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Unit 2: Reference Services

aware of many of the avenues available to find the needed information. People can locate Notes
information in many cases, but it is the experienced IB that knows and has access to more
avenues of information retrieval than the average individual or firm. After all, this is the
IBs’ specialty.
(c) Services: Information broker helps in getting the appropriate information by the end
users. It is a cost effective and time saving mechanism. The common uses for the
information brokers include market research, patent searches, and any other type of
information research, preparation of report on any subject, and so on.

Task List the chief reasons for providing reference service in Libraries.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. ………………………… is the actual assistance given to the users in need for information.
2. ………………………………… directs enquirers to a source of information which may be
an organization or an individual expert.

2.2 Need of Reference Service

The present day society is in the process of development and is entering the information age. In
this new age, information becomes a resource as well as a commodity, and its handling and
processing also becomes a main activity. In this information age, or post-industrial society, the
demands will be focused on the knowledge of what to gather, how to gather, process and utilize
it. It is in this context we have to know/study the need for reference sources. The users have
varied information needs and requirements. Our user can be students, teachers, researchers,
scientists, technologists, specialists, planners or policy-makers. The average user does not have
access to information required by him because he does not know where to look for it.
Besides, the users have also several other requirements such as:
need to obtain information quickly for a specific requirement area;

awareness of newly generated information is difficult;
need for selection of information, as there is overabundance of information;
would specialization only in a restricted subject area;
obtain copies of required material or the material itself; and

criteria for evaluation and selection of reference materials.
All these requirements/needs of the users can be met by having access to proper and up-to-date
reference books. The reference books help the librarians and libraries in maintaining the
information banks from which answers to users’ queries and materials required by the users are
available. In other words, the sound basis for any reference service in a library is the reference
books maintained by the reference staff of the library. This means that reference service is not
just answering question posed by the users by using an appropriate reference tool but it is also
about maintaining the information resource banks from which information is provided to
users. It also includes establishing links with information providers both inside and outside the
library environment.

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