Provide the best possible service to your library patrons. With a healthy respect for those who seek assistance at the reference desk, a group of library and information service specialists examine the public whom they serve. The Reference Library User focuses on the possible interactions between the reference librarian and the library user. The authoritative contributors discuss many problems in the relationship between the public and the library, and all offer suggestions that will at least help librarians to better serve the public on a daily basis. A major emphasis of The Reference Library User is on the various populations using the library and their particular needs. For example, one chapter examines the information needs of deinstitutionalized patrons and presents methods of providing service and a rationale for community outreach. The state program in Rhode Island is outlined, describing efforts to reach community residents through public libraries and the state operated Bookmobile. Other chapters provide strategies for providing reference services to older adults, the learning disabled, the blind, and the physically handicapped. This informative new volume also deals with general concerns facing librarians today, including determining the audience for both public and academic libraries, educating the user, encouraging nonusers to become library users, and calming irate patrons. Reference librarians will be particularly interested in the problems and solutions discussed in this new volume, as will library managers and administrators who will always benefit from a fresh perspective on public service for the library user.

This useful book helps reference librarians understand the information seeking needs and behaviors of the diverse groups of people in the communities they serve. With the increasing diversity of the American population, librarians striving to plan and deliver excellent reference services must enhance their understanding of how best to assist many types of individuals and groups, from children to the elderly. Library Users and Reference Services provides much-needed help in this area, delivering strategies and methods to aid readers in their quest for increasingly effective service for all members of the communities in which they work.Library Users and Reference Services is divided into four sections of chapters which cover a broad range of topics to assist readers in planning and delivering appropriate services. Section One explores customer service, economics of information, and marketing as key concepts useful in studying information needs of specific groups in the population. Section Two focuses on scholars and students in three broad academic disciplines: science, humanities, and social sciences. Section Three covers groups with special characteristics such as age, economic standing, gender, or profession. Section Four discusses evaluation and provides guidance in the use of the most widely accepted measures for assessing reference effectiveness.The book’s final chapter explores redesigning reference services for the future, providing a glimpse of how such services may change. Library Users and Reference Services is a practical guide to help readers understand the many issues related to serving diverse populations in a community. Reference librarians and graduate library school students and faculty will learn more effective ways to help a heterogeneous public with the help of this new book.

This provocative new book will help you design and implement the most effective library user education possible--one that builds on basic library use skills through a progressively sophisticated program that is fully integrated into course curriculum at all levels, from the freshman year to graduation and beyond. By exploring major issues underlying the integration of library use skills and research methodologies into the general education curriculum, contributors raise important questions, offer creative ideas, and provide insight into the many improvements made in library instruction in the past few years. Following an introduction by Patricia Breivik, a recognized national authority on libraries and general education, contributors representing two- and four-year institutions and research universities discuss such issues as the relationship between high school and college programs, research skills instruction in a remote access environment, the use of microcomputers and end user searching programs to promote critical thinking, and the improved relationship between librarians and faculty. In addition to articles on library instruction geared towards question analysis, information generation by field, structure of published knowledge and dissemination of a discipline's literature, chapters identify cooperative efforts needed among school, public, special, academic libraries and other information agencies, computer center personnel, and online database vendors. Bibliographic instruction librarians who are active participants in planning and administering library user education programs will find this volume to be essential for building and developing stronger, more integrated programs.

Libraries as social and service-based institutions are constantly seeking innovative and effective ways to meet the needs of their users and maintain relevance amidst alternative information sources. They are constantly adjusting to meet the needs of users, contribute to the personal development of users, and alight with national development. All of these have placed a burden on libraries to engage in sustainable practices both to increase their capacity to drive current developmental endeavors and to sustain future relevance. Global Perspectives on Sustainable Library Practices provides a rich and robust knowledge resource that brings together diverse sustainable library practices that will revamp library operations towards optimally meeting the current objectives of libraries as a developmental institution as well as sustaining value for future operations and service transactions. Covering topics such as access efficacy, green space development, and library service delivery, this premier reference source is an essential resource for librarians, library administrators, educators and administration of both K-12 and higher education, students of library sciences, pre-service teachers, researchers, and academicians.

An updated and expanded version of the training guide Booklist called "one of the most valuable professional publications to come off the presses in a long time," the new third edition of Communicating Professionally is completely revised with new sections outlining the opportunities offered by contemporary communication media. With more resource information on cross-cultural communication, including new applications of communication principles and the latest research-based material on communication in general, this comprehensive manual covers Fundamental skills such as listening, speaking, and writing Reading others’ nonverbal behavior How to integrate skills, with tips for practicing Sense-making, a theory of information as communication Common interactions like speaking one-on-one, working in groups, and giving presentations Training others in communication skills, including a special section on technology-based training

A dozen articles suggest a variety of ways for libraries to enhance their daily reference service and the image of librarianship, and to bring in more users. They emphasize the interaction of both the staff and the clients with new technology. Also published as The Reference Librarian, no. 39, 1993. No index. The paper edition has the same ISBN. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

A handbook for library scientists learning the ropes in the new arena of online and other electronic resources. Seven contributions look at topics such as the retrieval power of selected search engines, visual maps of the World Wide Web, a simulation study of search tactics of Web users, geographic information systems in library reference, managing reference services in the electronic age, and patron attitudes toward computerized and print resources. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR