavior takes
hold. Still, this much seems apparent - if you want to find mold, the only
place that may rival a refrigerator is a library.
Just last week the Las Cruces, N.M., Public Library was closed
indefinitely, prompted by health concerns after a fungus outbreak in the
reference section. Library director Carol Brey said the fungus promptly
spread to old history books and onward to the literature section. The
town's Mold Eradication Team, she said, shuttered the library as a
precaution. "We didn't want to take any chances," she said. A mold
removal company will address the problem, which is believed to have
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
2
originated in the air conditioning system. Psychedelic mushrooms, the
classic hallucinogenic fungus, derive their mind-altering properties from
the psilocybin and psilocin they produce naturally.
One historic example of this phenomenon, scientists now believe, is the
madness that prevailed in the late 1600s in Salem, Mass., where ergot, a
hallucinogenic fungus, infected the rye crops that went into rye bread.
Ergot contains lysergic acid, a key compound of the hallucinogenic drug
LSD. This tiny fungus and its wild effects on the rye-bread-eating women
may have led to the Salem witch trials.
Rossol, a New York chemist and consultant to Chicago's Field Museum
of Natural History who publishes the newsletter Acts Facts, the journal of
Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety, said that there have not been scientific
studies on the hallucinogenic effects of old books. But, relying on
accounts from newsletter readers who report their own strange
symptoms - ranging from dizziness to violent nausea - she says there is
no doubt that moldy old volumes harbor hallucinogens.
This article has the following extraordinary URL:
http://web.ask.com/redir?u=http%3A%2F%2Ftm.wc.ask.com%2Fr%3Ft%3Dan
%26s%3Da%26sv%3Dz6f537207%26uid%3D083A82EA401322524%26sid%3
D12FED2EA401322524%26o%3D10234%26qid%3D71B9F02AFF52794ABC8
28EEF6408E556%26io%3D0%26ask%3Dbook%2Bfungus%26uip%3Ddcfd39e
e%26en%3Dte%26eo%3D100%26pt%3DErowid%2520Psychoactive%2520Vaults%2520%253A%2520Art
icle%2520%25234%26ac%3D24%26qs%3D16%26pg%3D1%26ep%3D1%26t
e_par%3D155%26te_id%3D%26u%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.erowid.org
%252fpsychoactives%252fmedia%252fpsychoactives_media2.shtml&bpg=http
%3A%2F%2Fweb.ask.com%2Fweb%3Fq%3Dbook%2Bfungus%26o%3D1023
4%26page%3D1&q=book%20fungus&s=a&bu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.erowid.org
%2fpsychoactives%2fmedia%2fpsychoactives_media2.shtml&qte=0&o=10234&
abs=Chicago%20Tribune%20-%20Book%20Fungus%20Can%20Get%20You%20High%2C%20April%201216%2C%201997...&tit=Erowid%20Psychoactive%20Vaults%20%3A%20Article
%20%234&bin=&cat=wb&purl=http%3A%2F%2Ftm.wc.ask.com%2Fi%2Fb.htm
l%3Ft%3Dan%26s%3Da%26uid%3D083A82EA401322524%26sid%3D12FED
2EA401322524%26qid%3D71B9F02AFF52794ABC828EEF6408E556%26io%
3D%26sv%3Dz6f537207%26o%3D10234%26ask%3Dbook%2Bfungus%26uip
%3Ddcfd39ee%26en%3Dbm%26eo%3D100%26pt%3D%26ac%3D6%26qs%3D16%26pg%3D1%26u%3Dhttp%3A%2F
%2Fmyjeeves.ask.com%2Faction%2Fsnip&Complete=1
4.Another website carried a summary of the same story from January 1996:
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:OM1Z__8o25AJ:members.cox.net/sherloc
k1/1996.txt++intoxication+might+follow+inhalation+of+spores+from+mould+fun
gi+in+libraries.+&hl=en:
From the N.Y. Times News Service, via Paul Martin: "the state of
euphoria a historian experiences when unearthing a long-forgotten
manuscript may be chemically induced”, according to Linga Franca
magazine. It cites a report in The Lancet, a British medical journal. A
fungus that grows on moldy books apparently releases spores when
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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disturbed, and the airborne spores can induce hallucinations.
Dermatologist R. J. Hay of London suggests that 'It is not inconceivable
that intoxication might follow the inhalation of spores from suitable mold
fungi in libraries.' Bibliophiles do sometimes act strangely, and it's nice to
know why . . .
5.It was picked up in inCite, the newsletter of ALIA, as well in 1996, at:
http://www.alia.org.au/publishing/incite/1996/01/your.voice.html.
A question from a student for Graeme for next week: Do a person's hair
and fingernails continue to grow after death?
Contents:
1.Introduction.
2.Readings.
3.Common dilemmas of the reference interview.
4.Studying the reference interview.
4.1.Materials-centred readers’ advisory service.
4.2.Model development.
4.3.Technology driven interviews.
4.3.1.Examples of the services.
4.3.2.Are these services different and do they warrant the effort
and cost?
5.Steps in the reference interview.
5.1.Initial question negotiation.
5.2.The search.
5.3.Closure.
6.Constraints on the reference interview.
7.Examples of reference interchange.
8.Traditional reference services.
8.1.The reference ‘desk.’
8.2.The reference collection.
8.3.Statistics.
8.4.Staffing.
8.5.Telephone enquiries.
8.6.Electronic sources and reference service.
9.Emerging services.
10.Examples.
11.Evaluation of reference services.
11.1.What evaluative questions need to be asked?
11.2.How does bad service impact on a service?
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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1.Coverage
To wind up our discussion of access to knowledge by reference, this lecture
deals with three important elements of information provision at the level of
institutional practices: the chosen form in which to conduct the reference
interview, the resources and systems to manage the interaction, and measuring
the effectiveness of them.
2. Readings
Readings digitised by the Library:
The chapter by Grogan gives a very thorough overview of all that is involved, as
does Mills. As a minimum you are advised to read Grogan, Mills, or Ross. The
amount of material included here may seem overwhelming but the reference
process has been represented in the literature as very important. There are an
enormous number of publications about this area.
