Carleton Author

Partlo, Kristin

Department

Library

Journal Title

IASSIST Quarterly

Publication Date

2009

Volume No.

33

Issue No.

4

First Page

6

Last Page

10

Publisher

IASSIST

File Name

iqvol334_341partlo.pdf

Keywords

Reference interview, Bibliographic instruction, Undergraduates

Abstract

This essay reflects on the reference interview on several levels. If we accept that academic reference in general has a pedagogical role, then it is necessary to adjust the standard model of the reference interview to reflect that value. Within the specific context of academic data reference, undergraduates as a group require more instruction during the reference interview because they are less prepared than graduate students and faculty to ask for what they need. A strict service model does not meet their needs. A successful model appropriately balances the tension between instruction and service. This balance will vary from one institution to another based on different user groups and institutional goals, with implications for resource allocation. Data librarians on the one hand and general and subject reference librarians on the other bring distinct sets of knowledge and experience to bear on the challenge of "assessing the user's need," which can be a rich point of collaboration and referral between them.

Rights Management

The IASSIST Quarterly is published in digital form and the author has the right to keep and distribute the digital form of the article. It is also permitted to link directly (deep link) to the article on the IASSIST website or journal repository (https://iassistdata.org/iq/instructions-authors). Carleton College does not own the copyright to this work and the work is available through the Carleton College Library following the original publisher's policies regarding self-archiving. For more information on the copyright status of this work, refer to the current copyright holder.

Fully Open Access

Yes

Contributing Organization

Carleton College

Type

Article

Format

application/pdf

Language

English

External URL

https://iassistdata.org/sites/default/files/iqvol334_341partlo.pdf

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