Reference service

I'm surprised that he says this:

He does say that librarians have to teach each other about reference, because we can't get that in a grad school course.

...because I just spent the past two days reading nothing BUT research and practitioner articles on reference service, reference technique, and ensuring that both of these serve the user as well and efficiently as possible.

The fact that my prof for the course is a reference librarian might have something to do with that, but since the focus of the course is how users determine need for, seek out, locate, and use information, I'd take issue with his assertion on its face.

We actually need to conduct reference interviews.

Well, yeah. I kind of thought that that was, y'know, an integral part of the job...

You're very lucky to have a librarian teaching your course on user needs. None of my teachers were librarians....they were all academics and researchers who hadn't been behind a reference or circ desk for 20+ years. My course on users and services focused on quantative and qualitative analyses of how users percieved the service they received...we did a group role-play of a reference interview, nothing more.

We (as librarians) are trained how to interact with books, facts and data, not with people. We can talk about people in an abstract way (like in my childrens' lit course) but never learn how to work with people (no talking to children, or trips to childrens' libraries, no story hour, etc).

I'm uncertain about whether we're going to get practical training or not, though. Because it's one thing to read about it, another to do it....
Besides, I get the impression JJ is pretty progressive in actually trying to teach reference.

..because I just spent the past two days reading nothing BUT research and practitioner articles on reference service, reference technique, and ensuring that both of these serve the user as well and efficiently as possible.

Reading does not a reference librarian make. (Though I think it definitely helps.)

In my reference class, we've been doing a lot of reading, too. The articles we've read have been really excellent. (Hey, would you be willing to swap syllabi? I'd be interested in seeing what you're reading for your reference class.) But another part of our class is answering reference questions. Frankly, there are people in my class who just don't know how to answer reference questions. And it's not because they're not doing the readings.

We answer reference questions digitally, and we work with other library schools in doing this. I was reading some of the answers that people from other library schools had given. They didn't even say where they'd gotten their information, let alone explain to the patron/client how they arrived at the information.

We actually need to conduct reference interviews.

Well, yeah. I kind of thought that that was, y'know, an integral part of the job...

The sad thing is, it seems to me that many reference librarians couldn't tell a good reference interview from their bottom. (Don't believe me? Go read some of Catherine Ross's work, if you haven't already)

I definitely agree with Greg-From-Open-Stacks - I don't think I'm getting my reference education out of grad school. (Though I do think that having Catherine Ross and Joan Durrance's writings on reference assigned to me in multiple classes has helped.)

Perhaps we need actual training out in the field? Training answering reference questions? I think we need to watch reference librarians work, see how they answer questions, critique how they answer questions, ask them how they go about answering questions. I'm not sure if this is really the answer, but I don't think we're getting an adequate training in reference as things are now.

Actual on-the-job-while-in-school training would be wonderful. As would some coursework in teaching methodology (how to impart informaiton to people with different learning styles). Library education needs to focus on the practical, the how, rather than the theoretical, the why. If we don't know how to do something, there's no reason to ask why we do something.

I think reading about reference sources, reference interview techniques and role-playing will certainly help prepare you if you haven't done enquiry work before... but there's nothing like the actual experience of it to get you through a steep learning curve. Can't remember what we did on my MSc but I'd done two years working on an enquiry desk and in a subject team before my course which helped a lot.

I think within the work place a lot of librarians critique each others enquiry technique without meaning to... we try to double-man on our desk so if one person is stuck they can ask the other person for help, and as subject librarians our office is directly behind the desk so we also tend to wander into the office, yell for help and then see how one of the others would answer the question.

Practical, on-the-job training would be very beneficial for many people and certainly if you are going into an area where you'll be teaching information literacy then some kind of teaching theory can certainly help. I'm halfway through a PG Cert in Higher Ed teaching which has improved my teaching sessions a lot.

I'm actually lucky enough to be getting some reference experience as a volunteer at virtual statewide reference pilot project. The only requirement was that you be enrolled in one and MLIS program and attend the technical training session -- I just started my MLIS program this year...

While my online searching skills are very good, the fact that I often don't know of good resources to begin with or that questions are often about library services (which vary from library to library anyhow) is a bit intimidating. I have no problems letting the patron know that they may need to follow up via email to get better answers because if nothing else, I refuse to dish out any kind of BS.

Unfortunately...

There are those of us who have been told by a supervisor not to mention any aspect of work (whether that be co-workers, the name of my institution, how I do my work, etc.) on a personal weblog. The reason was ostensibly that I had violated a co-worker's confidentiality by stating where she lived (which I didn't--I mentioned her first name and the fact that she lived in a upstairs apartment). I know the real reason was that I was not always complimentary about my boss, mentioning a couple of her irritating habits, and she was angry and felt she needed to find an excuse to silence me.

She actually told me to go back through my blog (about 8 months worth) and remove everything remotely relating to work. This took me 5 hours. Then, I was not to state on my webpage that anything had been removed or that I was going to change what I posted on it in the future. All of this was on pain of possible termination due to violating confidentiality of a co-worker.