Emerson, K. (1977), ‘Statistics Definitions’ in ‘National reporting on reference
transactions’ in RQ, Vol. 16, No.3 pp.199 -207. [electronic resource]
Ferguson, C. D. and Bunge, C. A. (1997), ‘The shape of services to come:
values based reference service for the largely digital library’ in College and
Research Libraries, Vol.58, No. 3, May, pp.252-265. [electronic resource]
Grogan, D. (1992), ‘The reference interview’ in Grogan, D. (1992) Practical
reference work, (2nd ed) Library Association Publishing, London, pp.63109. [electronic resource]
Grover, R. and Carabell, J. (1995), ‘Toward better information service:
diagnosing information needs’ in Special Libraries, Vol. 86, No. 1, pp.1-10.
[electronic resource]
Isenstein, L. J. (1992), ‘Get your reference staff on the STAR track’ in Library
Journal, April 15, pp.34-37. [electronic resource].
Janes, J. (1998), ‘The Internet public library: an intellectual history’ in Library hi
tech, School of Information, University of Michigan, Pierian Press, Michigan,
Vol 16, No. 2, pp.55-68. [electronic resource]
Jennerich, E. Z. and Jennerich, E. J. (1997), ‘The actor's tools’ in Jennerich, E.
Z. and Jennerich, E. J. (1997), The reference interview as a creative art, (2nd
ed) Libraries Unlimited, Engelwood, Colorado, pp.9-26. [electronic resource]
Mills, J. J. (1992), ‘The reference process’ in Mills, J. J. (1992), Information
resources and services in Australia, Centre for Information Studies, Charles
Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, pp.7-19. [electronic resource].
Missingham, R. (1999), ‘Where in the world is all the information? A national
reference service: new opportunities’, Paper to RAISS 1999 & Beyond
Conference. Available in http://www.csu.edu.au
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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Richardson, J (et al) (2000), ‘Ask a Librarian' electronic reference services: the
importance of corporate culture, communication and service attitude’ in LASIE
December, pp.25-37. [electronic resource]
Ross, C (et al) (2002), Conducting the reference interview: a how-to-do-it
manual for librarians, Facet, London. pp.1-21 [electronic resource].
Taylor, R. S. (1968), ‘Question negotiation and information-seeking in libraries’,
in College and Research Libraries, Vol. 29 May, pp.178-194. [electronic
resource].
Other readings (more are cited in the notes too):
Bopp, Richard E and Smith, Linda C (1995) Reference and Information
Services: an Introduction. 2nd ed. Englewood, Col., Libraries Unlimited.
Katz, William A. (1997) Introduction to reference work. 7th Ed. N.Y. McGraw
Hill.
The Future of Reference Services. Papers presented at the 2002 ALA Annual
Conference, Atlanta in the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA)
program http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/futureofref/futurereference.htm.
Gebhard, Patricia (1997) The reference realist in library academia. Jefferson,
North Carolina.
Guidelines for the Introduction of Electronic Information Resources to Users.
Approved by the Reference and User Services Association Board of Directors,
ALA, June 1997 At:
http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/referenceguide/guidelinesintroduction.h
tm.
Kuhlthau, Carol (1993) Seeking meaning: a process approach to library and
information services. Norwood, N.J. Ablex.
Kuhlthau, Carol (2004) Seeking meaning: a process approach to library and
information services. 2nd ed. Westport, Conn. Libraries Unlimited.
Library Trends (1998) 47 (1) Summer - Issue covers ‘Service to Remote Users’.
Marchionini, Gary (1995) Information-seeking in electronic environments.
Cambridge, New York : Cambridge University Press.
Owen, Tim. (2003) Success at the enquiry desk: successful enquiry answering
– every time. 4th ed. London, Facet Publishing.
Review of National Library of Australia’s Reference Service.
See report at: http://www.nla.gov.au/refreview/refreview.html.
Richardson, John V. (1995) Knowledge-based systems for general reference
work. San Diego, Academic Press.
3.Common dilemmas of the reference interview
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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The reference interview has been discussed by thousands of authors. Sutton for
example (1995 in Bopp and Smith, p.36) defines it as
a conversation between a member of the library reference staff and a
library user for the purpose of clarifying the user’s needs and aiding the
user in meeting those needs.
This ‘conversation’ is unlike most others in that it is necessary to clarify the
user’s needs. Often the conversation takes place online now. Ranganathan is
famous for describing reference service at Madras University Library in the mid20th century in language that seems quaint now:
The exact enunciation of the problem is often difficult of achievement.
The enquirer himself has often only vague notions about it. The first few
questions elicit only a very general statement of his wants. It is usually
far wide of his actual needs. Several solutions have to be brought up to
him. To one after another he says, ‘Not this, not this.’ In this way the
reference librarian has to narrow down the field for search step by step.
The difficulties of the enquirer in giving an accurate straight statement of
his needs are often due to genuine and unavoidable causes. He might
have come across the problem in a casual conversation or in listening to
a lecture or during the study of a book, not giving the reference correctly.
The title of the document sought by him might have been reconstructed
by him or by others for him, out of some terms occurring on the title page
or in the text. Sometimes the enquirer might be interested in a particular
aspect of a book; and he might give it a title of his own just representing
that aspect. With the result he really asks the reference librarian for a
book that does not exist at all. Even in such cases it is not proper to turn
him away. A few minutes of discussion with him will disclose his actual
need. (Ranganathan, S. R. (1961) Reference service. 2nd Ed. Bombay,
Asia Publishing House, p 373).
There is disagreement about how widespread imperfect expression of the
question or problem is. Grogan for instance states (without evidence) that the
majority of users ‘know exactly what they need and ask for it clearly’ (p 63).
Evidence rather than mere assertion is provided by Mary Jo Lynch in her 1977
survey of practice in public libraries: only 50% of requests resulted in a
reference interview and only 13% of these interviews would have altered the
initial query. (Cited by Sutton, in Bopp and Smith p37). Given the context of
these findings however (where less than perfect service was uncovered) there
was probably a need for greater use of reference interviewing than the figures
show.
Two common forms of imperfect expression are:
1.Asking a very general question when something specific is really wanted.
2.Anticipating the answer by the searcher asking for a particular title believed to
contain the answer, rather than stating the real need.
