#1
From: "Kern, Mary Kathleen" <katkern_at_illinois.edu>
"In a world of least-resistance and least-effort, are patrons making the
effort to find a (e.g.) Dictionary of Aerodynamics, when sufficient
information (for their uses) is probably available through a Google
search versus. a multi click effort to find a credible source via the
library website or LibGuide? Do meta-search tools for reference get
used? In short, does buying reference sources make the librarian feel
good, but these titles are rarely used? Is the Reference collection, in
paper and online, dead?"
Reference publishing isn't dead, but libraries might buy more on
tradition than on actual need. I do not find fault with users by
blaming them for putting in little effort. I am not sure how much need
there is a need for patrons to use ready reference sources. Two factors:
there is credible information on line that has replaced a lot of
reference works and the questions many of these sources answer are one
where something cursory has always satisficed.
I do not have statistics available on the unmediated use of our online
reference and meta-reference tools. However, I rarely have occasion to
use them with our students and when I do it is most likely a
subject-specific encyclopedia or handbook. It has been my belief for
years that reference publishers are largely wasting their time giving us
concise reference works online. What is actually of use are the more
in-depth reference works.
Academic libraries don't represent all of the library universe, although
we dominate this list. What is going on at other types of institutions?
Kathleen
-------
M. Kathleen Kern
Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana
Past-President, Reference and User Services Association
---
#2
From: "Pakala, Jim" <Jim.Pakala_at_covenantseminary.edu>
Use of our reference collection is extremely heavy. We're constantly
re-shelving volumes. Here's a stab at some categorization and why or why
not.
-- Heavily circulating works such as a range of lexicons, major
commentaries on individual biblical books, etc. are needed on reference
because students rely on those non-circulating copies for scanning,
photocopying, browsing or reading particular sections, etc. (many such
works either lack e-book versions or entail hurdles to access them).
--Rather than fiddle around online when they simply need to discover or
verify a piece of information about a pastor or church in their
denomination, they grab the paper copy of the entity's directory or the
like. If the need is for such information from 30 years ago, we have the
complete run of these even though that information may not exist online
or be difficult to find.
--Similarly, published minutes may need to be checked and sometimes
either it can be done faster in print format or they're not online
(especially for earlier years, or the online version may be of poor
quality and/or nearly impossible to search easily).
--At major universities such as Cornell, Vanderbilt, and U of IL, a
noted professor I know would assign (e.g. to grad students) browsing of
a 35-volume German reference tool for various pedagogical reasons. As
long as this print-only set was in Reference the assignment could be
done, but when a university moved it to remote storage, requesting the
whole set became a problem. The tool neither was online nor did the
various purposes involved all lend themselves to online use of such a
massive tool (and not in English).
--Somewhat related is this story from Wayne State U: "A professor
wanted to track down the author that Marion the Librarian in the Music
Man cites in her conversation with the mayor's wife. The verbal cues
from the movie weren't good enough for me to get the exact spelling so
that I wasn't successful in WorldCat or our local online catalog, but I
found the author in about ten minutes by scanning the print Mansell NUC.
Plus, I was able to use the additional information from having the full
record before me instead of just a summary screen of authors' names.
Jim
James C. Pakala jim.pakala_at_covenantseminary.edu
Library Director Phone: 314-434-4044 x4101; Fax 314-434-4819
Covenant Theological Seminary
12330 Conway Road; St. Louis, MO 63141-8697
Received on Tue Oct 14 2014 - 03:01:35 EDT