I am still angry about this. I still feel that a work supervisor should not have censorship power over personal methods of self-expression that do not take place at work or involving work resources. I thought of checking with a lawyer to see if my supervisor had a right to specify what I could and couldn't write on my personal webpage, which I update only on my home computer using my personal internet access through a local ISP. But I don't really have the time or money, and of course I can't call and discuss it while at work during work hours.

I am still debating what to do when I leave this job. It would be very satisfying to post something on my page explaining what happened--not an angry blow-up, just an explanation of the facts. My boss couldn't fire me then, obviously. But she would undoubtedly find out (the library staff knows I have a webpage and would be checking it to see what I've been up to) and I might jeopardize my ability to get a positive job recommendation from her.

When I get my next job, I might just go back to discussing work as part of my life (keeping confidential aspects out of the blog, of course) as though nothing ever happened. It would be nice to be able to do that, since I am interested in sharing that part of my life with my friends, who are mostly not library people and who aren't on the library listservs I contribute to.

Re: Unfortunately...

What's to prevent you from blogging (or participating in a reference teaching site/blog) anonymously?

Re: Unfortunately...

Did you ask to see the library's confidentiality policy? Is there such a beast, or did she pull all of this out of her ass?

Eh. It doesn't sound legal at all to me, not once you had removed the bit about your coworker, unless you're dealing with somehow sensitive material and/or you signed something that said you agreed to never talk about your work to anyone, which I seriously doubt unless you work for the U.S. government or a major corporation. But I have absolutely no legal training or experience. You might get a hotmail address or something and forward this post out to some law librarians or some other venues.

I mean, everyone -- EVERYONE -- bitches about work. What made your case special? Did you mention your boss by name? Your place of employment specifically by name? Could a potential patron reading it trace your bitchiness to specific people at the library?

Re: Unfortunately...

The library specifically doesn't have a confidentiality policy for employees; that's part of the parent organization's policies. It basically says that no one is supposed to release employee-identifiable information. For example, if someone calls and asks for my boss' home address, I can't give it to them even though it's in the phone book. Same thing goes for personal info like whether a person is married, names/ages of their kids, name of spouse, etc.

I never released any of this sort of information, just first names. I also never signed anything saying I would keep mum about where I worked, what my job duties were, etc. And of course I deal with sensitive material in terms of patrons' personal contact info and reference questions, but I didn't put any of that in my blog.

So, I do think what my boss asked me to do is not legal. I also think it's not ethical and I KNOW it wasn't very nice. Basically it undermined my trust in her by giving me the impression that she disapproves of what I say in public and feels she needs to watch it and control it. It's very hard to feel valued when someone is looking over your shoulder. It makes the worker feel that someone is expecting her to screw up, which is not a motivating feeling. I'm sure a lot of us have had bosses who micromanaged, but maybe not to this extent. :(

Re: Unfortunately...

I don't think what your supervisor did was right, but I can understand her motives (wanting to appear in a good light, not wanting anyone's privacy infringed upon in any way).

I have a similar fear where I work (small conservative school....I'm not conservative). Which is why I have a LJ account in addition to my blogs, work doesn't really know about my professional blog, nothing about my personal ones, and LJ has a friends/private setting for those posts I don't want anyone in the "general public to see."

Re: Unfortunately...

Thanks for the replies to "Unfortunately...". I have indeed considered participating in blogging and commenting anonymously, that's what I'm doing right now. ;) Also, yes, I did mention my place of employment specifically, and mentioned first names of co-workers, and technically anyone could have seen these statements, but I was not "bitching" about them, just making comments--along the lines of, I went to lunch with X and Y today, the X Company cafeteria is pretty good, liked the tuna casserole.

And of course, I never EVER put patron-identifiable information--or even references to reference interactions that could be identified by someone who knew the patron--on my blog. That's a violation of so many professional ethics codes, I couldn't even name them all.

The only time I complained was about my boss. And yes, I do think I was stupid for putting it on the web, but I didn't identify her by name; only people who knew both of us would have been able to tell who I was talking about. Obviously, when she saw the page, SHE knew who I was talking about.

My mistake was in venting "in public" even though I did not know she knew about my webpage. (She isn't very technology-savvy.) There would be a piece of advice I'd give others: don't assume that your supervisors aren't aware of your personal webpages just because you have not made them aware. All it takes is one person to stumble on your page and e-mail your boss with a "Check it out, bet you didn't know your employee felt this way!". That could be a co-worker, a well-meaning colleague of your boss's, or even someone non-job-related like your boss' husband or college-age kid who met you at a staff party and think's it's cool that you have a webpage.

I will have to check out the possibilities in using my LiveJournal account to limit those who can see my postings. Problem is, a lot of my friends don't have LJ accounts, and those who do are not necessarily my nearest & dearest. I guess I'll look into my options.

In any case, this same boss has also been restrictive of me in other areas, so I'm starting to think this is perhaps a personality issue on her part, rather than my overreacting to something she had a right to request. Let's just say, "Control freak" doesn't begin to cover it.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. I really needed to do this and didn't have a place to do it. This LiveJournal thing rocks.

Re: Unfortunately...

Venting is cool, and I'm glad this is a safe place for you.