Reflection:
Think about a time when you have wanted to know something or needed advice
from a librarian, retailer, public official or medical practitioner. How have you
gone about asking? What difficulties were there and how did you overcome
them? Or were you able to state your information problem succinctly and
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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completely at the first attempt? Did you have confidence in the knowledge of the
person you were asking for information?
4.Studying the reference interview
Jennerich has identified three aspects of study of the reference interview and its
development:
4.1.Materials-centred readers advisory service and the adult education
movement.
4.2.Model development and the incorporation of interview techniques from other
disciplines.
4.3.Technology-driven interviews in which the librarian is an intermediary
between patron and machine.
4.1.Materials-centred advisory service and adult self-education
Readers advisory service was closely related to the desire to support selfeducation activities and to improve reading tastes. Questions from a searcher in
this aspect include personal advice on what is worth reading. Grogan’s Case
studies in reference work give examples of this kind of service in action, where
specific basic reference sources (e.g., the handbook) provide specific types of
knowledge. It is difficult to distinguish ‘guidance in the choice of books’
(Rothstein 1961) from ’supplying information out of books’.
4.2.Model development, incorporation of interview techniques from other
disciplines
There was from the 1960s-1980s an incredibly rich and prolific phase of writing
and discussion which still continues to a lesser degree; it borrowed heavily from
communications studies, education, social work, some aspects of medicine, and
psychology. Librarians devoted so much earnest attention to the reference
interview that it provoked the inevitable reaction. Hauptman, Robert (1986) ‘The
myth of the reference interview’,The reference librarian 16, Winter 1986 p 47-52
is one such example.
An early, close examination of the reference interview was conducted by Taylor.
4.2.1.Taylor’s work on question negotiation
Taylor’s work includes the observation:
It is an obvious truism to every librarian who works at an information or
reference desk that inquirers seldom ask at first for what they want (p 185).
He also summarises a tendency by the professional to over-complicate a
straightforward approach from an enquirer:
an inquiry is looked upon not as a command, as in conventional search
strategy, but rather as a description of an area of doubt in which the question
is open-ended, negotiable and dynamic (p 179).
The theory he builds is based on interviews with special librarians and subject
experts in information centres, who described their interaction with their users.
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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Their observations are given support by the self-reporting on the process of
information-seeking and interaction with the library system of a group of
information science students. Many other researchers have used similar
research methods since then.
Reading
Taylor, R. S. ‘Question negotiation and information-seeking in libraries’.
From Taylor, p 182, note the following types of information need, which we
spoke of in lecture 2: visceral need (‘I think that I might want to find a
pharmacist’; conscious need (‘Where can I find out about painkillers?’);
formalised need (‘What are the effects of taking continuing doses of aspirin?’);
compromised need (‘What will the British Pharmacopoeia tell me about the side
effects of long-term use of acetylsalicyclic acid?’). What are the differences
between these 4?
Reflection
Why do information professionals often have to help searchers through to levels
three or four of information need? Can you think of examples from your own
experience either as a ‘searcher’ or information ‘provider’?
Taylor writes of 5 ‘filters’ through which many questions must pass:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Determination of the subject, topic, field,
Purpose, objective and motivation,
Personal characteristics of inquirer,
Potential relationship of query to the file organization, institutional
source,
5. Anticipated acceptable answers.
Discussion
Taylor wrote in 1968 that developments in information technology would allow
some but not all of these filtering processes to be made available to those
seekers of information who favour self-help. Do you believe that all 5 steps are
now catered to by IT? How close a match has been achieved?
4.2.2.Rettig’s model of the reference process
Another way of modelling the reference process is provided by Rettig and is
reproduced in the digitised chapter from Mills. (Figure 1.3 Rettig’s Model of the
Reference Process). It is a useful diagram in that it shows clearly how the
number of communications between patron and librarian are not limited; they
depend on a continuous process of feedback from the librarian to patron; and in
that the question and the sources of information are also included in the
process. There is continuity, and no implied finite life cycle.
4.2.3.Influences of other disciplines
The chapter from Jennerich is provided as an example of the influence of
counselling models and the influence of the Total Quality Management
customer service ideas on reference service.
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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Reading:
Read through these articles and try to envision the extent to which these
techniques apply in an environment where it is normal for questions to be
asked, with which you have some acquaintance already (e.g., children learning,
shops, service desks, market researchers, telecentres).
4.3.Technology-driven interviews with a professional as mediator
4.3.1.Available services.
Today many reference librarians have technologies to manoeuvre, before they
begin to address the substantive questions and searches. The study of the
reference interview has become a complex amalgam of user studies and of
studies of how effective the technologies are at interpreting and satisfying
search needs. It is unclear as to whether these technologies are effective in
every context.
Try out some examples of these new services for yourself. There are many of
them. I sample 4 here:
1.Ask Now! At:
http://asknowau.247ref.org/wcscgi/CDM.exe?SS_COMMAND=CUST_SUP&Cat
egory=AUNLA.
National, State and Territory libraries in Australia have joined forces to provide
Australia's first collaborative reference service. It is a pilot initiative of the
Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL). It extends currently available
library reference services using 24/7 Reference software.
If you ask a question and get a response in real time.
Questions are answered by professional librarians from these libraries:
National Library of Australia
ACT Library and Information Service
State Library of New South Wales
Northern Territory Library and Information Service
State Library of Queensland
State Library of South Australia
State Library of Tasmania
State Library of Victoria
State Library of Western Australia
National Library of New Zealand
National Library Board of Singapore.
The service is available from Monday to Friday, 9 am - 7 pm AEST, 8:30 - 6:30
ACST, and 7 am to 5 pm AWST.
The searcher needs to:




Type in name and email address.
Type a question in the text box.
Click on 'Connect'. Searchers will be asked to confirm an e-mail address.
Click on 'Continue.'
10
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:

Stay online and wait to ‘chat’ to a librarian.
The librarians will help with the inquiry, send useful web pages to look at, or ask
enquirers questions for more information. At the end of the session, the
searcher will receive a transcript with a list of URLs visited.
It is interesting to look at the list of topics in the category of ‘frequently asked
questions’ on the website in order to ascertain what the librarians will help with
(e.g., guidance only with student assignments) and will not (e.g., missing
persons). Anyone can ask a question. If the question is related to a specialist
subject area, the library may refer enquirers on to another library service.
