Use service concepts, principles, and techniques to connect individuals or groups with accurate, relevant, and appropriate information.
Introduction
It might seem as if working at the reference desk is one of the easiest jobs in the library. A common misconception is that whoever is working the desk sits there waiting for people to ask questions, then searches Google for the answers. As information professionals, we know that this is definitely not the case and that answering reference questions presents a unique set of challenges beginning with the reference interview.
It is here that a customer service background can really come into play. Prior to beginning my career in librarianship, I worked in retail for many years and the underlying principles for customer service interaction are much the same as they would be in a reference interview. In a store where my job was to assist customers and make sure that they left with what they needed and were happy about it, my first priority was to be friendly and unintimidating so they felt that they could ask me anything and not be judged or condescended to.
The response to a customer or patron’s initial question can be similar as well, allowing me to try to understand their need by asking open ended questions. For example, if a customer came into my store and said they needed a knife, I would ask about what kind they were considering, what they planned to use it for, what knives they already had, how much they were looking to spend, and even what kinds of food they normally prepared.
In a library, my line of questioning is different but the motivation is the same. In order for me to be able to provide truly useful resources, I need to find out what a patron is looking for. By asking follow-up questions I can establish a rapport with them and begin to get to the root of the question. By paraphrasing and repeating the question back to the patron, asking about what sources have already been found and if they are satisfactory, and ascertaining the level of information needed I can determine what resources to recommend. I could not honestly say I successfully did my job if a patron asked about a baseball team and I provided them with a mountain of information about the history of baseball and its players when all they wanted to know about was which teams were in a particular division.
In the end, it is up to the patron to decide if their information need has been met. If I don’t communicate with them, there is no way to know if I have been helpful. Conducting a thorough reference interview and ending it by making the patron feel welcome to ask for more or different information is the only way I can be sure that I have provided accurate, relevant, and appropriate information.
Evidence
A selection of actual reference questions from an academic library.
In this exercise, I was given a set of ten questions received by a librarian working the reference desk at an academic library. The questions span a number of topics, some needing only basic ready reference answers while others required more in-depth subject searches. For each question, I was required to provide some level of information based only on what was asked in the question. For the questions that were extremely broad, I could provide some information and then propose some follow up questions to try to narrow down what the patron wanted but under no circumstance was I to let the patron leave empty-handed.
My second piece of evidence is a much more rigorous search exercise than my first. The focus was on forming a search plan for a question including (in some cases) selecting appropriate databases, forming efficient queries, contingency planning, and comparing and analyzing results. This exercise showed me how to be efficient with my searching and how even though databases have similar subject matter, their content can vary greatly. Analyzing databases and results has helped me to see that there is no single perfect database, and that I should try to find out as much as I can in my interactions with patrons so I can recommend some that best fit the request.
Professional Development
I feel that my background in retail has prepared me well for this particular competency, but I know that there is always more to learn. As I gain more experience working in libraries and becoming familiar with the resources they have to offer, such as software used to track reference transactions, or more homegrown solutions like a simple binder full of answers to the most frequently-asked ready reference questions, I believe my ability to provide appropriate information will only increase. I am confident that gaining experience with conducting reference interviews and with the tools used to find information will teach me new ways to relate to patrons and allow me to provide what they are seeking in an efficient manner.