Students come to the school library every day with questions ranging from “How many people live in China?” to “I need to find out how the Sun began for my science paper.” Helping students find the answers to their questions is one of the most important responsibilities school librarians have. In Introduction to Reference and Information Services in Today's School Library, one of America’s premier school library educators covers the A-Z of both reference and information services for today’s library. Everything from teaching students how to use sources to both in-person and virtual reference service is covered. A key feature of the text is an annotated bibliography of core print and electronic sources for elementary, middle, and high school collections. Yes, reference and information services are vital library functions in the digital age. Even students who appear to be tech savvy have trouble finding the right information efficiently - and knowing what to do with it. This book examines information needs and behaviors, and provides strategies for assessing and meeting the informational needs of the school community. The book also addresses the conditions for optimum service: physical access (including virtual access), effective interaction and collaboration, instructional design, and systematic planning. Newer issues such as embedded librarianship, curation,collective intelligence, and web 2.0 intellectual property are also addressed. This book introduces the entering professional, and updates practitioners, to current standards and useful strategies.

Search skills of today bear little resemblance to searches through print publications. Reference service has become much more complex than in the past, and is in a constant state of flux. Learning the skill sets of a worthy reference librarian can be challenging, unending, rewarding, and-- yes, fun.

Reflecting the dramatic changes shaped by rapidly developing technologies over the past six years, this new fourth edition of Reference and Information Services takes the introduction to reference sources and services significantly beyond the content of the first three editions. In Part I, Concepts and Processes, chapters have been revised and updated to reflect new ideas and methods in the provision of reference service in an era when many users have access to the Web. In Part II, Information Sources and Their Use, discussion of each source type has been updated to encompass key resources in print and on the Web, where an increasing number of freely available sources join those purchased or licensed by libraries. A number of new authors are contributors to this new edition, bringing to their chapters their experience as teachers of reference and as practitioners in different types of libraries. Discussions of services in Part I integrate digital reference as appropriate to each topic, such as how to conduct a reference interview online using instant messaging. Boxes interspersed in the text are used to present scenarios for discussion, to highlight key concepts, or to present excerpts from important documents. Discussions of sources in Part II place more emphasis on designing effective search strategies using both print and digital resources. The chapter on selection and evaluation of sources addresses the changing nature of reference collections and how to evaluate new types of sources. Each chapter concludes with an updated list of additional readings to guide further study. A new companion website will provide links to Web-accessible readings and resources as well as additional scenarios for discussion and example search strategies to supplement those presented in the text.

Reference and information services are more important than ever for today’s young people. By analyzing key features of reference and information services to young people in school and public library environments, including the research behind the trends and issues, librarians can make sure that those services are appropriately responsive to children and teens. Based on standards and evidence-based practice, this book helps you to optimize those resources and services by: providing guidance in assessing youth communities, determining youth’s information needs and information behaviors, developing and maintaining age-appropriate reference collections (starting with the book’s core list of print and online resources), optimizing physical and virtual access to reference and information sources, interacting with youth and facilitating their reference and information literacy skills, curating and producing reference and information products, dealing with relevant legal and ethical issues, and planning effective library reference and information services for youth. Chapter sidebar examples provide food for thought.

This third edition of Information Services Today: An Introduction demonstrates the ever-changing landscape of information services today and the need to re-evaluate curriculum, competency training, professional development, and lifelong learning in order to stay abreast of current trends and issues, and more significantly, remain competent to address the changing user needs of information communities. Specifically, the Information Services Today: An Introduction: provides a thorough introduction, history, and overall state of the field, explores different types of information communities, the varying information needs within those communities, and the role of equity of access, diversity, inclusion, and social justice in those communities, addresses why information organizations and information and technological literacy are more important today than ever before, discusses how technology has influenced the ways that information professionals provide information resources and services in today’s digital environment, highlights current issues and trends and provides expert insight into emerging challenges, innovations, and opportunities for the future, and identifies career management strategies and leadership opportunities in the information professions. The new edition features chapter updates to address changes in information services, introducing new/updated topics such as emergency/crisis management/community resilience, sustainability, data analysis and visualization, social justice, and equity of access, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Information Services Today: An Introduction begins with an overview of libraries and their transformation as information and technological hubs within their local and digital communities, as well as trends impacting the information field. Information Services Today: An Introduction covers the various specializations within the field – emphasizing the exciting yet complex roles and opportunities for information professionals in a variety of information environments. With that foundation in place, it presents the fundamentals of information services, delves into management skills needed by information professionals today, and explores emerging issues related to the rapid development of new technologies. Information Services Today: An Introduction addresses how libraries and information centers serve different kinds of communities, highlighting the unique needs of increasingly diverse users. Information Services Today: An Introduction provokes discussion, critical thinking, and interaction to facilitate the learning process. The content and supplemental materials – discussion questions, rich sets of online accessible materials, multimedia webcast interviews featuring authors from this book discussing the trends and issues in their respective areas, and chapter presentation slides for use by instructors – give readers the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of and engagement with the topics.

