Envisioning the Future of Reference Instruction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.51n2.153Abstract
This paper examines students’ and practitioners’ attitudes toward, and uses of, various reference sources. It was precipitated by questioning the best outcomes of the basic reference class in Library Science programs, specifically asking what types of sources LIS students should be versed in as they enter the workforce—print or online? This research found some differences between academic and public librarians, and little agreement about the purposes of the basic reference course. Teaching about types of reference sources today is difficult; as Margaret Landesman says, we are moving away from “reference collections” because of “the convergence among formats, [so that] we can't recognize a reference book when we see one.”
References
Margaret Landesman, '“Getting It Right—The Evolution of Reference Collections,”' Reference Librarian 91/92 (2005): 5-22nBiggs and Biggs, 1985, as quoted in Landesman, “Getting It Right,” 10.nEleanor Mitchell, Sarah Barbara Watstein, '“Further Thoughts about Putting the User at the Center,”' Reference Services Review 35 1 (2007): 5-7nSamuel Rothstein, '“The Making of a Reference Librarian,”' Reference Librarian 25/26 (1989): 321-50nJohn V. Richardson, '“Learning Reference Work,”' Knowledge-Based Systems for General Reference Work: Applications, Problems, and Progress (San Diego, Calif.: Academic Pr. 1995): 3-34nDenice Adkins, Sanda Erdelez, '“An Exploratory Survey of Reference Source Instruction in LIS Courses,”' Reference & User Services Quarterly 46 2 (2006): 50-60nMarie L. Radford, R. David Lankes, Reference Renaissance: Current and Future Trends (New York: Neal-Shuman 2010): 17-nIbid., 20.nIbid., 35.nIbid., 30.n
