Library Visit Assignment

Library Visit Assignment An observation and personal experience of evaluating reference librarians at Buley library & Trumbull library

Submitted by Hanem A. Ibrahim

ILS-504-S70

Dr. Elsie Okobi Fall 2009

Date of Submission September 26, 2009

Introduction Reference interview is more an art than a science (Cassell, 2006: 15) It requires reacting quickly, strongly, and positively to all different circumstances or events that form the environment within the library, where patrons always need help. Each reference interview will be different since each user and each question is different, the good reference librarian who can react with all these differences strongly, and positively otherwise he or she will lose patrons ‘trust, and that is a big responsibility. With no mistakes, more focusing, the reference librarian will be the solution for any problem patrons could face. Helping patrons and giving them the feeling of satisfaction worth all the hard working of the librarian. In this assignment, I’m going to have the opportunity to write about how reference librarians served me or the others patrons, I’ll record my observation, and my personal experience with them. I used the five main areas addressed in the RUSA guidelines (RUSA, 2004) as the basis for my observations, and my personal experience, these guidelines are: (Approachability, Interest, Listening/Inquiring, Searching, and Follow Up). I visited Buley Library (as an academic library) and Trumbull Library (as a public library) and did the observation of reference interview with the reference librarians of both libraries. I also discussed how the reference librarians at both libraries are following the criteria for good reference behaviors, and services.

Reference interviews (Observations) 1- Approachability

The RUSA Guidelines state that staff behaviors should serve to welcome the patrons and to place them at ease. As long as I was watching users coming or going to the reference desk, the librarians at both libraries (Buley, and Trumbull) I noticed that the reference desk was easy to locate, and patrons who need help could easily find their way to reference librarian. I noticed also that there were one or two friendly librarians were welcoming all patrons with a nice smile that encourages patrons to approach and ask their questions. 2- Interest

A successful librarian must demonstrate a high degree of interest in the reference transaction. And that was what I noticed while I was watching reference librarian in both libraries, the librarians showed interests in each patron's informational need , They were always facing the patron when speaking and listening. I felt that the librarian were showing their willing to help, I noticed that they were trying to communicate with their patrons using all kind of verbal and nonverbal interactions, they were talking and signaling (pointing to the places where patrons should go to find their information) they were moving around to find the appropriate printed reference material from the ready to use reference collection near their desk, or through the internet, I saw

them also walking with patrons to help them with finding some library materials, or fixing any problem with the internet workstation, I noticed that if both librarians were busy helping other patrons, they acknowledged others waiting for service by giving them an eye or word contact, or hand signal to show them that they knew about them, and they will be served as soon as they finished with the others, that happened especially when the librarians were answering telephone calls, that will help the waiting patron not to feel board while waiting. 3-

Listening/Inquiring.

According to RUSA guidelines, “the librarian must be effective in identifying the patron’s

information needs. Strong listening and questioning skills are necessary for a positive interaction. Because I couldn’t hear the conversations between the librarians and their patrons I couldn’t say if the questions asked by patrons were clear and understandable by the librarians or not but I felt like the librarian were trying to listen to their patrons and they might tried to identify the needs of their patrons by asking them more questions to lead them to the answers,.

4- Searching The guidelines state, “Many of the aspects of searching that lead to accurate results are still dependent on the behavior of the librarian.” There were different search process used by the reference librarian; at Trumbull library, I saw one of the librarians was helping an old patron searching for

something inside one of the reference collection (dictionary, or encyclopedia) They were also lending some of their own reference collection (ready to use) at reference desk to some patrons to use in inside the library and return them back to them after they finished. At both libraries, reference librarians were trying to search the web for their patrons to find any suitable information through the net. 5- Follow-up

That is the final and the most important point from all the RUSA guidelines, because it includes the final reaction from both the librarians and the patrons, and if the librarians succeeded to follow this guideline, they‘ll guarantee that the patrons will come back again and they will be happy to be served by them. It is important to show the patrons your interest even after you finish with them. Following up encourages patrons to return if they have any further questions, referring them to other sources or institutions, and consulting other librarians or experts in the field also can help. Through my observation for the reference interviews at both libraries, I

noticed that all them ended from patrons with the word “thank you” or ” thanks anyway” that mean the librarian did satisfy their patrons, or at least made them feel that they did their best to do so. I couldn’t recognize if the librarians asked patrons whether or not their questions have been completely answered. I saw some patrons were coming back to the same librarian in each library for more help, but I didn’t see the librarians go to the patrons to follow up if they are satisfied with their services.