2.A U.S. software demo at: http://www.vrtoolkit.net/gaylord.htm.
3.Monash Library online chat, at: http://vrlweb10.lssi.com/wcscgi/CDM.exe/monash?SS_COMMAND=CUST_SUP&Categ
ory=MONASH.
As with most such services, the times that it is available, and the extent of the
questions that can be asked, are limited. ‘Online Chat’ allows an enquirer to ask
a Monash University reference librarian for help with using electronic
databases, locating information on the web or in the catalogue, or with specific
research questions. Specialist questions may be referred to a specialist subject
librarian. The service is primarily aimed at answering general reference
questions, or questions on how to use an electronic resource. The sorts of
questions which the library expects to answer are listed:






Does Monash hold this book or journal title?
Where should I start my research on a topic?
How do I select the proper database to search? Once I select a
database, how do I do the search?
I'm having trouble connecting to the library's databases ...
I have looked in a number of places for my topic -- where else
should I look?
How can I find what's on Reserve for my unit?
The service is available Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm (AEDT) during
semester.
4.Another interesting development is providing reference services via VOiP
chat. This development is described in ‘Online librarian: real time/real talk; an
innovative collaboration between two university libraries’, a project that
Macquarie and Murdoch university libraries are involved in. It uses Microsoft’s
NetMeeting software which enables discussion to take place through voice over
the Internet. Read about it in Janet Fletcher, Philippa Hair and Jean McKay’s
paper at the 2004 VALA conference -http://www.vala.org.au/vala2004/2004pdfs/20FlHaMc.PDF.
4.3.2.Are these services different and do they warrant the effort and cost?
Do these systems add any value to existing services? Deakin University
Libraries investigated whether this form of assistance was worthwhile. It
reviewed the whole range of its information services, pointing to: a service titled
‘Ask a Question’ (web form service), off-campus e-mail, telephone, fax and post
mail, Deakin tele-conferencing and ‘Deakin Studies Online’, enquiry desk
11
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
services, and FAQ’s on its website.
Managers of the information services also noted a decline in the number of
reference questions overall, but since 1997 remained steady at around 34% of
total inquiries. They observed an increase in access, printing and general IT
questions about use of IT to access the libraries. Only 7% of questions to the
telephone service 7% were reference enquiries. They therefore concluded that
there was insufficient evidence that the benefits of online chat would outweigh
the costs of installing it. More information on this decision are available at:
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:5kaDV8bAn8J:www.caval.edu.au/wpr/crig/pa/CRIG%2520Forum%2520August
%25202003%2520Deakin.ppt+chat+or+not+to+chat+Deakin+University+site:au
&hl=en.
A number of other management issues are raised in the digitised article by
Joanna Richardson (2000). She try to assess whether an ‘Ask-a-librarian’
service online is any better than Internet search services line ‘Ask Jeeves’, or a
traditional search engine. In her view, design of the library website, and
workflow procedures around answering questions, are the most important
features of a good online service. She concludes that personal service from a
library (online or otherwise) is much preferred by most searchers (p 34).
This conclusion is borne out in studies of virtual reference services, by Rob
Procter, Ana Goldenberg, Elisabeth Davenport, and Andy McKinlay,
titled ‘Genres in Support of Collaborative Information retrieval in the virtual
library’ (1998), available at:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=cache:Lux5iBn2rQJ:www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~rnp/papers/iwc98/final.pdf+psychology+reference+interview+library:
We can see clearly the effect of the absence of a defined social space in
which a community’s members can congregate, and make themselves
and their activities publicly available to one another. For librarians, one
result is that the overheads of starting up a consultation -- establishing
the problem’s common ground -- are increased. By way of addressing
this, we argue that the design of a system to
support network reference consultation should acknowledge:
• the cues which operate within consultations;
• the situations which condition them or shape the practices within
which consultations occur; and
• the matching of genres, including media-based artefacts to
cues and situations.
Our investigation leads to three specific design recommendations.
1.First, librarians’ time is in short supply and their capacity to take part in
sustained, synchronous interactions is severely constrained by the
multiplicity of tasks in which they engage during the working day. They
might find it very difficult if the network consultation service denied them
the power to control their accessibility and manage their time. In these
circumstances, asynchronous media-based genres are likely to
play a particularly important role. Reference librarians might benefit from
novel genre-based approaches which would enable them to ‘fast track’
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
12
into a relationship with the user.
2.Second, both librarians and users would benefit from being able to
adapt genre systems to match the changing needs of the ongoing
consultation process, without sacrificing access to relevant artefacts such
as queries and their results. This emphasises the importance of the
integration of media and artefacts within the network reference
consultation environment.
3.Finally, it is important to encourage the peer collaboration evident in
the conventional library space, e.g., by making the user community’s
collective knowledge and experience more easily available. In this
context, resources such as FAQ lists are a particularly valuable low-cost
genre for the accumulation of information ‘capital’ and for making it
accessible on a community-wide basis. Indeed, our survey shows that
users rate FAQ lists relatively highly as a resource for resolving their
information retrieval problems.
From this early research into the ‘dichotomy’ between off-line and online, it
would seem that many valued features of real-life consultation flow over into
virtual space. The same conclusion was drawn by a 1999 IFLA study,
‘Discussion Group on Reference Work Report, The Virtual Reference Interview:
Equivalencies’, by Ann Viles, at:http://www.ifla.org/VII/dg/dgrw/dp99-06.htm. For
discussion, she suggested a few virtual equivalencies of non-verbal behaviour:
1. EYE CONTACT = "Ask a Librarian" symbol blinks once when the search
screen is first accessed.
2. SITTING OR STANDING AT THE REFERENCE DESK = "Ask a
Librarian" button is always in sight either at the bottom or top of the
search screen. Placing the mouse on the "Ask a Librarian" flashes a
message such as, "Have a question? Click here!"
3. SMILING = Screen design includes some whimsical elements--cheerful
color, silly cartoon, dancing animation.
4. NODDING = Return automatic acknowledgement to every client inquiry
such as, "Your question has been received and will be answered as soon
as possible." Return automatic links to help messages if the inquiry
transaction can not be completed.
