Page 69 - DLIS103_LIBRARY_CLASSIFICATION_AND_CATALOGUING_THEORY

Library Classification and Cataloguing Theory

Notes (ii) Budget Restraints, Increased Service, and Use of Nonprofessionals: This on line revolu-
tion in public library reference service has, therefore, significant budget implications at a
time when public library budgets have not kept pace with inflation. And, at the same time,
public library reference service has continued to increase dramatically. While circulation
statistics for public libraries across the country have stabilized, annual increases of 5, 10, or
15 percent in reference transactions have been reported by many public libraries. The
results are heavier work loads with fewer human and materials resources. While public
administrators talk about “increased productivity,” public services professionals have
workshops on “stress” and “burn-out.”Services which patrons and reference librarians
took for granted may now be fee-based such as charging for reserving books which are out,
charges for interlibrary loan, loan of audio-visual materials, information searches—or
may even no longer be available.
(iii) Organization of Reference Services: Another trend in public library reference service
which may be receiving increased impetus from budget cuts is greater centralization of
reference services. Libraries which can be kept open with one professional generalist who
gives service to all ages in all subject areas have a very different minimum budget level
than libraries which need four subject specialists and a children’s specialist in residence
before they can open the door.
(iv) Governance of Reference Service: The idea of the reference generalist is compatible with
another trend in public library reference work: the dispersal of management functions
throughout the professional staff. Every reference librarian is not only a professional
generalist but also a manager. For organization of reference service, this appears to be the
next step leading to participatory management. Once all librarians are equally involved in
working out group decisions, they logically become equally involved in seeing that those
decisions are carried out. In a tight job market, where librarians may stay in the same job
for a longer time, this is a good staff development technique: learning organization, planning,
and/or supervision by managing one aspect of reference service. Some discrete units of
reference management which can be decentralized are coordination of reference materials
selection; scheduling the public service desk; budgeting and training for database searching;
serving as training coordinator; making liaisons with various departments and working
on committees both within and outside the library system.
(v) Measurement of Reference Service: A final significant trend in public library reference
service is the increased standardization in the measurement and evaluation of reference
service.” Agreement on definitions of measureable units through the work of the ANSI (Ameri-
can National Standards Institute) 2-39 committee and the Reference Statistics Committee of
LAMA-ALA (Library Management Association of ALA) has been an important basic step
for all reference librarians.” the Reference Services Guidelines developed by the Reference
Standards Committee of RASD (Reference and Adult Services Division) are another impor-
tant base for current work in measurement and evaluation of reference services. Public
library performance measures development has given a special impetus to measuring
reference service in public libraries. Some promising new research has been reported in
the last few years-particularly with nonverbal behaviour and with queuing which may
lead to more sophisticated evaluation in the future. In the meantime public libraries can
begin to compare some of their own reference measures to those of other public libraries.

10.1 Description and Exchange (ISBD, CCF, MARC)

(a) ISBD

The ISBDs have today been accepted as the universal standard for describing documents of all
types in bibliographical databases and therefore the corresponding rules in the CCC which were
framed for a hand written card catalogue have lost their relevance. But the philosophical and
theoretical bases of the CCC and the rules relating to headings have no parallels in the AACR2 or

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