An Introduction to Reference Services

I admit I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into with this course! My background knowledge with reference materials springs largely from my memories as a student in elementary and secondary school - large, cumbersome (and in my adolescent brain, generally boring) books that were considered by the librarian to be sacred sources of information.  It was well known that removing said items from the library was a crime that would be met with the harshest punishments!


As I library professional in 2016, I can certainly see how this part of a library collection has undergone and is still undergoing, some pretty major changes.  I was surprised by the broad definition of what a reference resource actually is that we read about in our lessons, considering the library collection at my school as I don't have a designated reference "section" other than a few dictionaries and thesauri. I now see that I can work within my non-fiction collection, as well as online to establish and evaluate what I have for references services.

 I appreciate what the Riedling, et al text has clearly outlined in Chapter 1 - that the reference section is still relevant because now more than ever students need help on how to access and evaluate information. I think then it is a fair conclusion that up-to-date reference resources are essential in today school libraries where we see the demand for inquiry based learning. Clearly, the need for good information is key to student’s success particularly when learning has taken a shift to focus on the questioning process (rather than just the answer) as well as obtaining information that is both up-to-date and free of a particular bias, globally aware, etc.  In LLED 469, my inquiry course, I just looked at an article that explains what a TL should do for collection development:

 

 "Library media specialists can:

▶Provide both physical and virtual resources that are tied closely to curriculum areas of emphasis by involving teachers in the selection process. For example, Web sites that are particularly good for specific units can be made available for easy access through the library home page, wikis, portals, and special bookmarking sites like del.icio.us.

 ▶Place special emphasis on providing access to multiple perspectives and on offering materials for in-depth study, not superficial grazing.

 ▶Advocate for technology that is essential for access to a wide variety of resources.

 ▶Assist in providing guidance and instruction in the use of technology for learning.

▶Assist in providing guidance in the use of books and periodicals.

 ▶Assist in incorporating students’ use of technology for inquiry learning involving social tools to share and build on the ideas of others, and to demonstrate their learning to a broader community."  (Stripling)

Although this article is talking about the inquiry process, rather than evaluating reference materials, for me they are closely tied together - our reference resources need to act as a solid foundation for students learning.  We discussed the necessity of careful evaluation of these materials and our text further broke down how to evaluate each particular resource from almanacs to encyclopedia's to online databases looking at things like accuracy, authority, etc.  Weeding the collection - which always seems to be a hot topic in libraries is necessary to kept resources up-to-date.  This manual from Texas, particularly the section "six benefits of weeding" is of particular interest.

We have considered both print and web based materials.  I think print based reference resources still have their place, particularly in the early elementary school grades where students might not yet process technology skills - even into the upper grades I think books still have their value and are often the "default" resource so to speak in no-tech, low-tech inner city schools such as mine.  My concerns with print materials however is that they become dated very fast and the reality of most school library budget's is they often are not replaced in a reasonable time frame.  While for some topics using a twenty year old book might (?) not matter (say a project on apples) other topics such as science and technology are generally dated after three years.

I think the format of resources - online, print, etc. is less important (there is no point using something solely because of its format  - I've seen secondary school bibliography rubrics where they "had" to use one print resource for the sake of using a print resource and this seems a bit silly to me) but rather students (with the guidance of the TL) should be looking at the whole picture of the resource including accuracy, intended audience, scope, diversity etc. These are just my initial thoughts on what we have discussed so far. Clearly we will begin to see more and more of an increase in digital resources and it will be important for TLs to "keep up with" all these changes.  I appreciate that our text included lists of helpful websites on some of these tools, search engines, Web 2.0 etc.

Overall, some key learnings I have taken from this phases of the course are:

• Reference resources (and education on how to use them) will continue to be necessary as long as students need help accessing, evaluating, processing and communicating the information they find.

• Reference resources must be carefully evaluated to ensure they are accurate, up-to-date, culturally sensitive and cost effective.

• The evolution of reference resources are necessary in the new learning commons model and inquiry based learning model - where students are asking good questions, critical thinking, problem solving.

• TLs are responsible to educate/communicate to students and other staff on how to properly use these resources.

• Under funding and under staffing in school libraries can make this work challenging.

  

Works Cited

Stripling, Barbara. "Inquiry-Based Teaching and Learning-the Role of the Library Media Specialist." School Library Media Activities Monthly 25.1 (2008): 2. Web.