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Reference Services |
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At
Vanderbilt's Peabody College, I fell under the spell of Fanny
Cheney, the renowned scholar of reference service, author of Fundamental
Reference Sources (1972) and literally thousands of book reviews as well
as a superb classroom teacher. I also recall, fondly, visiting her
second-floor office just off the Rotunda of Peabody's Library; it was
memorable because one hardly ever left without a book or two (or even three
on occasions). In
Lexington, Kentucky, Dr. Stuart
Forth recognized my potential and offered me my first post, that of
documents librarian, at the University of Kentucky's regional
depository library (but more about that under government
information). At UK, I was promoted to head interlibrary loan, worked on the
reference desk with Alexander (Sandy) Gilchrist, and made friends with all of
the university's scholars who needed resources outside our campus. I also
made some lifelong friends in the Library (including Joan Gatewood,
now senior associate librarian at the University of Michigan; the late Carolyn Hammer,
who introduced me to the King
Library Press as well as Gabriel Rummonds; and
Deanna Marcum)
and in the College of Library Science (including Ellen
Altman, Mike
Harris, Charley
Seavey, and Thomas
Waldhart). Lunches at the University Club during 1974 were
stimulating as Wayne
Cutler of the Polk Project joined us from the History Department and
we discussed the Watergate Hearings and finally the Impeachment of Richard M.
Nixon. At
UCLA, I was slow to develop this field of research until the late 1980s. In
any event, I have no doubt that my 1995/1996 academic year sabbatical at
OCLC's Office of Research
(lead then by the able Terry Noreault) as a Visiting Distinguished Scholar
provided me with the time to think and write about the role of expert systems
in reference services and to further elaborate a research agenda. Taking a
couple of classes in systems analysis while I was there proved well
worthwhile, too. Finally, I am especially proud of what Matthew Saxton has
done, under my supervision, in his doctoral work. We no longer have to
believe that reference work is half right--that's just wrong for interesting
methodological reasons which you can read all about in URT (2002).
During my 2002 sabbatical, I served as the first Presidential Scholar for
Virtual Reference Service at Library Systems and Services LLC in
Germantown, MD, working closely with Steve Coffman,
Vice President for Library Support Services and one of our alumni. I
am increasingly interested in the assessment and evaluation issues related to
virtual reference (i.e., chat) such as time in queue, service duration,
content analysis or microanalysis of questions, as well as user satisfaction
as a result of my time at LSSI. Until
2012 when they named me an Outstanding
Reviewer, I had served on the advisory board of Reference
Services Review for 22 years (since 1990); I am now working on a book
about reference services. PUBLICATIONS “eBook Readers: User Preferences Among the Top Five
Readers,” with Khalid Mahmood. Library Hi-Tech 30 (no. 1, 2012): 170-185
(pdf). “Impact of Web 2.0 Technologies on Academic Libraries: A
Survey of ARL Libraries," with Khalid Mahmood. Program: Electronic Library and Information Systems 45
(no. 4, 2011): 365-375 (online). "Good
Models of Reference Service Transactions: Applying Quantitative Concepts to
Generate Nine Characteristic Attributes of Soundness," The Reference
Librarian 50 (April 2009): 159 - 177. "Virtual
Reference Services: A Response to Disintermediation?" In Informatsionnye
Tekhnologii v Upravlenii
i Uchebnom Protsesse Vuza; Materiali 4-i Vcepossiickoi Ochno-zaochnoi-prakticheskoi
Konferenstii (15-17 October 2003), edited by A.
F. Kovalevskii (Vladivostok: Vladivostok State University of Economics and
Service Press, 2004), p. 246-247. "The
Future of Reference: The Intersection of Information Resources, Technology,
and Users [A Response to the 2002 ALA RUSA Forum Papers], Reference
Services Review 31 (March 2003): 43-45. (full
text available) "Frances
Neel Cheney (1896-1996)," with Robin Dodge. In Second Supplement to
the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Littleton, CO: Libraries
Unlimited, 2003): 47-48. Understanding Reference Transactions: Turning an Art into a
Science, with Matthew Saxton. Library and Information Science Series.
New York: Academic Press, 2002. (reviews and
ordering information) (full
text) "Conceptualization
of American Reference Service: Past, Present, and Future," In Spravochno-bibliograficheskoje Obsluzhivanie: Istorija, Sovremennoe Sostojanie i Perspectivy Razvitija [Reference
Service: Historical Development, Current State, and Forecasts]. Edited by
Yelena Zhabko. St. Petersburg, Russia: National Library of Russia, 2003, pp.
72-90. "The
Current State of Research on Reference Transactions," In Advances in
Librarianship, vol. 26, pages 175-230, edited by Frederick C. Lynden. New
York: Academic Press, 2002. "Reference
is Better Than We Thought," Library Journal 127 (15 April 2002):
41-42. (full
text) "Modeling
the Reference Process: A Systems Approach," College and Research
Libraries 60 (May 1999): 211-222; reprint ed., Understanding Reference
Transactions, chapter 7 and figures. (pdf
file) or (full
text) "Green,
Samuel S. (1837-1918)," In American National Biography, vol. 9,
p. 507. Edited by John A. Garraty. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. "Hutchins,
Margaret (1884-1961)," In American National Biography, vol. 11,
pp. 589-590. Edited by John A. Garraty. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1999. "Mudge,
Isadore G. (1875-1957)," In American National Biography, vol. 16,
pp. 48-49. Edited by John A. Garraty. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. "Question
Master: An Evaluation of a Web-based Decision-Support System for Use in
Reference Environments," College and Research Libraries 59
(January 1998): 29-37. (QM demo)
"Reference
Books: General," with Margaret R. Zarnosky. In The Reader's Adviser,
14th ed., vol. 1, pp. 80 - 118. Edited by David S. Kastan and Emory Elliott.
New York: R. R. Bowker, 1994. "Teaching
General Reference Work: The Complete Paradigm and Competing Schools of
Thought, 1890-1990," The Library Quarterly 62 (January 1992):
55-89. "The
Reference Process: A Linear or Dynamical System?" with Matthew Schall
and Nancy Stimson. In Research in Reference Effectiveness: Proceedings of
A Preconference, San Francisco, 1992, pp. 103 - 110. Edited by Marjorie
E. Murfin and Jo Bell Whitlatch. RASD Occasional
Papers, No. 16. Chicago: American Library Association, 1993 (1992 ALA RASD
Outstanding Paper Prize). "The
Logic of General Reference Work: Basic and Intermediate Level Knowledge"
In Libraries and Expert Systems; Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop
held at Charles Sturt University-Riverina, Australia, July 1990, pp.
7-16. Edited by Craig McDonald and John Weckert. London: Taylor Graham, 1991.
(1991 ALISE Research Paper Prize Winner) "Toward
an Expert System for Reference Service: A Research Agenda for the 1990s."
College and Research Libraries 50 (March 1989): 231-248; reprinted,
"Toward an Expert System for Reference Service: A Research Agenda for
the 1990s," In Expert Systems and Library Applications; An SLA
Information Kit (Washington, DC: Special Libraries Association, 1991),
pp. 95-112. In
addition, here are two websites which might save you some time searching for
other studies on virtual
reference (2002) and general
reference (2002). |
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