Library Visit Assignment

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Library Visit Assignment

An observation and personal experience of evaluating reference librarians at

Buley library & Trumbull library

Submitted by

Hanem A. Ibrahim

ILS-504-S70

Dr. Elsie Okobi

Fall 2009

Date of Submission

September 26, 2009


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Introduction

Reference interview is more an art than a science (Cassell, 2006: 15) It requires reacting

quickly, strongly, and positively to all different circumstances or events that form the

environment within the library, where patrons always need help. Each reference interview will

be different since each user and each question is different, the good reference librarian who canreact with all these differences strongly, and positively otherwise he or she will lose patrons

trust, and that is a big responsibility. With no mistakes, more focusing, the reference librarian

will be the solution for any problem patrons could face. Helping patrons and giving them the

feeling of satisfaction worth all the hard working of the librarian.

In this assignment, Im going to have the opportunity to write about how reference librarians

served me or the others patrons, Ill record my observation, and my personal experience with

them. I used the five main areas addressed in the RUSA guidelines (RUSA, 2004) as the basis

for my observations, and my personal experience, these guidelines are: (Approachability,

Interest, Listening/Inquiring, Searching, and Follow Up). I visited Buley Library (as an academiclibrary) and Trumbull Library (as a public library) and did the observation of reference interview

with the reference librarians of both libraries. I also discussed how the reference librarians at

both libraries are following the criteria for good reference behaviors, and services.

Reference interviews (Observations)

1- Approachability

The RUSA Guidelines state that staff behaviors should serve to welcome the patrons and to place

them at ease. As long as I was watching users coming or going to the reference desk, the

librarians at both libraries (Buley, and Trumbull) I noticed that the reference desk was easy to

locate, and patrons who need help could easily find their way to reference librarian. I noticed

also that there were one or two friendly librarians were welcoming all patrons with a nice smile

that encourages patrons to approach and ask their questions.

2- Interest

A successful librarian must demonstrate a high degree of interest in the reference transaction.

And that was what I noticed while I was watching reference librarian in both libraries, the

librarians showed interests in each patron's informational need , They were always facing the

patron when speaking and listening. I felt that the librarian were showing their willing to help, I

noticed that they were trying to communicate with their patrons using all kind of verbal and non-

verbal interactions, they were talking and signaling (pointing to the places where patrons should

go to find their information) they were moving around to find the appropriate printed reference

material from the ready to use reference collection near their desk, or through the internet, I saw


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them also walking with patrons to help them with finding some library materials, or fixing any

problem with the internet workstation, I noticed that if both librarians were busy helping other

patrons, they acknowledged others waiting for service by giving them an eye or word contact, or

hand signal to show them that they knew about them, and they will be served as soon as they

finished with the others, that happened especially when the librarians were answering telephone

calls, that will help the waiting patron not to feel board while waiting.

3- Listening/Inquiring.

According to RUSA guidelines, the librarian must be effective in identifying the patrons

information needs. Strong listening and questioning skills are necessary for a positive interaction.

Because I couldnt hear the conversations between the librarians and their patrons I couldnt say if the

questions asked by patrons were clear and understandable by the librarians or not but I felt like the

librarian were trying to listen to their patrons and they might tried to identify the needs of their patrons byasking them more questions to lead them to the answers,.

4- Searching

The guidelines state, Many of the aspects of searching that lead to accurate results are still

dependent on the behavior of the librarian. There were different search process used by the reference

librarian; at Trumbull library, I saw one of the librarians was helping an old patron searching for

something inside one of the reference collection (dictionary, or encyclopedia) They were also

lending some of their own reference collection (ready to use) at reference desk to some patrons

to use in inside the library and return them back to them after they finished.

At both libraries, reference librarians were trying to search the web for their patrons to find any

suitable information through the net.

5- Follow-up

That is the final and the most important point from all the RUSA guidelines, because it includes

the final reaction from both the librarians and the patrons, and if the librarians succeeded tofollow this guideline, theyll guarantee that the patrons will come back again and they will be

happy to be served by them. It is important to show the patrons your interest even after you

finish with them. Following up encourages patrons to return if they have any further questions,

referring them to other sources or institutions, and consulting other librarians or experts in the

field also can help. Through my observation for the reference interviews at both libraries, I


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noticed that all them ended from patrons with the word thank you or thanks anyway that

mean the librarian did satisfy their patrons, or at least made them feel that they did their best to

do so. I couldnt recognize if the librarians asked patrons whether or not their questions have

been completely answered. I saw some patrons were coming back to the same librarian in each

library for more help, but I didnt see the librarians go to the patrons to follow up if they are

satisfied with their services.

Reference interview (Personal Experience)

1- My reference Interview at Buley library

Because of my own background, and the lack of experience dealing with the whole

library system at Buley library as a new student with some language difficulties, the librarians at

Buley library tried to understand and respect my culture, they helped me when I had trouble

asking questions, so I always find my way to the reference librarians to ask them for help, I

found most of them were nice and easy to deal with, I learned a lot from them, they taught me

how to use the library web site and lots of other searching methods.

The problem in this experiment was that I hadnt much to ask them to help me with for this

specific assignment. The difference between this interview and the past personal interviews was

that I was doing this interview after I knew all about the reference interview criteria they should

follow, I concentrated more on evaluating their behavior, not on my question, I was not asking

them for help as a patron only, but I also was judging and evaluating them at the same time.