This revised and updated sixth edition of Reference and Information Services continues the book's rich tradition, covering all phases of reference and information services with less emphasis on print and more emphasis on strategies and scenarios. Reference and Information Services is the go-to textbook for MSLIS and i-School courses on reference services and related topics. It is also a helpful handbook for practitioners. Authors include LIS faculty and professionals who have relevant degrees in their areas and who have published extensively on their topics. The first half of the book provides an overview of reference services and techniques for service provision, including the reference interview, ethics, instruction, reader's advisory, and services to diverse populations including children. This part of the book establishes a foundation of knowledge on reference service and frames each topic with ethical and social justice perspectives. The second part of the book offers an overview of the information life cycle and dissemination of information, followed by an in-depth examination of information sources by type—including dictionaries, encyclopedias, indexes, and abstracts—as well as by broad subject areas including government, statistics and data, health, and legal information. This second section introduces the tools and resources that reference professionals use to provide the services described in the first half of the text.

This second edition of Information Services Today: An Introduction demonstrates the ever-changing landscape of information services today and the need to re-evaluate curriculum, competency training, and one’s personal learning network in order to stay abreast of current trends and issues, and more significantly, remain competent to address the changing user needs of the information community. Specifically, the book • provides a thorough introduction, history, and overall state of the field, • gives a diverse and global perspective of what it means to be a library and information professional today, • addresses why information organizations and information and technological literacy are more important today than ever before, • discusses how technology has influenced the ways that information professionals provide information resources and services in today’s digital environment, • highlights current issues and trends and provides expert insight into emerging challenges, innovations, and opportunities for the future, and, • identifies career management strategies and leadership opportunities in the information profession. The new edition features chapter updates to address changes in information services, introducing new topics such as strategic planning, change management, design thinking, advocacy, and data management and analysis, and includes new contributing authors. The book begins with an overview of libraries and their transformation as information and technological hubs within their local and digital communities. It covers the various specializations within the field – emphasizing the exciting yet complex roles and opportunities for information professionals in a variety of information environments. With that foundation in place, it presents the fundamentals of information services, delves into management skills needed by information professionals today, and explores emerging issues related to the rapid development of new technologies. The book addresses how libraries and information centers serve different kinds of communities, highlighting the unique needs of increasingly diverse users and how information organizations and information professional’s work to fulfill those needs. This book provokes discussion, critical thinking, and interaction to facilitate the learning process. The content and supplemental materials – discussion questions, rich sets of online accessible materials, multimedia webcast interviews featuring authors from this book discussing the trends and issues in their respective areas, and chapter presentation slides for use by instructors – give readers the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of and engagement with the topics. Additionally, this book recognizes the broad range of environments that people with Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degrees work in, which include both libraries and other information environments. Thus, this book does not only focus on libraries, but instead encompasses ALL kinds of information organizations.

This book, first published in 1987, is a stimulating and informative appraisal of the international librarianship scene and the reference service function. Experts discuss how international reference services can be improved to facilitate true exchange of information around the world. They look squarely at problems and provide answers to a host of pertinent questions, such as information counselling and policies, reference services and global awareness, integrating a central reference international studies program, and more.

The book contains essays on current issues in arts and humanities in which peoples and cultures compete as well as collaborate in globalizing the world while maintaining their uniqueness as viewed from cross- and interdisciplinary perspectives. The book covers areas such as literature, cultural studies, archaeology, philosophy, history, language studies, information and literacy studies, and area studies. Asia and the Pacifi c are the particular regions that the conference focuses on as they have become new centers of knowledge production in arts and humanities and, in the future, seem to be able to grow signifi cantly as a major contributor of culture, science and arts to the globalized world. The book will help shed light on what arts and humanities scholars in Asia and the Pacifi c have done in terms of research and knowledge development, as well as the new frontiers of research that have been explored and opening up, which can connect the two regions with the rest of the globe.