Reference Workshop

Yesterday was a full day with lots of great information. In the morning, Carol Steele and Rama Karamcheti covered The Reference Interview: Do's & Don'ts and A Reference Top 10: 10 Common Types of Questions & Where to Find the Answers.

The packet from the workshop also included a list of 25 Open-Ended Questions for Reference Interviews (http://infopeople.org/training/past/2004/reference ).

Homework included checking out the "Ohio Reference Excellence on the Web" site: http://www.olc.org/ore/. This is a fantastic site that includes training modules for both reference and marketing. If you have new staff members, (and there were quite a few new faces at yesterday's session), please encourage them to check out this website. Webjunction is also a great resource for training new library staff members. www.webjunction.org

The dvd from yesterday's session was: Conducting the Reference Interview and it is from the Library Video Network at Baltimore County Public Library. LVN offers several titles. Please let me know if there is a title that would be helpful for the professional collection. http://www.lvn.org/

The Internet has changed the way we provide reference. It has also leveled the playing field. A customer walking into the Avella Library has the same level of access as the customer at Citizens. Each "solution" on the "Top 10" included Internet resources. Everyone in the district has access to POWER Library and Grolier Online. THERE IS NO REASON A LIBRARY USER SHOULD LEAVE YOUR LIBRARY EMPTY-HANDED!! If you send them away with "nothing" you have failed as the community's information resource.