Don’t Just Turn It Off
& Back On Again

How Library IT Workers Can
Use Reference Skills on the Job

Callan Bignoli • @eminencefont


Emily Ferrier • @emilycr0w


Whitni Watkins • @_whitni


Robyn York (moderator) • @BFHSlibrary

Intros

Who are we?



What is the Reference Interview?

A conversation between a librarian and a library user in which the librarian responds to the user's initial explanation of their information need by first attempting to clarify that need and then by directing the user to appropriate information resources.

Parts of the Reference Interview

1. Establishing rapport
2. Determining the question
3. Developing a strategy & communicating it to the user
4. Closing the interview
5. Following up

Establishing rapport

Strategies

Collaboration

Following up

Q&A

Recap: Strategies

Listen actively
Empathize with tech ability
Be mindful of time - evaluate immediacy of need & desired depth of information
Get familiar with unfamiliar topics

Recap: Workflows

Defining the need together
Researching & presenting solutions
Partnering with end users to create better tools
Group and one-on-one instruction