Reference Evolution

REFERENCE EVOLUTION: ENVISIONING THE FUTURE, REMEMBERING THE PAST
Preconference at ALA Annual Conference, Wash. D.C.

http://sites.google.com/site/referenceevolution/
Amy VanScoy (PHD candidate University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Joseph Janes (The Information School at the University of Washington, founder Internet Public Library)
Kathleen Kern (University of Illinois at Urbana, author of Virtual Reference Best Practices – ALA Editions, 2008).
Stephen Francoeur (Baruch College in New York, Digital Reference blog & Teaching Librarian website)

http://plablog.org/2010/06/a-big-first-day-ala-by-lucy-m-lockley.html
Lockley, Lucy M., RUSA Preconference “Reference Evolution: Envisioning the Future, Remembering the Past”

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxyZWZlcmVuY2Vldm9sdXRpb258Z3g6NmIxNzdkMmUxZTJiZjkyYQ
Amy VanScoy "Philosophy or Fads: What Will Guide Your Reference Practice?"

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxyZWZlcmVuY2Vldm9sdXRpb258Z3g6NWIxMjQ1YTc4N2MzMmY5Nw
Joe Janes “State of the Union”

http://sites.google.com/site/referenceevolution/speakers/kathleenkern
Kathleen Kern “Beyond Question/Answer”

http://sites.google.com/site/referenceevolution/speakers/stephenfrancoeur
http://www.stephenfrancoeur.com/digitalreference/2010/06/28/my-presentation-at-ala-on-reference-tools/
Stephen Francoeur “Tools for Reference Interactions”

(Susan Erickson)… The preconference provided a provocative look at reference services in the past, present and where we need to go in the future as library users morph and expectations of the library change accordingly. The speakers noted the rise of non-traditional student library users who are now older, part-timers, working and diverse. The difference in demand and way library services are used were used as evidence that traditional library reference services no longer meet all of the needs of users. Reference librarians need to change what they do and way they do it.
Speakers engaged attendees in discussions about:
· Personal philosophies and how that remains a constant in the dynamic context of reference work… philosophy should rule over fads… don’t get too caught up in technology
· Tools for reference interactions… many paths through which reference questions come to us now; need to utilize many tools in answering them: screenshots, screencasts, annotated webpages (webnotes), desktop sharing, customized subject webguides, tutorials, knowledgebases, FAQs, QR (quick response) code generators (custom barcodes read by smart phones)
· Question/Answer… our value off-desk biggest fear of librarians is disintermediation (like travel agents, librarians losing role of being needed to find information). Instead, our goal should be fewer questions, of more depth…
· State of the Union… (Joe Janes)
rethinking stuff: physical forms are changing… from fixed media to downloads to streaming to cloud computing (content over containers)
Access is less of an issue; access is not longer the solution… libraries no longer have a monopoly on information
rethinking help: should be happening anywhere (in person, phone, email, texting) whether library staff is there or not (OCLC says that 33% of reference questions come in after library open hours)… must have good web design. We need to be better online than in person; in-person requests already show commitment to seeking answer at library; online, other sources are one click away… how can library do it better?
what libraries do best:
experts who care; value-added service
know users, community and point in life (needs)
relationships and service
technology… not too far ahead, not too far behind… have to be at users’ lever promotion/visibility in community
reference interview
knowledge of stuff... sources
readers advisory
searching (how to make a system sit up and beg)
helpful staff… method over materials… how to interact with people

Group exercise: Joe Janes had this year’s graduate students design this exercise for his future library school students. Their challenge to us all was, suppose “Google buys every major search tool and is then shut down as a monopoly and, in the same week, Wikipedia goes bankrupt. Choose three freely available websites as the best starting points for the widest possible range of inquiries*”… (fact-finding, exploration, diversions)
The “celebrity” panel of judges (the speakers) chose these winners:
Wayback Machine http://waybackmachine.org/
Internet Archive’s history of the World Wide Web at your fingertips. The archive contains 56 billion captures of over 10 billion web pages from as far back as 1996.
Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/index.html
Britannica.com http://www.britannica.com/
Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/
ipl2 is the result of a merger of the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians' Internet Index (LII). ipl2 is a public service organization and a learning/teaching environment. To date, thousands of students and volunteer library and information science professionals have been involved in answering reference questions for our Ask an ipl2 Librarian service and in designing, building, creating and maintaining the ipl2's collections. It is through the efforts of these students and volunteers that the ipl2 continues to thrive to this day.
World Cat www.worldcat.org
*http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/print/4453 “I’m Sorry, You’re Out” Reference Evolution pre-conference follow-up article by Joe Janes