5. LISTENING ATTENTIVELY = Provide information about the types of
questions that are appropriate for the online service and provide a
reference desk phone number for other questions. Provide a link to a
FAQ file. Respond as quickly as possible, either with the requested
information or a canned response explaining need for extra time or
reason for not answering.
6. TONE OF VOICE = Use different screen layouts, fonts, color,
capitalization, and animation to suggest tone of voice.
How effective do you think these suggestions would be for you?
5. Steps in the reference interview
5.1.Initial question negotiation.
5.2.The search.
5.3.Closure.
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
13
5.1.Initial question negotiation
This phase of the reference interview has been equated with the whole of the
interview in many instances. It is the phase Taylor’s article concentrates on, and
the phase at which techniques and theory from other disciplines have been
introduced.
5.1.1.Kinds of questions
Statistics on kinds of questions asked are kept in many libraries, sometimes
without any clear purpose. Categorising and counting the questions in various
categories can be useful to managers wishing to understand more about the
users of services offered. You should already have looked at Hjorland’s
Typology of Information Searches. How closely do others’ classifications of
questions repeat these categories?
5.1.1.1.Gebhart’s classification of questions.
 Informational and locational questions. (These are often called directional
questions and are distinguished from reference questions proper). Emerson,
K. (1977) ‘National reporting on reference transactions, 1976-78’ RQ I16, 3,(
Spring) p 199-207. Digitised.
 Known item requests.
 Factual information or simple subject questions. (These are often called
ready reference question, and are the ones most commonly used as a basis
for unobtrusive evaluation of the ‘correctness’ of answers).
 Subject searching. Gebhart pp 17 –21.
5.1.1.2.Katz’s Classification of questions.
Katz (1997 vol 1, pp 14 - 18) characterises questions somewhat differently.
Factual questions are more clearly separated from subject searching instead of
being included with simple subject. Subject searching is divided into specificsearch questions and research questions. Katz states (p 17):
A research query is usually identified as that coming from an adult specialist
who is seeking detailed information to assist in specific work. With the
exception of some academic and special libraries, this type of inquiry is a
negligible part of the total reference pattern in libraries ...
Research questions differ from other inquiries in that most involve trial -anderror searching or browsing, primarily because (a) the average researcher
may have a vague notion of the question but cannot be specific; (b) the
answer to the yet-to-be-completely-formulated question depends on what the
researcher is able to find (or not find).
Katz’ depiction of research questions seems flawed. His description of the
process involved in ‘researching’ research questions looks remarkably similar to
the processes involved in information-seeking in general, yet he restricts it to
‘adult specialists’ and states that it occupies ‘a negligible part’ of reference work.
His assumptions are questionable.
Katz does characterise questions as being concerned with data retrieval
(directional and ready reference) or document retrieval (specific search or
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
14
research questions), concepts familiar to you already, and providing yet another
way of looking at questions.
Discussion
Does this intense scrutiny of the nature of questions and classification of them
actually make information professional any better at helping users solve their
problem or resolve their information need?
5.1.2.Interviewing techniques
The purpose of the reference interview is to determine the nature of the
information need, and to determine the point of view, amount and level (e.g.,
technical, introductory, specialist) of knowledge required by the seeker in the
process of satisfying it. Writers vary about which interviewing skills are essential
and how they should be applied.
Katz for example tends to scepticism about the virtue of prescribing when
precisely to use open or closed questions. An example of an open question is:
‘Is there anything that I can help you to find?’ There is an infinite number of
possible answers. An example of a closed question is: ‘Do you want to see the
OVID databases?’ The answer will be either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, or a variation of them;
the question leaves little option for any other answer.
Katz is more inclined to think that an enjoyable experience of friendly
conversation about the topic will be effective than that there is a recommended
sequence of questions which should be employed. (Katz, vol 2 p 169).
Psychologically he may be correct.
Many professionals delight in telling yarns about amusing questions. For an
entertaining article which summarises a number of these, see:
http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusapubs/rusq/specialfeatures/rspawardwinning/199
81/1998.htm.
A range of the readings advise on questioning techniques and non-verbal
communication. Many of the techniques have been imported into the library
world from the fields of psychology, counselling and evidence-based medicine.
It is highly likely that the environments in which a library reference interview is
conducted will vary widely, sometimes within a single institution, and personal
style will ultimately influence the approach taken by the individual information
professional anyway.
Exercise
It may be of interest to consciously practice some of the techniques listed below
on your families, or colleagues in the course of your daily work. In preparation
you will have to read Jennerich, and Isenstein’s STAR (Systematic training for
accurate reference) article.
For yourself, try out:
Open questions,
Closed questions,
Neutral questions,
Active listening, or paraphrasing.
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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5.2.The search
During all of the time that the question negotiation process is proceeding
experienced reference librarians will probably be mentally matching the
unfolding query to potential sources of information. The trick is to not move
prematurely into the actual search process, to be systematic, patient, and
reflective.
The search process can be as simple as looking up a name and address in a
directory, or as complex as an interrogation of several printed or electronic files,
and consultation with other organisations or experts. It may be seen as
occurring only once, or repeated many times as the information need or
problem shifts in focus.
It can be modelled in order to appreciate each element, as Carol Kuhlthau
(1993) has done when she identifies five levels of mediation within reference
service in Seeking meaning: a process approach to library and information
service Norwood, N.J. Ablex p 138. The table is reproduced below:
Level of role
of
information
provider
Levels of Mediation
Description; features of each level
1. Organizer No Intervention.
Self-service search in an organised collection.
2. Locator
Ready Reference Intervention.
single fact or source search,
query/answer.
3. Identifier
Standard Reference Intervention.
subject search,
group of sources in no particular order,
problem/interview/sources.
4. Advisor
Pattern Intervention.
subject search,
group of sources in recommended order,
problem/negotiation/sequence.
5.
Process intervention.
Counsellor
constructive search,
holistic experience,
problem/dialogue/strategy/sources/sequence
redefinition.
Reflection
How do these five levels apply to different kinds of questions? How do they
mesh with practical service? Has level five stepped beyond the actual boundary
of information provision? Are they pie-in-the-sky in fact?
