To encapsulate my understanding of SLO 1, I have selected my LIS 601 (Introduction to Reference and Information Services) Final Query Search Exam in which I practice simulated reference interviews and present a research foundation that addresses queries composed by my instructor and classmates. Prior to this assignment, my professional philosophy was as stated: Librarians serve the needs of their patrons. Because of this, my main objective for this artifact was to meet the seen and unseen needs of the query and the patron whom I’ll call Terri. By “seen,” I mean the needs explicitly stated in the query (like a source about WPA art or a WPA project based in Hawai’i). By “unseen,” I mean the needs that the patron did not communicate or recognize until an intervening on my end (whether that was through open, closed, or clarifying interview questions). For example, Terri did not express her need for both a print book and a website in the first query until I asked for further clarification about the format of her source. And, for the second query, she did not reveal her desire to know about bridge-related projects until my follow up questions. It is part of my responsibility (as the librarian) to cull the “real query” from Terri through effective and selective questioning. Brenda Dervin and Patricia Dewdney describe the query as “hidden inside a room to which the user has the only key” (Dervin and Dewdney, 1986, p. 6). Good communication helps the librarian locate the key. 

 

The main reason I was able to achieve my goal (of meeting Terri’s seen and unseen needs) was because the line of communication between us remained strong and constant throughout the entire project. M. Kathleen Kern and Beth S. Woodard cite communication as an essential component of the reference interview, which they describe as “a dialogue between the user and the librarian in which the librarian’s objective is clarification and understanding of the user’s question as a means to meet the user’s information need, and the user’s objective is to have the librarian understand and meet the information need” (Kern and Woodard, 2016, p. 63). While I am usually introverted and shy away from making conversations with strangers, this assignment forced me to step out of my self-imposed shell. I needed to understand Terri and where she was coming from in order to fulfill her request. And to understand her, I needed to converse with her. 

 

This project has also demonstrated for me the various mediums and methods through which we can deliver information such as through virtual reference, which RUSA defines as a service initiated electronically, often in real-time, where patrons employ computers or other internet technology to communicate with reference staff, without being physically present” (as cited in Luo, 2016, p. 162). Because Terri was located on a different island, we communicated multiple times over Slack, FaceTime, and phone calls. When I first learned that Terri was a remote student, I felt nervous and even intimidated by the means through which I needed to contact her. However, once I pushed through that nervousness and initiated contact with the patron, I found the process to be very similar to the simulations in our previous question sets. Everything I had learned up to that point had properly prepared me. And this experience itself gave me the opportunity to better understand the ways in which the roles and responsibilities of reference librarians are expanding and evolving with advances in technology and information resources.

 

From this project, I have also learned how to wade in the ebbs and flows of search strategy, search process, and resolution. And that begins with the recognition that the process as a whole is not clean and linear. Throughout this assignment, I found myself moving from strategy to process and then back to strategy again and again. My path to acquiring the necessary resolutions was not predictable or consistent but messy and (at times) chaotic. But, I have finally come to learn: That. Is. Okay. If I could go back, I would relax more. Life is messy and chaotic, and wading through that mess is what living is about. In my mind, I constructed this strange ideal of the librarian as an omniscient, flawless being who inhales queries and effortlessly exhales all of these precise and correct answers—whose every action and thought falls perfectly in line with RUSA’s behavioral standards and the ALA’s code of ethics—who always knows exactly how to approach every situation thrust upon her and is never wrong or ignorant.

 

If anything, this artifact has helped me kill and bury that imaginary and unrealistic philosophy of what a librarian should be. Because, just as there is no one type of person, there is no one type of librarian. We exist and move across a messy but beautiful spectrum. Which contributes to my current understanding of SLO 1: Reference and information services are essential to the heritage, identity, and professionalism of the Library and Information Science field because it not only serves the informational needs of the patron but also teaches the librarian how to become an effective communicator (as I needed to become with Terri in order to cull her true query) and how to wade through and embrace the mess and chaos of the librarian’s responsibilities (as I learned how to do with my search processes). I am a librarian—even when I am messy or fail—because I always strive to connect and communicate with my patrons in order to better serve their needs.

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References

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Dervin, Brenda, & Dewdney, Patricia. (1986). Neutral questioning: A new approach to the reference interview. Research Quarterly, 25(4), 506–513. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2ZiiDXB 

 

Kern, M. Kathleen & Woodard, Beth S. (2016). The reference interview. In Linda C. Smith & Melissa A. Wong (Eds.), Reference and information services: An introduction (pp. 63-97). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

 

Luo, Lili. (2016). Models of reference services. In Linda C. Smith & Melissa A. Wong (Eds.), Reference and information services: An introduction (pp. 155-178). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

 

Reference and User Services Association. (2013, May 28). Guidelines for behavioral performance of reference and information service providers. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2lWCRD7