REFERENCE PIONEERS
This librarian is credited with coining the term "reference work" in his 1876 essay and establishing reference service as a distinct library function.
Who is Samuel Swett Green?
This traditional model places librarians at a physical desk in the library where patrons approach with questions.
What is the reference desk model?
This synchronous virtual service allows librarians to assist users in real-time through text-based conversation.
What is chat reference (or virtual reference/live chat)?
These comprehensive multi-volume works, such as Britannica and World Book, were once essential ready reference tools before Wikipedia's dominance.
What are print encyclopedias (or general encyclopedias)?
These RUSA guidelines, most recently updated in 2013, outline behavioral performance standards for reference librarians during user interactions.
What are the Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers?
Published in 1908, this landmark work by James I. Wyer established principles for reference service and is considered one of the first textbooks on the subject.
What is "Reference Work: A Textbook for Students of Library Work and Librarians"?
This contemporary approach involves librarians leaving the desk to actively engage with users in their spaces, whether physical or virtual.
What is roving reference (or embedded librarianship)?
The widespread availability of this search engine in the late 1990s fundamentally changed user information-seeking behavior and reference interactions.
What is Google?
This type of reference source provides brief biographical information about notable individuals and was traditionally published annually with names like "Who's Who."
What are biographical dictionaries (or biographical reference sources)?
This ethical principle requires reference librarians to maintain confidentiality about patron questions and information needs.
What is patron privacy (or library confidentiality)?
This 1944 ALA document formalized standards for reference service and emphasized the instructional role of reference librarians.
What is "A Survey of Libraries in the United States" (or What are the Public Library Inquiry studies)?
This tiered staffing model differentiates between directional, ready reference, and complex research questions to maximize efficiency.
What is the tiered reference model (or reference triage)?
This evolving reference philosophy emphasizes teaching users research skills and information literacy rather than simply providing answers.
What is reference as instruction (or the teaching library concept)?
This reference interview technique, popularized by librarians in the 1980s-90s, uses open-ended questions to uncover the patron's true information need.
What is the reference interview (or what are open-ended questions/neutral questioning)?
This concept describes the librarian's responsibility to serve all patrons equally regardless of their questions' nature, balanced against potential harm concerns.
What is intellectual freedom (or equitable access to information)?