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
16
5.3.Closure
This phase of the reference interview should consist of full communication of
the results of the search together, with an invitation to return if not completely
satisfied. It can present problems if the perceptions of librarian and seeker
differ. Nolan enumerates the common reasons for closure of the interview
including:
1.The search has ended and enough information has been found.
2.The library cannot answer with its own resources (searcher referred
elsewhere).
3.The question requires the user to ‘extract’ the information from a range
of sources shown.
4.The librarian has run out of ideas for answering the question.
5.The librarian decides that enough time has been spent (institutional
guidelines often dictate this).
6.The user decides that the librarian cannot help.
7.The user does not like the response.
8.Costs involved in solving the problem are too great.
9.The user has been helped over a bottleneck in their search strategy
and is happy to go on alone.
(Nolan, Christopher W. (1992) ‘Closing the reference interview: implications for
policy and practice’ RQ, Summer).
Reflection
What other reasons might there be for closing the reference interview? Which of
the reasons given above are beyond the control of the reference staff member?
To sum up, here is an overview of factors affecting the reference interview.
6.Constraints on the reference interview
Organisational policies
The personality and skills of the
librarian
User skills and expectations
Amount of time permitted for each
request.
Method of dealing with telephone
inquiries.
Service levels to various categories of
user.
Readiness to refer to other experts
Approachability.
Interest in the user’s request.
Knowledge of the subject matter of the
request.
Knowledge of information sources and
the technologies to access them
efficiently.
Assessment of the reference librarian’s
ability.
Ability to articulate a question.
Studiousness of the user.
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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Physical factors
Collection related factors
Location of the reference desk in
relation to all other service points.
Comfort and attractiveness.
Costs, accessibility, size; others to be
described soon.
7.Examples of reference interchange
Case studies from Anna Davis’s experience in the Matheson Library at Monash
are described here. Also listed is a number of reference inquiries that staff at
the State Library of Victoria handled early last year. (Quoted by Sian Prior in
The Age, March 10, 2003).
Example 1:
User: ‘Do you have any Asian Videos?’
Librarian: Yes we do. What kind of videos do you have in mind?
User: I’d like them in Japanese and in Chinese language.
Librarian: Well, we probably have some with subtitles in English.
User: No, I want them to be about Japanese language teaching.
Librarian: Oh, I’m sorry I was thinking of Chinese film. Yes, We can search
the catalogue for Japanese Language.
Types ST JAPANESE LANGUAGE. Note that STUDY AND TEACHING will
not be necessary because the format command will be applied next -- FO
VIDEO. A small list appears, and it is at that stage that the user reveals that
videos to support the teaching of Japanese language to primary school children
is what is wanted. Fortunately there is something relevant in the catalogue.
Example 2:
User: Can you tell me where I can find this book? [123 of Australian animals]
The catalogue says ‘Item status not available.’
Librarian: Let me just check the catalogue. I should be able to help. (The
catalogue reveals that the item is a short booklet by Steve Parish housed in the
Lindsay Shaw Collection which is a collection of children’s literature in the Rare
Books Room.)
Librarian: the item is available but you would need to fill in a form so that we
could get it for you. How were you planning to use this item?
User: I’m looking for pictures of Australian animals to photocopy. Everything
I’ve looked up in the catalogue is at Frankston!
Librarian: Oh, let’s look in the Australian Encyclopedia to see if any of the
pictures in it are what you would like. If not, we can try some other words in the
catalogue to see whether perhaps mammals or names of particular animals
might work. (Other strategies might be?)
Further examples of typical questions at Matheson Library reference desk.
1.I need some pictures of decadence in the late 19th century.
2.What has been the influence of fire on Australian art?
3.I’ve heard that 18 year olds were given the vote in Australia as a result of
conscription. Is this the case?
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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Examples from the State Library of Victoria:
1.information about euromuscular re-training therapy as it applies to the
condition of irritable bowel syndrome.
2.information about someone who was a Royal Melbourne Show prizewinner
some time between 1920 and 1922, in the cheese section.
3.books about 'snoezelen' (sic), a multi-sensory environment designed to
stimulate and entertain the senses of individuals with developmental disabilities.
4.statistics on how many Buddhists there were in Australia 50 years ago.
5.plans for a working model of a lighthouse.
6.information about a chemical product used for treating footrot in sheep in the
1930s.
7.instructions on how to make a billy-cart. (Quoted by Sian Prior in The Age, 10
March 2003, Part 2, p1).
More detail of the virtual library environment will be covered next week.
8.Traditional Services
As already noted, the provision of reference service involves acknowledgment
by a library or information service, that staff and facilities need to be set aside
for the purpose of doing reference work; services must be planned and
budgeted for. Reference service is supplied to both individuals and groups.
When supplied to individuals it has mostly been from a reference or information
desk, although consultation with individuals in an office environment has also
been part of the service. It also consists of many supporting activities such as
the collection of resources and the preparation of guides. Information analysts,
business analysts and knowledge brokers work in much the same way in
private enterprise.
8.1.The reference ‘desk’
There were, in the seventies and eighties a number of articles discussing such
factors as location and design of the reference desk. A picture of good practice
emerged. Libraries need an approachable reference desk where users and staff
can be comfortable, able to share a working surface and access to a computer
screen, and not too far from the information resources needed.
Anne Lipow (2005) makes a significant argument that the point of contact of
searcher and provider is still all-important, whether or not it is face-to-face:
The phenomenal growth of virtual reference services in both public and
academic libraries, the establishment of tiered services that fill a range of
information needs from those of the independent user, who wants to be
taught to those who want only the answer now, and collaborative
experiments, leave no doubt that point-of-need library reference service
will thrive. It will no longer be an afterthought but will take center stage as
the user's point of human contact with the library and the world of
information.
She has other interesting comments about the contradictions of the reference
desk in her paper to ‘The Future of Reference Service’ RUSA program at ALA,
2005. At:
19
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/futureofref/pointofneed.htm#2.
8.2.The reference collection
This typically now includes a large variety of electronic resources, which may
have special technology to view full texts, as well as the traditional books, CDRoms of old. Policies for what is to be included in a reference collection must
consider factors such as value in answering potential inquiries, degree of
subject specificity, currency of material, and authority of the source into
account. These evaluative criteria were covered in week 2.
