Page 43 - DLIS105_REFERENCE_SOURCES_AND_SERVICES

Reference Sources and Services

Notes 3.4.1 Ready Reference Service

A process in which readers receive their information through personal contact of the reference
librarian is called ready reference service. There are many types of queries. Reference department
always makes efforts to remove the difficulties of readers to fulfil their requirements.
All such informations which are provided to readers immediately are called ready reference service.
Dr. S.R. Ranganthan has defined is as “Ready reference service is reference service finished or replied
in very short time, a minute if possible”.
Some examples of ready reference services are:

1. What is the birth date of Gandhiji?
2. Literacy percentage of M.P.
3. Who is president of America?
All such answers can be given in very short span of time. The reference librarian either answers the
query immediately or refers the names of reference resources.
Some of the reference resources are:
1. Directories
2. Dictionaries
3. Encyclopedias
4. Biographies
5. Year books/Annuals
6. Atlas

Need of ready reference service
Reference service is an essential service as sometimes reader needs some informations which are
not known to them and are not related to their concerned books. Sometimes readers are not aware
of reference books and references services/sources, which are also arranged differently and not
known properly to the readers. So there is need of reference service which can assist the readers.

3.4.2 Long Range Reference Service

Long range reference service takes long time in providing reference service. This service is given to
special readers requiring special informations. It takes normally long time, i.e. more than 5 minutes
and takes the help of reference sources.
Long range reference service is not practised in every library.

Need of long range reference service
There are many reasons for the requirement of long range reference service, some of them are:
(i) Explosion of knowledge: There is wide variety of literature and study of the whole is
very difficult. Readers are always eager to know about the literature published in the
country or in the world. Reference librarian is well versed and trained in searching the
literature and can help easily to readers to get the documents.
(ii) Saving the time of readers and experts: Reference librarian helps the readers to search the
literature and saves a lot of time of reader.

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