Reference and Information Services: An Introduction (3rd edition)

Citation

Duckett, B. (2001), "Reference and Information Services: An Introduction (3rd edition)", Library Review, Vol. 50 No. 9, pp. 468-476. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.2001.50.9.468.6

This, the third edition of “Bopp and Smith”, is significantly larger than the earlier two – 134 pages more than the 1991 first edition. The basic structure remains, though most of the chapters have been rewritten while the remainder have been revised and updated. New ideas and methods in the provision of reference services have developed in recent years with a growing emphasis on delivering services which are user‐centred. Additionally, the rapid development of the World Wide Web with its numerous sites, links and search engines has revolutionized the way reference work is done and taught, and increases the options available to reference librarian and information seeker alike. Hence, more search strategy guidance has been added to the chapters on sources while the chapters discussing electronic services have been enhanced. I think the editors rather understate their achievement in saying that the aim of the book is “to provide the beginning student of library and information science with an overview” both of the concepts and processes underlying current reference service and of the most important sources consulted in answering common types of reference questions. On the one hand I am sure some students will be somewhat overwhelmed by this 600‐plus page heavyweight – the contents listing alone of this “overview” covers 11 pages ‐ while on the other hand I am sure even the most seasoned reference librarian and information services manager could learn much from this wide‐ranging handbook.

The first 12 chapters (Part 1) deal with concepts relating to present‐day reference work. Starting with an outline of contemporary reference services, a brief history is given, and a glimpse of likely future developments. The book then progresses through major areas of reference activity and introduces the reader to the concepts which underlie current practice. These include the ethical aspects of reference service (rights of access, protecting individuals, copyright, professional ethics); the reference interview (question negotiation, communication, angry or upset users!); and bibliographic control, the organization of information, and search strategies (including indexes and catalogues). This leads on to chapters on electronic resources for reference and on the Internet, search engines and Web directories. I did miss, though, accounts of current developments in e‐reference and virtual reference services, often known as Ask A services. Another chapter focuses on access to reference services, covering topics such as resource sharing, document delivery and standards. There is a chapter on instruction (methods, materials and administration); another on the evaluation of reference services; one on managing, organizing and delivering reference service; and finally a chapter on reference service for specific populations (e.g. ethnic groups, low literacy, physically and developmentally disabled people, and different age groups).

Part 2 features chapters on specific types of information sources such as directories, almanacs, yearbooks, handbooks, biographical sources, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, geographic and bibliographic sources, indexes and abstracts, and government documents and statistics. A chapter on the selection and evaluation of reference sources begins this part. Overall, this section is pretty impressive. Under Encyclopedias, for example, the text covers uses and characteristics, kinds of encyclopaedias, evaluation, selection, and search strategies. A table compares nine encyclopaedias by print, CD‐ROM/DVD, and Online editions. A total of 63 titles are noted with a dozen annotated references to further readings. Electronic resources and Web pages are liberally cited. Other topic chapters have even more sources noted. Although there is no subject approach and the sources listed are mainly North American, this part of the book usefully updates Peter Lea and Alan Day’s Reference Sources Handbook (Library Association) of 1996 as both a training guide and as a stock revision source.

A pretty standard layout is adopted with each chapter containing summaries, notes, lists of sources and additional readings. There is an author/title index (but not to the end of chapter bibliographies) and a subject index. The coverage, as already noted, is impressive with detailed, relevant and recent sources cited. The treatment, though, is strongly North American, with US imprint details and US subject orientation; US Government documents feature in the government sources chapter. There is no mention of the UK contribution to the history of reference work; little I could see of contemporary UK practice, of how it differs from US practice, or of anywhere else for that matter!

The book is a collaborative work with 20 authors in addition to the editors, 11 of them from the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign – obviously a reference powerhouse of some sort!It is a worthwhile addition to Libraries Unlimited’s Library and Information Science Text Series, and any student nurtured on this book should have the knowledge to be a most effective reference librarian. An observation I have is that the book is really two books, represented by the two parts: issues and sources. It should really be published as two books, as has been done by its close rival, Bill Katz’s Introduction to Reference Work (McGraw‐Hill), the eighth edition of which is due out now.