Reference interview (Personal Experience) 1- My reference Interview at Buley library Because of my own background, and the lack of experience dealing with the whole library system at Buley library as a new student with some language difficulties, the librarians at Buley library tried to understand and respect my culture, they helped me when I had trouble asking questions, so I always find my way to the reference librarians to ask them for help, I found most of them were nice and easy to deal with, I learned a lot from them, they taught me how to use the library web site and lots of other searching methods. The problem in this experiment was that I hadn’t much to ask them to help me with for this specific assignment. The difference between this interview and the past personal interviews was that I was doing this interview after I knew all about the reference interview criteria they should follow, I concentrated more on evaluating their behavior, not on my question, I was not asking them for help as a patron only, but I also was judging and evaluating them at the same time. After I did the observation, I preferred not to introduce myself and ask them about this assignment, I didn’t want any special treatment, so I asked one of them about how to locate some unavailable books within the library stock As soon as I approached the reference desk the reference librarian welcomed me with a comfortable question (How can I help you?) She succeeded to identify my question, by asking me about the subject I was looking for. I felt like she understood my question, which made me feel comfortable, and open the door for me to discuss more relative information about my question. The librarians should establish initial eye contact with patrons, and demonstrate interest to their question. The librarian was facing me while I was speaking to her in the beginning and

she was listening to my question, and then she was busy with the computer searching, she referred me first to the online library catalog trying to find more resources for me that would answer my question. The reference librarian should have strong listening skills, and that affected my personal interview with the reference librarian at “Buley” I told the librarian that I did the same catalog searching she was doing for me, but she seemed like she didn’t listen carefully to what I said. I repeated my first question again and explained to her that some resources were not available to user, they are in (library stock) I referred her to the searching I was doing, and pointed to one of the computer units near the reference desk where I was sitting , but she didn’t move from her desk to see what I’m talking about, she only gave me a request form to order this item which I was looking for, and told me that I should give her back that request form after I fill it out. As I got more familiar with the library resources available online, I always do the online searching by myself first before I ask the librarian, and that what most of students do, so in my opinion the first question should be asked by reference librarians at the academic libraries is “Did you try to search for your question before?”If the answer is “Yes” the librarian should start from what the users ended up with , because it will be wasting the time and efforts. The librarian didn’t ask me that question, she went on searching on her computer, and it was her first tool to help me with. I let her start from the beginning, and I waited till she got the results, I thought it might be different than what I did before, but it was the same, she didn’t try to go through all of them like I did, and she gave up from the first page of the results, unfortunately , that was wasting of my time, she didn’t add anything new to my searching, and she also didn’t introduce any other searching tools beside the library catalog. The reference transaction does not end when the librarian leaves the patrons. The librarian is responsible for determining if the patrons are satisfied with the results of the search, e librarian also is responsible for referring the patrons to other sources, even when those sources are not available at their local library. After I thanked the librarian when she gave me that form, I didn’t feel satisfied, however I got an answer to how to locate that unavailable items, but I expected more than that. As a good reference librarian, she should come with me to see the search I was doing and she might come up with another suggestion that would help me better than filling that form and waiting more

