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Nicolette

Warisse Sosulski

Business LibrarianPortage District

Library

Staff LibrarianQuestionPoint

The Reference Interview:

They DO Still Ask Reference Questions

SO where do I get the gall to present on what all of us

do?

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About Me

. Delete text and place photo here.

BY DAY Portage District Library:• Biz Librarian• Reference & Database Collections• Mistress of Many Dewey Centuries• IB Liaison • > 10K desk hours

BY NIGHTQuestionPoint:• Public Librarian, US, UK• University Librarian, US, UK• Biz Librarian• Community College Librarian• Military Librarian• Spanish Public & Academic Chat Librarian• > 10K desk hours

Two of them in one day. That's more than I've had in, oh several months I think. Harvard doesn't generate actual reference questions, only just "Where's the bathroom?" and the kind where you point out the dictionary or encyclopedia. ---blog posting, http://altivo.dreamwidth.org/

An unpublished study of …Anaheim public library revealed that only 14.2% could be classified as “real” reference questions….

From Past-Present to Future-Perfect: A Tribute to Charles A. Bunge and the Challenges of Contemporary Reference Service by Linda Katz

"Hi. I'm doing a research project examining the use of art for social justice and forwarding counternarratives. Right now I am needing to do a lit review so am trying to get an understanding of the current discourse surrounding this question. Do you have any advice about promising Journals or Databases, or other suggestions to get started on the lit review process?"

I can’t find “botox” in the dictionary and I do not understand why because I am hearing on the news it has been found in babies’ stomachs.

I am supposed to go to a party dressed as a person from a country and I want to pick China and all the books keep having is pictures of maps.

But Why Would Reference Questions

Be Dying?

Physical Barriers

Physical BarriersDesk, Computers, Materials

Where is the librarian? Yep, she’s still there….

Psychological Barriers: Societal Messages

We all want to be INdePENdent

Psychological Barriers: Societal Messages

Psychological Barriers: Societal Messages

So when we are not we feel…..

Psychological Barriers: Ignorance

They don’t know to ask….

Psychological Barriers: Ignorance

They think they know what we offer…..

Psychological Barriers: Ignorance

But there is stuff in the back… online, in another format

Psychological Barriers: Ignorance

And our labels look like this

Reference Questions are Easy to Crowd Out

The day after everybody gets a Kindle for Christmas….

Reference Questions are Easy to Crowd Out

Reference Questions are not always asked—sometimes they are actually midwifed, and can die a-borning

--Nicolette Warisse Sosulski

Most ordinary people do not ask Reference Questions. Librarians ask Reference Questions --Nicolette….again!

Reference Questions are Easy to Crowd Out

In our quest to deliver good service, reduce waits, get to everybody as fast as we possibly can, and not be intrusive, could we be part of the problem?

!

The Reference Interview: Questioning TechniquesApproachability and Nonverbal CommunicationThe 4 R’s of ReferenceFollow-UpRUSA Behavioral Guidelines

Questioning Techniques

Open-Ended Questions

• What about [insert subject] would you like to find?

• Where have you looked so far?

• What kind of sources would you like?

• Tell me more about your topic.

Closed Questions

• Are you looking for books or articles?

• Do you want current or historical information?

• Do you want that in English?

• Did you look in the catalog?

Library Approachability

Research

Giving over 500 people a

questionnaire in which two very

similar people were pictured, patrons were asked to rate choose the more approachable

Dave Tyckoson Associate Dean

Henry Madden Library

California State University, Fresno

Overcoming Barriers: Approachability and Nonverbal Communication

Most Approachable

• Smiling 93• Eye Contact 90• Helping Another 12• Writing 10

Least Approachable

• Sitting 10• Using the Computer 10• Reading 5• On the Phone 1

Approachability Hierarchy

In fact, being on the phone was deemed even less approachable than having one’s back turned!

Dave Tyckoson Associate Dean

Henry Madden Library

California State University, Fresno

Increasing Rapport—Through The 4 “Rs”

Reassure Respond

• Yes, this is really quite a complex question (you are not an idiot)

• I can help you or get you somebody who can (you are not wasting your time)

• We could approach this from a sociology or a historical point

• We can find you examples and articles that will work

Dave Tyckoson Associate Dean

Henry Madden Library

California State University, Fresno

Increasing Rapport—Through The 4 “Rs”

Restate Repeat

• You need all the Chinese restaurants in Kalamazoo County

• Your teacher wants three web pages, two books and six articles

• You are working on a speech on why homework is bad for kids

• You are going to start in a keyword search in Psych info under “impact of depression”

• You have the biographies and those articles and that is where you need to be

• You remember how to get to Reference USA

What the Experts Say:The RUSA Guidelines

http://www.ala.org/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidelinesbehavioral

What the Experts Say:The RUSA Guidelines

The Reference Interview as Marketing Tool

“Fries with That Librarianship”

The Reference Interview as Marketing Tool

“Fries with That Librarianship”The Waitress:“Can I interest you in a cocktail?”

or better yet

“Will you be starting out with a Shrimpwreck Mary [a large, spicy, expensive Bloody Mary garnished by a skewer of three prawns instead of a stalk of celery] this afternoon?” “Can I show you our dessert tray? The Chocolate Molten Lava Cake is to die for, or we have fresh strawberries in a crème anglaise.”

The Reference Interview as Marketing Tool

“Fries with That Librarianship”1) The client does not know everything on the menu.2) The client might want something if s/he knew it was available.3) The client cannot order it if s/he does not know it exists.4) If the client learns something about the establishment that s/he did not know before, it makes the server look more knowledgeable.5) The client will have a higher experience with a wider knowledge of the riches on the menu.6) The higher experience will make the restaurant look better.

The Reference Interview as Marketing Tool

“Fries with That Librarianship”• ASVAB and GED book queries get taught Learning

Express—show a different resource type

• Series order queries are shown Fantastic Fiction, Books and Authors, or Novelist—show that the librarian has tools you can use immediately

• Investment Database Printing Problem is introduced to the Muffins and the Market group—push the programming

• Computer Support Problem on Possessed Bullet Points in Word is told about job search resources—they do not know what they do not know.

The Reference Interview Challenge

How many “real reference questions

can you create today?