Reference philosophy in a rural library district

1. Reference Philosophy in aRural Library DistrictAN OBSERVATIONAL ANALYSIS BY MARY E,. CHANCEWAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCES

2. Summary A librarys reference philosophy can be determined byobserving library policy and staff interaction withpatrons and leadership Reference Services may play a larger part in libraryservices than recognized by staff Budgetary concerns can shape reference philosophy

3. Reference Philosophy Tyckoson (2011) defines reference services as any service intended to help theusers of the library find what they want. This includes instruction on using libraryresources, readers advisory, and answering questions. Additionally, Tyckosonidentifies three kinds of reference philosophies: Conservative: Library staff teaches patrons how to use the library but does notinterpret information for the user. Common to academic libraries. Moderate: Library staff teaches patrons how to use sources as well as providinganswers to many questions and will search exhaustively to find answers toquestions. Common to public libraries Liberal: Library staff researches questions for patrons and provides lists ofappropriate materials sometimes with accompanying summary or analysis.Common to special libraries.

4. Standerfer, A. E. (2006). Reference Servicesin Rural Libraries. Reference Librarian, (93),137- 149. In rural libraries the most questions are technology based. For those whodo have other questions, Standerfer states that most rural library patronssurveyed had already conducted an internet search prior to asking thelibrary for further information. This means that rural libraries withconservative reference policies are possibly not meeting their patronsneeds if they are directing them back to resources they have alreadyconsulted. Standerfer concludes that rural libraries and their patrons couldbenefit from an increased focus on providing developed referenceservices but that budgets and lack of staff training stand in the way ofrealizing this goal.

5. Methodology Interviews with the Executive Director and branchmanagers of three different branches 16 hours over four days of casual observation of librarystaff at two different branches Examination of policy manuals and budgetary materials

6. RLD Organization Central office with an executive director who makes all final decisions forthe district Five libraries headed by branch managers to serve a county of 15,000people The collection of the five libraries is treated as one collection No specialized reference librarian employed in the district With the exception of one or two employees there are no MLIS librarianson staff

7. RLD Budgetary Issues Total operating budget for 2014 of about $1.7 million Failure of a recent mill levy vote significantly reducedthe librarys income 2014 Budget reduced staff budget by 35% from theprevious year 2015 Proposed Budget increases staff budget but itremains at less than 75% of pre-2014 levels

8. RLD Reference Services andPhilosophy No formal policy According to the RLD policy manual (2014), staff may provide limitedinstruction to patrons on how to access library materials. Leadership indicated that branches are allowed to determine how muchtime they spend with each patron. Generally 5-10 minutes depending onhow busy the library is. Branch managers verified that time available to assist patrons dependedgreatly on how busy the library was at the time the patron needed help.

9. RLD Reference Services andPhilosophy Answer on how much time was appropriate to spend with each patronvaried depending on the library One library indicated that they felt they could be fairly generous with theirtime and did basic research for patrons Other libraries indicated that there was a concern that they were helpingtoo much and that this was not acceptable at the district level All libraries agreed that they used to have more time to help patronsanswer questions before their budgets were cut. General sense of confusion at the branch level as to what the districtpolicy looked like when implemented

10. Empower the Patron In each interview, at some point the branch manager would usethe phrase Empower the Patron Stated the goal to give patrons the tools to find the informationthemselves This includes directing patrons to and giving instruction in onlinedatabases, search engines, OPACs and other self-serve resources

11. Personal Observation Over the course of four days I was able to document about 20 referencetransactions Staff were always happy to help and had exemplary customer service skills Staff directed patrons to mostly online resources and then left them to findtheir own information after a brief instruction period Most reference transactions lasted less than five minutes

12. Analysis of Reference Philosophy The RLD reference philosophy falls under the realm of Conservativereference philosophies. Staff members direct patrons to resources and getthem started but for the most part they do not provide informationgathering or analysis. This is likely due to budgetary constraints rather thanan organic reflection of community needs. Conservative referencephilosophies are most common to academic libraries because patrons arealready receiving instruction in information seeking. (Tyckoson, 2011) In apublic library conservative reference policies can leave less savvy patronswithout adequate information. It is unknown how many patrons of the RLDactually leave the library having found the information they were seekingand how many give up after the staff leave them to find what they need.

13. Analysis - Continued Without an internal analysis of how this has affected patron satisfaction, itis difficult to assess the impact of these changes. The RLD does takestatistics on reference questions but they only count the number ofquestions and not the type of question. Branch managers indicate theyused to classify questions based on topic but that practice wasdiscontinued. Staff do not count directional questions of the where can Ifind variety which constitutes the majority of library referencetransactions.

14. Application of Observation For statistics to be useful they must be meaningful to both staff and leadership(Gross, 2006) By excluding the majority of reference questions and not indicating the type ofquestion, the statistics collected by the RLD are not presenting a full picture ofthe reference needs of the community and are misleading to decision makers. The district as a whole could benefit from a developed reference philosophy.Confusion on the part of the branches as to what the central leadership desiresfrom them leads to an inconsistent experience for patrons across the district.Clarification of policies would provide staff with the security of knowing what isexpected of them. By expanding the definition of what constitutes referencework to reflect industry standard the district may find that reference work is agreater part of their library services than they realize.

15. References References Curry, E. (1988, Fall). Cows to computers: the impact of adult library services on a rural community. RQ, 28(1), 16. Gross, M., McClure, C. R., & Lankes, R. D. (2006). Costing Reference: Issues, Approaches, and Directions for Research.Reference Librarian, (95/96), 173-186. Kenney, B., & Bryant, E. (2003). Reference Budgets: A Slow Revolution. Library Journal, 128(19), 8-13. Landesman, M. (2005). Getting It Right-The Evolution of Reference Collections. Reference Librarian, (91/92), 5-22. Rural Library District. (2014) 2014 Budget. Rural Library District. (2014) 2015 Proposed Budget. Rural Library District. (2014) Rural Library District Policy Manual. Standerfer, A. E. (2006). Reference Services in Rural Libraries. Reference Librarian, (93), 137-149. Tyckoson, David A. (2011). History and Functions of Reference Service. In R.E. Bopp & L.C. Smith (Eds.), Reference andinformation services: An introduction. 4th ed. (4-27). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Reference philosophy in a rural library district

Education