Provision of Reference Services and New Technologies

Christopher C. Brown
Reference Librarian, University of Denver, Penrose Library
Student in the Library and Information Services Program, University of Denver

When I first started delivering reference services in the mid-1980s it was a very different world. Book and serial holdings had to be checked in card catalogs, article indexes were available primarily in paper (Dialog was available for a high price), and full-text was not available. The growth of the Internet, provision of Web-based search engines, and the availability of full-text article delivery has revolutionized search strategies of users as well as delivery of reference services by reference librarians.

This paper will examine three new technologies which are continuing to change delivery of reference services.

E-Mail Reference Service | The Web as a Personal Filing System | Bibliographic Citation Management

I. E-mail Reference Service  Top

Many libraries are providing e-mail reference service. Often objections are raised to such a service. It is seen to compromise the reference interview process. Here are some possible objections to e-mail reference:

  • It does not allow for a proper reference interview. Since most people do not frame questions correctly, we may be answering the wrong question.
  • It would be abused by those not under the scope of our reference coverage. For example, if we provide an invitation to ask reference questions, we might get questions from those in other parts of the world.
  • It takes a lot of time to track down answers to questions that you have no assurance will be appreciated.
  • People often ask open ended questions too broad to be answered by e-mail. Others simply want a librarian to do their homework for them.
  • Some people ask insincere questions.

On the other hand, there are many positives to e-mail reference:

  • It can provide help to remote users.
  • It can help people during hours when the reference desk is not open

Here is an example of actual e-mail reference questions I have been asked:

  • I want to know what time zone Hawaii is in and how it compares with those of the continental U.S.
  • I'm a high school student [from Argentina] and I want to know if the University of Denver offers winter English courses for international students.
  • How do I start my own business in importing? What is the average salary for an importer? What are some of the benefits and some of the problems in the import business? I am interested in importing cars or toys. [Good example of questions too broad for e-mail reference]
  • I need a picture of the Colorado state flag, state flower, state tree. Also need state song, state motto or nickname, population, population density, state colleges, industries, popular sights, famous people in the state, tourist attractions, and the state license tag. [Sounds like this students wants me to do his homework for him!]
  • Is the book by Iranian author Samad Behrangi "The Little Black Fish"  [English translation of original Farsi title] translated into German?
  • I'm looking for a good dictionary in English about Chinese characters, their meaning, and how they are formed.
  • I need the Japanese translations for the proper names Bryan and Carmen.
  • I need information on the frontier dispute between Mali and Burkina Faso from 1983 - 1986. The International Court of Justice handled the case.
  • China is occasionally referred to as "Cathay". Why? What does Cathay actually stand for besides the city?
  • How do I locate domestic companies that manufacture specific types of medicines.
  • I am looking for information about employment possibilities for information management consultants. What training and career paths are most appropriate.
  • I am looking for a Web site that gives international interest rates. Specifically, what do Cayman banks pay on a one-year CD?

II. The Web as a Personal Filing System  Top

With the proliferation of Web sites, it is extremely difficult to remember all the URLs. One possibility is to carry around a notebook to log helpful Web sites. Another solution is to bookmark the Web sites on your computer. But I found that as I helped people at various public workstations, using Web bookmarks was not feasible. Instead I developed a Web site that is accessible from anywhere on the Web. The site, The Virtual Reference Desk, originated in my need to remember important Web site addresses. It eventually grew into a site that is currently being used by people from over 75 countries.

One of the primary features of the site is different varieties of access. People can browse by alphabetical topic, browse by general category (such as Social Sciences, Humanities, Law, and Science), browse by Library of Congress classification stem, of search the full text of the entire site by keyword or Boolean combinations.

Since U.S. government sites are commonly requested, I have prepared a page that allows for searching these sites by acronym. If I go to the U.S. Government page, I can search by "FBI" to find the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This feature is helpful when I'm in a big hurry.

As am newcomer to Colorado, I realized that I did not have a clear understanding of the special libraries and special collections that we available to the public in the state. Because of this, in partial fulfillment of course requirements for a University of Denver library school course, I have developed a Web site which analyzes these libraries by mean of a subject thesaurus. The site is called Special Libraries in Colorado and can be viewed at: http://www.virtualref.com/_slic.

III. Bibliographic Citation Management  Top

One of the new technologies that has yet to catch on in a significant manner is bibliographic citation management. Through the use of specialized software packages such as EndNote, ProCite, Papyrus, Reference Manager, and dozens of others, results of database searches can be imported into the software package, integrated into research papers, and output into popular citation formats such as MLA, APA, or Chicago styles.

Because of the complexities of learning to use these software packages quickly, it often requires the mediation of a reference librarians to aid the scholar in accessing the tagged records necessary for importing into the various database packages.

ANSI Z39.50 technology enables users to connect "live" to compliant databases using an EndNote connect file. Here is an example from University of Denver's online catalog.

<<<<< Start of Record 1 Data:
001 ocm00648196
003 OCoLC
005 19820617184229.0
008 730529s1973 aluc 000 0aeng
010 $a74148688
020 $a0817371028
035 $afbl00477290
040 $aDLC $cDLC $dm.c. $dDVP
043 $an-usu--
049 $aDVPP $c1
096 $aZ720.H65 $bA3
099 0 $aZ720.H65 A3
100 1 $aHoole, William Stanley, $d1903-
245 10 $aAccording to Hoole; $bthe collected essays and tales of a scholar-librarian and literary maverick $c[by] W. Stanley Hoole. Pref. by Lawrence S. Thompson.
260 $aUniversity, Ala., $bUniversity of Alabama Press $c[1973]
300 $a341 p. $bport. $c25 cm.
600 10 $aHoole, William Stanley, $d1903-
650 0 $aLibrary science.
651 0 $aSouthern States $xHistory $xMiscellanea.
>>>>> End of Record 1 Data:

When records such as the above are imported into EndNote, they are mapped to the proper fields so that the output can appear in any format desired. Among the popular citation formats are:

   
   

Prepared by Christopher C. Brown
http://www.du.edu/~cbrown/reference.html
Presented 18 October 1998 at the Colorado Library Association convention in Colorado Springs, CO