Reference Transformation December 7, 2006
Posted by sharynheili in Uncategorized.trackback
I was happy to see Stephen Abram’s new article in the SirsiDynix OneSource newsletter, “Reconstructing the Reference Team: 6 Ways to Sunday”.
He states that Reference Teams in the Web 2.0 world need to focus on:
- Meeting the needs of our virtual users
- Aligning our technology with our users environments
- Making sure that our front-line staff are prepared and able to act
- Capturing and passing on the wealth of knowledge that senior librarians have acquired
How do we do this? He recommends beginning with these 6:
- Put the personal into Reference–pictures of reference staff on web page with their profiles, easy ways to contact reference in mode of choice from every page, publicize a librarian’s special expertise, clear identity on web site, signage, badges, etc
- Blog–tell our library’s story and promote our service; team collaborative blog or aggregate blogs on web site.
- Tag–build links that can be updated easily and organized
- Wikis–as valuable as blogs; share and everyone learns.
- Instant Messaging–adopt as a team; start with reference staff and expand to other staff
- Virtual Reference–focusing on end user’s needs
He gives us lots of resources to accomplish the reconstruction of Reference. It is high past time to transform the library’s Reference Service to succeed in the virtual world. And it’s not that hard. Right on once again Stephen. See his article here.
Sharyn
Libraries and Librarians Rock 
You’re right. These are relatively easy places to begin. Once we start the transformation, commit to it, and experience success, each new stage of reconstruction builds on the previous accomplishment. The hardest change is the first, but once we’ve begun, there’s no stopping.
Keep rockin’ !