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Unit 3: Reference Services

(a) Libraries must invest substantially more fiscal resources in staff training and develop Notes
effective and continuous feedback methods from all aspects of the system that influence
reference service quality.
(b) In view of the rapidly changing information technology environment of the 21st century,
libraries must not continue to assume that the task of professional education rests primarily
with library schools. Schools of Library and Information Science programs, which provide
masters degrees in librarianship, must require core courses that include significant portions
of the curriculum devoted to developing marketing values and skills in students.
Marketing links the organization with its environment and involves identifying, gathering,
analyzing and interpreting information for decision making.
(c) Nigerian Library Association must provide models that develop effective assessment of
library services that can be easily and effectively administered by practicing librarians at
a reasonable cost. Evaluation of programs and services should be established as a primary
professional value and should receive significant funding from the Association.
The future of reference services in libraries as it is presently rendered manually is not guaranteed.
With the advent of the Web there is a growing drop in the quantity of reference questions in most
libraries where there is Internet Connectivity. Many reference questions have become more complex
and answering such questions requires more focus on instruction in search strategies and other
elements related to the basic information competencies of identifying the type of information needed,
and finding, evaluating, and communicating the information successfully.
Reference librarians have done roving of reference rooms, glancing at the contents of computer
screens and offering users assistance when it seems appropriate. They now need to rove electronically.
This means that information systems need features that monitor user behavior and can offer assistance
online. Surely this can be done in such a way that user privacy and identity can be protected.
Libraries are already moving toward a knowledge counseling role, focused on advising users in
locating and effectively utilizing resources primarily related to recorded knowledge. This trend is
already changing the nature of reference services from answering the quick, routine, less than five-
minute question to a more extended counseling or coaching interaction. Because these transactions
require more time, libraries must be able to focus their human mediated services to users in those
areas where they can really make a significant difference. In the future, they must become much
more customer focused in our actions and service strategies than they are at present.
Education and training for librarians must be transformed in partnership with libraries, the Nigerian
Library Association and our professional education programs. Marketing and program evaluation
skills, including thorough knowledge of quality management principles and practices, will be as
important as mastering the technology in our endeavor to retain human mediated assistance to
users as an important library service.

Does reference service has future? Justify your views.

3.4 Kinds and Nature of Reference Service

Kinds of Reference Services
There are two kinds of services
1. Ready reference service
2. Long range reference service

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