A subset of materials used frequently for answering ‘ready reference ‘ questions
is often kept close to the reference desk, and by analogy, ‘Ready Reference
Bookmarks’ may be kept on librarians' computers, and today most libraries
include electronic reference links on their home pages, e.g. http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/ikiosk/ -- which lists:
* Biography
* Books, journals and publishers
* Chat, blogs, discussion lists, newsgroups
* Countries and governments
* Dictionaries and reference tools
* Employment
* Learning and teaching
* Libraries and library catalogues
* Mathematical and scientific tables
* Money and finance
* Newspapers and media
* Organisations and societies
* Phone books and postcodes
* Search the Internet
* Sport, entertainment and recreation
* Statistics
* Time and calendars
* Transport and travel
* Weather
* Writing, citing and copyright.
8.3.Statistics
Reference departments keep statistics on their activities in various degrees of
detail. The most elementary is to count individual transactions and divide them
into directional and reference questions only. Hourly counts are sometimes
made, particularly if impressions of low demand at some periods are in need of
confirmation.
Exercise
Look at the digitised pages from the Emerson article on the reading list, and
consider how useful the collection of those categories of statistics would be
useful to you as a library manager. In what ways? Can you see any problems
with the categories or instances where directional queries might ‘transmute’ into
reference queries? What might be gained by keeping such statistics over time?
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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8.4.Staffing
Reference departments are typically staffed by a combination of professional,
para-professional and clerical staff. Student assistants rarely work at reference
desks in Australian academic libraries, but it is very common in the United
States. There has been a long-standing debate about the roles of professional
staff compared to para-professional staff in serving the public in a reference
capacity.
Succinctly stated the two sides of the argument are:

Staff at reference desks should all be professionally qualified
because professionals are better at recognising when a
reference interview is needed and can spot complex queries
better than less well qualified staff. Therefore, they will refer
more sensibly and users will get better service. They understand
professional responsibilities.

It is a waste of money to staff reference desks solely with
professional staff. Good attitudes to their work and adequate
training will ensure that para-professionals can do as good a job
as professional staff. Users with complex questions expect to be
referred anyway.
8.5.Telephone inquiries
Every service will need to consider carefully how to deal with telephone
inquiries. If an organisation is large enough and receives many calls, a
dedicated telephone inquiries service will achieve two purposes. The phone
inquirer will receive prompt service, and on-site inquirers will not have
interactions with reference staff constantly interrupted by phone calls.
8.6.Electronic sources and reference service
Recently there have been several challenges to continuing to provide any
service from any sort of physical reference desk at all. Some are: the growth of
CD-ROMs/online databases, and self- searching; increasing amount of
resources available on the Web, and the proliferation of online sources with
different search interfaces; the enormous growth in remote searching. It is
interesting to note that the UTS Library in 2003 introduced ‘Rovers’ (Year 2 and
above students) to assist at their City campus with IT problems; logging into
computers, and using the Library’s website. They wear orange T-shirts with
‘ask@library’ on the front and back. This is a form of service support that has
been tried several times; it is worth evaluating.
Whenever new services are added to any organization, it is important that the
changes are managed well. There are some very down-to-earth ‘Guidelines for
the Introduction of Electronic Information Resources to Users’,
prepared by the Management Committee of the Machine-Assisted Reference
Section, Reference and User Services Association, American Library
Association, to be found at:
http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/referenceguide/guidelinesintroduction.h
tm.
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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These guidelines are intended to assist information services librarians who
provide and publicize new electronic information resources including online
search services, compact disk search services, Internet sites, World Wide Web
products, online public access catalogs/systems, electronic texts, multimedia.
They recommend 5 straightforward steps:
1.Planning, Policy.
The library should examine existing procedures and policies to determine
whether they apply to the new service and, if necessary, develop new
policies and procedures. Licensing agreements or specific restrictions on
use will need to be evaluated. We return to this topic next week.
2.Staff Education.
The level of proficiency in the use of the new electronic information
resource should be established for each information service provider,
including full-time and part-time staff, involved in assisting users with the
service. Staff orientation and training for the new service should include
accommodation for various learning styles and may involve a
combination of hands-on practice, system tutorials, peer instruction,
outside trainers, and/or study of appropriate manuals or other
documentation.
3.Information literacy.
Library staff should also determine the extent to which the service should
be incorporated into existing user instruction sessions and programs and
the extent to which new instructional sessions or methods would be
helpful.
4.Publicity.
All library staff who interact with users should be fully briefed and
informed about publicity efforts prior to the implementation of those
efforts.
5.Assessment and Evaluation.
Adjustments in the provision of service for electronic resource should be
based on sound evaluation and assessment techniques including but not
limited to the collection of statistical data and surveys of user/staff
satisfaction with the resource.
If you are ever involved in planning change to a virtual reference service, a
much more detailed guide about how to undertake it is to be found in A.G.
Lipow (2003), The virtual librarian’s handbook, NY, Neal-Schuman.
Reflection
What do you think are the implications of the dismissal of ‘reference service as
place’. What is happening in different sectors, e.g., public libraries, large
organizations like government departments?
9.Emerging services
The article by Ferguson and Bunge makes several practical suggestions for
delivery of services to users on their terms rather than on the library’s terms,
including:
22
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:





integration of technologies,
holistic computing,
core services through the network,
making technology work for everyone,
collaboration across administrative lines (pp 258- 262).
In all of this change, the core values of equity and access for everyone, and
freedom of choice to ‘go it alone’, or to request help when it is needed, remain.
Discussion
Libraries need to maintain good relations with Information Technology
departments, or else to have very sophisticated departments of their own. Cooperation is essential to ensure that users have access to electronic resources
and authentication of users complies with licensing agreements. But Ferguson
and Bunge go further in thinking about integration. They conclude that the
practice of distinguishing between bibliographic resources and productivity tools
such as e-mail and word processing is an artificial one, and that libraries should
provide the full range of tools to users. A library workstation would become
indistinguishable from one in a computing laboratory. What do you think of their
ideas?
10.Examples of new services
1.Public Library and General Services E-mail Reference.
Read the article about the history of the Internet Public Library and note its link
with the School of Information, University of Michigan – one of the leading LIS
Schools in the USA, then visit the site, which is now 10 years old -http://www.ipl.org. It uses a quite a detailed form for users to ask a question:
http://ipl.si.umich.edu/div/askus/refformqrc.html. Would the form put people off?
