Issues in the Reference Process

1. No matter the level of the patron, the librarian must be careful not to overwhelm him or her with information. The guidance must be clear and precise, and an attitude of understanding and friendliness must prevail through­out. Any lengthy unneeded discourse on the finer- points of the bibliographic universe will surely fall on impatient, if not deaf, ears and jeopardize the suc­cess of the entire process.

2. How much time should a librarian be expected to devote to rendering individual assistance? Given the usual press on the librarian's time, isn't there a better way than a one-to-one encounter? If tir_ne and staffing permit, the librarian should render as much help as is needed. Unfortunately, in very few business libraries is there time or staff adequate t<₃ meet the demands placed upon reference service. The reasonable alternative is to enable and encour­age the patron to exploit the library independently. The reference interview should reveal the level of independence with which the patron can operate and desires to operate. With the proper guidance, delivered in a suitably ap­propriate manner, most patrons should welcome a_nd seize upon opportunities for independent research. Many users simply don't require or like a librarian breathing down their necks. The librarian must recognize when the job is done and appreciate the rewards to the patron of the feelings of accomplish­ment and satisfaction that stem from self-reliance.

What about considering library instruction on a group basis, in light of the economies of such a procedure? The answer t_:o this question depends on whether one is considering public, special, or academic libraries. The oppor­tunities for group instruction in the public or special library are few, since any session should be widely announced, planned at _a time convenient for the intended audience, and structured with considerable appeal. In the academic setting, the situation is different. The audience captive and generally is at least minimally motivated. The presentation can I,_e carefully planned to show the clear sequence of steps necessary to retrieve th_e required information from the applicable bodies of literature. Providing a packet of illustrative material reflecting the subject at hand to each student at the beginning of the session can be helpful in relating the library resources tc, the course content and to the assignment. An added benefit of these hand-out packets is that they may be consulted by the students again and again as a library retrieval directory. The packets should be no longer than 9 or 10 pages and should be easy to copy. The session will be more productive if the instructor is present, since this recognition makes the librarian much more credible.

4- How can the librarian manage electronic access, i.e., the online and CD-ROM databases? CD-ROM is rapidly replacing the former. Online search­ing, a mediated process in the library, requires a skilled librarian to assist the patron in formulating the search strategy and statement(s) and in actually doing the search. Online searching is usually expensive and is now for the most part limited to satisfying the special needs of the sophisticated researcher. The increasing popularity of the CD-ROM format is attracting droves of pa­trons not only in the academic setting but in the public library sector as well. Points to consider with CD-ROMs are: (a) As currently provided, most CD- ROM products are not user friendly, producer arguments to the contrary not withstanding. Therefore, unless the neophyte is properly and thoroughly guided, the potential for less than full exploitation is high. Does the reference librarian have the time to provide this guidance, either individually or collec­tively? Or should concise supplementary "cheat sheets" be developed and relied upon? (b) Due to the high demand for the CD-ROM, some sort of user time allocation system must be implemented. In the University of Rhode Island library, patrons are allotted half-hour periods, with the system man­aged from the reference desk, (c) Nothing is free. An annual subscription to a CD-ROM product may cost thousands of dollars that come from unexpandable collection development funds. Should the patron bear some of the cost of the service? If so, how and how much? And, if not, how will collection develop­ment funds be added to in order to meet the extraordinary expenses?

5. Small business librarians, as well as their colleagues in larger libraries, must pay close attention to the information superhighway and its major con­nection of interest, the Internet. Major resources available on the Internet include USEnet newsgroups; Internet and Bitnet discussion groups; commer­cial business sources; resources available via anonymous file transfer proto­cols (FTP), such as Business Sources on the NET (which is available through ftp ksuvxa.kent.edu, and which provides lists of business resources resident on the Internet); the InterNIC (which provides directory information for Internet sources); bulletin boards from various federal agencies (i.e., the Eco­nomic Bulletin Board, the Bulletin Board of the Federal Drug Administra­tion); university gophers (i.e., the University of Pennsylvania's Pennlnfo, the University of California at San Diego News and Services); gophers at the United Nations and other international agencies; bulletin boards from asso­ciations (i.e., BUSLIB-L: the Business Librarians Discussion List); and elec­tronic journals (i.e., Internet Business Journal). One publication that specifically focuses on the ways in which business managers can use the Internet for marketing, research and development, sales, and customer contact infor­mation is Doing Business on the Internet by Mary J. Cronin(Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1994).

6. A final issue that must be considered, especially in academic libraries, I» fees for service. Representative services available today include the charging of per copy fees for business documents printed from locally mounted CD- ROM business databases; offering corporate subscriptions to businesses, against which specialized business reference services are charged; providing business reference service for unaffiliated users on an hourly basis, the charges for which are based on the type of service provided; and the development of sophisti­cated cost recovery business reference service departments that operate within the academic library but whose expenses are recouped via user fees.

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