Doing the Work of Reference: Practical Tips for Excelling as a Reference Librarian

Citation

Duckett, B. (2002), "Doing the Work of Reference: Practical Tips for Excelling as a Reference Librarian", Library Review, Vol. 51 No. 7, pp. 380-382. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.2002.51.7.380.3

As one who contemplates epistemological conundrums between reference enquiries, I could not fail to notice the word order of this book title: “Doing the Work of Reference”. Not, you notice, “Doing Reference Work”. What is this “Reference”, I wondered, that, or for whom, we “do”? “Aw, Shucks!” as Mark (“Twain”?) Herring might say. In his “cautionary note”, titled “Readin’, writtin’ [sic], rithmetic: reference desk redux”, Mark identifies the problem of poorly educated reference librarians and the remedial training we may have to do to bring new recruits up to scratch. Sobering thought that. But what is this “redux”? If the reification of “reference” confused me, it was nothing to that caused by Herring’s “redux”! Of course, those fortunate enough to have had a classical education will know that “redux” means that which leads or brings back, as did Jupiter and Fortuna, in Plautus was it, or Livy?

Mention of a classical education leads to Elaine Coppola’s article “Do you have any information on the Goth lifestyle?” or “How does a reference librarian keep up to date?” I suppose Goths had a classical education of a sort, but it was the non‐PC quote that “A good old fashioned liberal education” might indeed be the best preparation for reference work, that caught my eye. Sounded familiar, ah, Duckett 1989! Stieg 1980 also made a radical suggestion: “take courses or read widely”! I doubt, though, that any library’s training budget can be used for reading. James Morris‐Knower knows a thing or two about reading. James’ problem is that he is a non‐scientist working in a science library. (“Over half of all science librarians do not have science degrees”.) This is something “proper” scientists worry about. Naturally, James M‐K is concerned to rebut unfounded accusations of touchy‐feely English majors lacking analytical skills. His paper, “Phyllostachys Aurea – didn’t he work with Socrates?” (classical education again!) features in a section headed “Responding when unsure” – a scenario familiar to us all. On the matter of “Getting some assistance for ourselves”, Kirstin C. Hill considers how we can acquire subject knowledge for ourselves, though not before underlining my point “a good level of all‐round knowledge” and “a good awareness of current events” (Duckett, 1989, again. What a good book this is! And how widely read Library Review!)

There is nothing touchy‐feely about Peggy Keeran’s paper, even if it is about humanities librarians. “Humanists build new ideas and arguments based on studies done in the past”. Since much of the past has been lost because of the lack of adequate comprehensive reference tools, an informed use must be made of the new technologies to make good that loss. (Certainly the most IT‐sophisticated colloquium I ever attended was one of library historians – humanists every one!) It’s all a matter of paradigms, isn’t it? I particularly warmed to Frederick R. Reenstjerna’s piece on paradigms and metaphors. Our thinking is rooted in the past; of social and class assumptions about the nature of library and its users; classification systems based on obsolete ideas that subject categories are mutually exclusive; the fortress metaphor implied in physical organization; and failure to capture statistical data that reflect contemporary use. A touch over‐drawn, perhaps, and that’s a lot of my cultural baggage done away with; my identity even. Required new paradigms are: envisioning the library as a portal for both on‐line and in‐library service; accepting that knowledge is an open system; breaching our metaphorical fortress to provide a more personal service; and to match quantitative statistics with measures of quality.

Six authors and six articles mentioned so far. I fear the other 34 contributors and 21 articles will have even less justice done to them: Doing the Work of Reference is a very meaty book. The articles are grouped by broad topic and what follows is a quick scamper through. The first three articles are grouped under the rubric “Orienting function”. New recruits need to learn quickly the organization culture and adapt to the new demands and mores of a fresh clientele. “I got the job! Now what do I do?” is a title of one of the essays that sums it up. Tips and advice are given. The second trio of essays is on the theme “On the desk” and concerns customer services. “Going the extra mile: customer service with a smile” is followed by “Cooperation and competition at the reference desk” and an essay on teaching bibliography from the reference desk. Practical tips for facing “Our challenges” center largely on Internet and on‐line resources. “Responding when unsure” and “Getting some assistance for ourselves” are two sections mentioned earlier. “Looking at our users” treats of undergraduate perceptions of the reference collection and reference librarians, and reference assistance to remote users. The “Reaching out” section covers “Faculty: an essential resource” (indeed!); marketing the service through an outreach programme; and “Selling the library from the reference desk: service points as advertisement”. Featured in the section on “Working in a teaching library” are “The A, B, Z’s of bibliographic instruction” (using real‐life analogies to foster understanding); “Wake up that back row!” considers interactive library instruction, while a third essay describes a first‐year library instruction programme. The final section is “Serving the profession”, where the professional development of reference librarians (research, publication, services, etc.); developing and marketing professionalism (“Be all you can be” – another philosophical teaser!); and service to the profession are all considered. There is a keynote introduction and an index.

This heady mix of practice and philosophy is a welcome addition to the already rich fare from Haworth Press on reference praxis. Practitioners will gain much of value. Most enjoyable.