days to get it. After I thanked her, and returned back to my seat, she didn’t get back to me to see if that all what I needed? She didn’t offer any more interest after I left , also she didn’t ask about the request form which I didn’t fill it out, and she didn’t follow up by asking me "How is your search going?" or Is there anything I could do for you? That might encouraged me to ask for more assistance. 2- My reference Interview at Trumbull library Reference librarians at public libraries should have special skills to respond to all the information needed by the members of their community, they should have the most current reference materials that help their patrons. For my face to face interview with Trumbull reference librarian I chose a ask a question concerning the information about Trumbull, I asked the librarian on duty an open –ended question ( it is also true) : “ I want to buy a house in Trumbull, what information could help me to know more about the houses in Trumbull, and about the town?”I thought with that question, I could get the most complete information I could ask for. As I mentioned before there were two available reference librarians at the reference desk, which is located in a special place inside Trumbull library, they were greeting and welcoming their patrons with a nice smile. The librarian offered me her help, and encouraged me to ask that questions. The librarian should ask patrons to clarify their word if they didn’t hear them well. That what happened when I first asked my question, the librarian asked me to repeat my question again to make sure she listened to my question correct. I thought she heard all the words of my question, but she concentrated only on the last part of my question, which is the information about the town, and that distracted her from following up what she heard when I answered “No” to her closed- ended question: “Did you try looking at the real state web pages for house on sail?” That “No” didn’t stop her from searching for the missing pamphlet she was looking for, she was talking to the other librarian who was listening to our conversation, trying to find the latest information about the town of Trumbull but online. I was focusing with the first librarian who was helping me, and I didn’t get the chance to know how the other librarian was doing to get that information from the web.

Acting quickly to answer my question didn’t show that she was interesting to help me, because she was not facing me while I was answering her closed- ended question. She didn’t focus her attention on me while I was answering her, I added that I need more than looking in Real State web sites, but she didn’t show her interest in that by asking more and more questions to clarify what I really wanted, she was trying to find all the available reference resources they have at the reference desk, and also she didn’t ask me why I didn’t search for houses online? I expected that the reference librarians at Trumbull library would have more information about their local area than what I could get from any other resources. I didn’t ask for specific information, I left that opened to give them the chance to give me all what they have either from the library resources they have at the reference desk, or from the library databases, or from their experience as reference librarian dealing with all what belongs to the town, I thought I’ll leave the reference desk with all the information and resources that would satisfy me, they handed me couple pamphlets about Trumbull, and a map, but no information about the houses in Trumbull, they tried hard to find the latest statistics about Trumbull, but that was part of my searching topic, and they didn’t teach me how to get these information online, these general pamphlet were not the right reference materials for my question. The lack of follow- up after providing the resources is a critical error, because follow- up questions is really important to end the reference interview with the patrons in a right way. After the librarian offered me these free pamphlets, she didn’t follow- up by asking me if that information I received were helping me. Also she didn’t ask me if I need anything else they could help me with. After she handed these pamphlets to me she ended the interview prematurely. I didn’t feel comfortable to continue that interview with her, I stayed one more hour after that at the library to check any important information from these pamphlets but I couldn’t find much, and no one come to offer any further assistance.

Conclusion The starting and the closing of a reference interview are highly specialized art, and once the patrons approached the reference desk asking for help, they have to feel comfortable, and confident that they will have their questions been answered by the reference librarians, and once it has been confirmed that they have all the information they asked for, the reference interview

would succeed to build more trust between the library and their patrons, then the visit to the library would be the best way to feed the patrons with the information they desired. In this assignment I was the judge and the patron at the same time ; I‘ve never evaluated reference librarians before, I used to ask them any questions I had trouble finding their answers by myself, I’d be happy if they helped me finding the satisfying answer, but if not I never asked myself why? I might not go back to the same librarian to ask him or her any question in the future, but again I didn’t know why. Now after I knew all about the reference guideline and the criteria for good reference behavior and services, I found out the answer for those “Whys”. The evaluation experience I gained from this assignment will help me a lot if I had the chance to work as a reference librarian, then I will be judged by myself before patrons judge me. Reference : 1- Reference and User Services Association. (2004). Guidelines for Behavioral

Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers. Retrieved Sep. 25, 2009 from : http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidelinesbehavioral.cfm 2- Cassell, K.A. & Hiremath, U. (2006) Reference and Information Services in the 21st Century: An Introduction. New York: Neal-Shuman Publishers. 3- Do We All Look Alike? The Patrons View (2008) Retrieved on 09/ 23/ 09 from http://www.librarystudentjournal.org/index.php/lsj/article/viewArticle/96/174