After I did the observation, I preferred not to introduce myself and ask them about this

assignment, I didnt want any special treatment, so I asked one of them about how to locate some

unavailable books within the library stock

As soon as I approached the reference desk the reference librarian welcomed me with a

comfortable question (How can I help you?) She succeeded to identify my question, by asking

me about the subject I was looking for. I felt like she understood my question, which made mefeel comfortable, and open the door for me to discuss more relative information about my

question.

The librarians should establish initial eye contact with patrons, and demonstrate interest

to their question. The librarian was facing me while I was speaking to her in the beginning and


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she was listening to my question, and then she was busy with the computer searching, she

referred me first to the online library catalog trying to find more resources for me that would

answer my question.

The reference librarian should have strong listening skills, and that affected my personalinterview with the reference librarian at Buley I told the librarian that I did the same catalog

searching she was doing for me, but she seemed like she didnt listen carefully to what I said. I

repeated my first question again and explained to her that some resources were not available to

user, they are in (library stock) I referred her to the searching I was doing, and pointed to one of

the computer units near the reference desk where I was sitting , but she didnt move from her

desk to see what Im talking about, she only gave me a request form to order this item which I

was looking for, and told me that I should give her back that request form after I fill it out.

As I got more familiar with the library resources available online, I always do the online

searching by myself first before I ask the librarian, and that what most of students do, so in my

opinion the first question should be asked by reference librarians at the academic libraries is

Did you try to search for your question before?If the answer is Yes the librarian should start

from what the users ended up with , because it will be wasting the time and efforts. The librarian

didnt ask me that question, she went on searching on her computer, and it was her first tool to

help me with. I let her start from the beginning, and I waited till she got the results, I thought it

might be different than what I did before, but it was the same, she didnt try to go through all of

them like I did, and she gave up from the first page of the results, unfortunately , that was

wasting of my time, she didnt add anything new to my searching, and she also didnt introduce

any other searching tools beside the library catalog.

The reference transaction does not end when the librarian leaves the patrons. The

librarian is responsible for determining if the patrons are satisfied with the results of the search, e

librarian also is responsible for referring the patrons to other sources, even when those sources

are not available at their local library.

After I thanked the librarian when she gave me that form, I didnt feel satisfied, however I got

an answer to how to locate that unavailable items, but I expected more than that. As a good

reference librarian, she should come with me to see the search I was doing and she might come

up with another suggestion that would help me better than filling that form and waiting more


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days to get it. After I thanked her, and returned back to my seat, she didnt get back to me to

see if that all what I needed? She didnt offer any more interest after I left , also she didnt ask

about the request form which I didnt fill it out, and she didnt follow up by asking me "How is

your search going?" or Is there anything I could do for you? That might encouraged me to ask

for more assistance.

2- My reference Interview at Trumbull library

Reference librarians at public libraries should have special skills to respond to all the

information needed by the members of their community, they should have the most current

reference materials that help their patrons. For my face to face interview with Trumbull

reference librarian I chose a ask a question concerning the information about Trumbull, I asked

the librarian on duty an open ended question ( it is also true) : I want to buy a house in

Trumbull, what information could help me to know more about the houses in Trumbull, and

about the town?I thought with that question, I could get the most complete information I could

ask for.

As I mentioned before there were two available reference librarians at the reference desk,

which is located in a special place inside Trumbull library, they were greeting and welcoming

their patrons with a nice smile. The librarian offered me her help, and encouraged me to ask that

questions.

The librarian should ask patrons to clarify their word if they didnt hear them well. That

what happened when I first asked my question, the librarian asked me to repeat my question

again to make sure she listened to my question correct. I thought she heard all the words of my

question, but she concentrated only on the last part of my question, which is the information

about the town, and that distracted her from following up what she heard when I answered No

to her closed- ended question: Did you try looking at the real state web pages for house on

sail? That No didnt stop her from searching for the missing pamphlet she was looking for,

she was talking to the other librarian who was listening to our conversation, trying to find the

latest information about the town of Trumbull but online. I was focusing with the first librarian

who was helping me, and I didnt get the chance to know how the other librarian was doing to

get that information from the web.


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would succeed to build more trust between the library and their patrons, then the visit to the

library would be the best way to feed the patrons with the information they desired.

In this assignment I was the judge and the patron at the same time ; Ive never evaluated

reference librarians before, I used to ask them any questions I had trouble finding their answersby myself, Id be happy if they helped me finding the satisfying answer, but if not I never asked

myself why? I might not go back to the same librarian to ask him or her any question in the

future, but again I didnt know why. Now after I knew all about the reference guideline and the

criteria for good reference behavior and services, I found out the answer for those Whys. The

evaluation experience I gained from this assignment will help me a lot if I had the chance to

work as a reference librarian, then I will be judged by myself before patrons judge me.

Reference :

1- Reference and User Services Association. (2004). Guidelines for BehavioralPerformance of Reference and Information Service Providers. Retrieved Sep. 25, 2009from :http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidelinesbehavioral.cfm

2- Cassell, K.A. & Hiremath, U. (2006) Reference and Information Services in the 21stCentury: An Introduction. New York: Neal-Shuman Publishers.

3- Do We All Look Alike? The Patrons View (2008) Retrieved on 09/ 23/ 09 from

http://www.librarystudentjournal.org/index.php/lsj/article/viewArticle/96/174
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidelinesbehavioral.cfmhttp://www.librarystudentjournal.org/index.php/lsj/article/viewArticle/96/174http://www.librarystudentjournal.org/index.php/lsj/article/viewArticle/96/174http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidelinesbehavioral.cfm

Library Visit Assignment

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