Page 39 - DLIS105_REFERENCE_SOURCES_AND_SERVICES

Reference Sources and Services

Notes 3.1.1 Present Scenario

Although over a century has passed, these four functions remain the core of reference service today.
First, libraries instruction, on both a formal and informal basis, is still a greater part of a reference
librarian’s responsibilities.
Secondly, many of the services which the librarian was envisioned to provide could have been
accomplished in other ways. Readers could have answered their own queries by consulting
encyclopedias and other reference works; readers could have done their own advisory by searching
the library catalogue; and readers could have learned how a library operates by trial and error. The
fact that the librarian was personally engaged in each of these functions - and personalized them for
each reader - was the key to the success of reference service. It is precisely this personalization of
service that made the fourth function - promoting the library within the community - work so well.
Without personal service, reference work would never have become a standard function of libraries.
The evolution of libraries has been constantly moving in one direction from internally focused
institutions to externally focused institutions. Ancient libraries were centered on the documents
that they contained, preserving them for the few within their society who could use them.

Organizational systems were designed to help the librarian find those
documents, with no need for outsiders to comprehend their design. Modern
libraries focus on the users, providing information and services that benefit
each individual on a personal basis.

By any measure, including circulation, exit count, acquisitions, and funding levels, libraries are
more popular today than at any time throughout history.

By providing personal service, reference librarians have had a direct impact in making libraries
succeed.

Discuss the present scenario of reference services.

3.2 Evolving Tools and Changing Communities

The functions of the Reference Librarian have remained constant. The difference that exists now is
primarily in the tools that are used. In the past, the librarian used books, magazines, and newspapers,
with only the library catalogue. Today reference librarians have incorporated a host of new tools
like the keyboard, telephone, photocopier, microfilm, fax machine, television, computer, printer,
modem, disks, CD-ROMs, telecommunications, and the Internet to help their patrons.
Today’s communities are much more diverse ethnically, racially, linguistically, and economically
than those of a century ago. As a community changes, the library must redesign itself to meet the
needs of the new demographics. The Reference Librarian needs to establish personal relations with
each new generation of community members, even when that generation speaks different languages.
He also needs to serve the community wherever it is located, whether in the library, at home, at
work, or traveling around the globe. This is where technologies expand the reach of the library to
the community - and the community’s demands upon the library.

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