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| Format: | Recurso educativo Open Access |
|---|---|
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
1973
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED077532 |
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Table of Contents:
- Programming for Reference Service. Working Paper No. 8. College Libraries Information Dissemination Information Needs Information Retrieval Information Seeking Library Services Methods Reference Services Research Libraries A user contacts a reference librarian when he needs assistance to solve a methodological problem in getting information from the scholarly record. The reference librarian then takes on the user's problem. There are two responses the reference librarian can make: (1) teach the user how to access the scholarly record for his immediate purpose, or (2) provide the user with an "answer" to his problem. The latter only becomes justifiable if the reference librarian can respond in the user's problem-solving time frame. From this perspective then the reference librarian always has the obligation to explain the organization of the library and/or the organization of the literature. An "answer" is only provided if it is cost beneficial as judged from the user's time for both the user and the reference librarian. Thus in programming reference service the number of correct (or incorrect) answers is unimportant because the reference service has the obligation to reveal an organization, not an answer. Again from this perspective it is possible to plan reference service on a consistent basis throughout a library system; that is, it is not the complexity of the organization of the literature on which a reference service is based, but on the methodology for using the organization. The user has a defined responsibility to learn for himself if the librarian cannot respond within the user's problem-solving time frame. A protocol is suggested for estimating work loads utilizing the above perspective of reference service. (Author/NH)