How is the Internet Public Library different from a ‘real’ public library?
2.Examine the Virtual Reference Desk of ‘AskA+‘ services, listed at:
http://www.vrd.org/locator/index.html. This service is funded by a consortium of
very powerful institutions, mostly in the USA, both public and private, as follows:
Washington State University, Educational Resources Information Center,
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Florida International
University Libraries, Sea World/Busch Gardens, Eisenhower National
Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education, U.S. Department of
Education, Internet Public Library, University of Michigan School of Information,
Eastern Kentucky University, Washington University Medical School, Library of
Congress, NASA, National Information Center for Children and Youth with
Disabilities, The Math Forum, Swarthmore College, Urban Studies Laboratory,
Unicamp, Brazil, AnswerBase Corporation, AskMe.com, Convey Systems,
Expertcity.com.
Are the services freely available to anyone with an Internet connection? What
quality control is in place?
Reflection
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
23
Reference service delivered through the web is rapidly increasing. There is a
whole range of advice and information available in discussion groups and
bulletin boards as well. Try to explore how libraries have made use of these
sources of information. Do the general search engines tap into these sources at
all? Have libraries used these technologies well to disseminate information?
11.Evaluation of reference services
From the beginning of this subject we have raised evaluation as of vital interest,
beginning with criteria for the evaluation of individual sources of knowledge,
moving to a consideration of the value of different forms of individual information
service. (Remember: Large, Tedd, Hartley (2001), ch 10, ‘Search evaluation,’ in
Information seeking in the online age: principles and practice, Munich, Saur).
We now need to extrapolate further to consider methods for the evaluation of
entire service, or all services.
Millions of texts have been written about total quality management, and
improved customer services. In this last section of this lecture, we will focus on
just two broad ideas:
1. what evaluative questions need to be asked?, and
2. how does bad service impact on a service?
11.1.What evaluative questions need to be asked?
The key questions in evaluation revolve around consideration of:



output (work done by the institution),
outcome (how does a service improve its users?) and
customer relations (how satisfied do they feel?).
(See P. Hernon and J.R. Whitman (2001), Delivering satisfaction and service
quality; a customer-based approach for libraries, Chicago, ALA).
These concerns all help show how well any organisation is progressing. They
may be caste in relation to either organisational objectives or performance
measures. Some measures are quantitative, but they must always be
moderated with questions to people (staff and customers) about quality also.
(See Katz (1997), v 2, p 257). The types of questions involved in full measures
always include these, at least:
How much?
How many?
How economical?
How prompt?
How accurate?
How responsive?
How well?
How valuable?
How reliable?
How courteous?
How satisfied?
When answers to these questions are found in situ, in whatever form or
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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manner, then the evidence from them needs to be used to modify practice and
improve performance. To be effective over a long period, the process needs to
be continuous and cyclical.
A famous Melbourne evaluation published in 1978 was undertaken by Michael
Ramsden, titled Performance measurement of some Melbourne public libraries:
a report to the Library Council of Victoria. Melbourne: Library Council of Victoria.
It established some benchmark figures of reference service in public library
performance, some of which startled the professional community at the time.
The report is still quoted extensively (see:
http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/jrichardson/dis220/urt.htm).
11.2.How does bad service impact on a service?
Various studies indicate that a disgruntled customer does far more damage to
an organization, than any publicity of a satisfied customer might do good for the
same organization. Word-of-mouth is extremely powerful; on average a
dissatisfied person tells twice as many people about a bad experience as a
person tells about a good experience. 89% of dissatisfied customers will not use
a company a second time. See, e.g., a report at:
http://socap.org.au/html/s02_article/default.asp?id=64&nav_top_id=64&nav_cat
_id=142#.
It also costs an organisation 5 times more to lose a disgruntled customer than it
does to deal with a complaint properly in the first place. In Australia one in two
customers are dissatisfied with the ways that their complaints are handled.
Generally library users are much more satisfied with libraries than the general
public with all companies. Thus, a study of public libraries in NSW showed that
54% of visitors were ‘very satisfied’ with services, and ‘helpful staff’ were the
mostly highly valued attribute of the service (at 60%). (See M. Garlick, H.
Hoegh-Guldberg, ‘Measuring customer satisfaction: myth or reality?’ In
Australasian public libraries and information services, 11(2), June 1998, pp 6174, available at:
http://static.highbeam.com/a/australasianpubliclibrariesandinformationservices/j
une011998/measuringcustomersatisfactionmythorreality/).
Much the same sort of picture emerges in surveys of the Monash Libraries,
which are carried out regularly. The most recent was undertaken in 2003: see
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/surveys/customer2003/.
There were 2,666 responses from library users -- the second highest response
ever received to this survey -- which is done at 34 universities. Regular
evaluation facilitates monitoring and improvement of anomalies.
Monash Library users were asked to consider 34 statements (e.g., 'number of
computer workstations is adequate') and rate this statement in terms of its
importance to them, and then rate this statement in terms of how they thought
the library was performing. The statement which ranked most important for
library users in this survey was 'Library catalogue provides clear and useful
information'. Fifth in importance was that ‘Library staff provide me with accurate
answers’ to questions. The statement with the highest rank for library
performance was 'library staff treat me fairly and without discrimination'.
Interestingly, again the sixth most important statement was that ‘Library staff
provide me with accurate answers’ to questions.
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
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Further studies, such as ‘Characteristics and choices of public access Internet
users in Victorian public libraries’ by G. Hardy and G. Johanson, 2003, indicate
high levels of satisfaction with Internet use in public libraries. (See Online
Information Review, October 2003, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 344-358). The switch to
online services seems much appreciated. Public libraries provide one million
hours of Internet access at 240 locations in Victoria. 90% of people believed
that the libraries satisfied their Internet needs; 94% believed that staff
assistance was good. Read the full report for further details (see:
http://ccnr.net/pat/).
The help of Anna Davis and June Anderson in the preparation of these notes is
gratefully acknowledged.
Graeme Johanson, 11 April 2005.
Johanson, IMS5016, IMS3616, lecture 6, 11 April 2005:
26