Service

Arnold Library’s Reference Desk

As part of my Directed Fieldwork experience at the Arnold Library, I was asked to work at the reference desk a shift a week. I am a fairly outgoing person, but I found this experience quite terrifying because I was so afraid of giving someone either inaccurate of inadequate information. Before I started working at the reference desk, I had received training on the catalog and had learned about the collection and services provided by the library (such as how to use and fix the copy machine and how to initiate an inter-library loan). However, I still found that when it came time for me to actually sit at the desk everything I had learned seemed like it was about to evaporate each time a new patron came up and asked a question! I felt so embarrassed about having such terrible performance anxiety.

Things didn’t start to get easier for me until I started to believe in my expert status at the desk. When I started working at the library, I felt like I knew even less about the services and collection than those who I was tasked with helping. As I learned and began to trust in my own knowledge, it became much more natural for me to pass knowledge onto patrons. Slowly, I lost the lump in my throat and my anxiety lessened.

By the end of my Directed Fieldwork I was able to help patrons search for materials using the catalog, check in and out books, shelve materials and answer general library service questions. Building my confidence by just getting in there and doing the work helped out a lot. I felt comfortable telling patrons when I didn’t have the answers they were looking for and asking the librarian on duty. In this way I learned from the librarian’s experience and was then able to take the information that was passed to the patron and add it to my own body of knowledge. Over time, what I learned helped me to know how to serve patrons more effectively.


Internet Public Library

Before I had the chance to sit at an actual reference desk, I practiced reference interviews as a Volunteer Reference Librarian (VRL) for the Internet Public Library (IPL) as part of LIS 521, Principles of Information Services with Nancy Huling. The IPL not only offers reference information to the public, but also acts as a training space for many new librarians learning about reference searching by answering patron questions posted on the “Ask a Librarian” link offered on the IPL’s main webpage. Patrons who want to access this service click on the link located on the main page of the IPL, fill out an online form that asked their name, email address, location, deadline for answering their question (if there was one), the purpose of their inquiry, and their question and then submit the question into the system. From the back end, a VRL would log into the system, choose a question that interests them, research the question online keeping a detailed record of the actions taken to reach the information the patron was seeking, and then post this record as well as a link to the materials discovered in an email that was sent back to the patron. If the information that the patron was inquiring about was not available in an electronic format, the VRL was encouraged to investigate materials available at libraries around the patron’s location and email the patron about collecting the items from a physical library.

This training was valuable for me because I learned about the important role that the information seeking process plays in finding relevant materials. Answering questions for patrons wasn’t just about providing them with the results, being able to describe articulately how the information was discovered was just as important because the goal of the IPL is to teach its patrons about search skills and techniques. At first, describing how I went about searching for information was difficult for me because when I search for something by myself, much of my thought process is internal and second nature. I really had to concentrate on why I was doing what I was doing so that I could explain my actions and results to my patrons. Through this process I learned a lot about my own search skills and grew to understand better how to teach skills to others.

The following links will take you to examples of searches I performed while working for the IPL:
IPL Search 1 (Word Document)

IPL Search 2 (Word Document)

IPL Search 3 (Word Document)

IPL Search 4 (Word Document)

IPL Search 5 (Word Document)