About Reference Excellence
Reference Excellence is self paced reference and information services training, and it works well as refresher training for experienced staff. It is designed to help public library staff provide excellent reference and information service training without individual libraries having to develop their own training. Public library staff from across New South Wales have contributed to the development and maintenance of this training, especially the Reference and information services working group. Information about how to subscribe to NSW public library email lists is here
This training is designed for New South Wales public library staff, Library and Information Studies students, and other people who may wish to use this site. You can complete this by yourself, or it can be part of library wide training, or part of your continuing professional development. You can do all the modules one by one, or as needed. You might like to talk with your supervisor about this.
For consistency, we have used the term patron throughout this training. This term is interchangeable with reader, client, member, and library community. Think of the preferred term for your library service when you are working through this training. Our intention is to be inclusive of all people who benefit from the services provided by and through the library.
Modules 1 to 6 are based on the Ohio Reference Excellence program. Permission was granted by the Ohio Library Council for the State Library of New South Wales, in partnership with New South Wales public libraries, to modify the content for New South Wales conditions. Colorado State Library has provided information used in Module 13. It is used with permission.
Modules 7 and following are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.
Tips
- Overview the material before commencing any modules.
- Consider your learning style.
- Consider any specific training needs and how you would like to use the modules.
- How much time will it take? This will vary from person to person.
- Work through the exercises and discuss them with their supervisor, trainer or colleagues.
- Complete the online evaluation for each module.
Reference services and the Library Act (1939)
Reference services are about helping people to find the answers to their questions, whatever they are. Some of these questions may involve, or be about, how to access and download e-content in your library. Helping answer technology questions is, therefore, a valid part of the core service your library provides. Not only are you helping your clients access, borrow or stream library material, you are helping them find answers about how to do this. Sometimes, this will require detailed assistance from you or other staff, and often it will require skill at managing queues.
Assisting library clients to access library material is core for public libraries.
In the Library Act 1939 No 40 it says
s. 10 Requirements as to services to be provided by local libraries
(1) A local authority must comply with and observe the following requirements in relation to any local library that is provided, controlled or managed by the local authority (either directly or under an agreement or other arrangement to which it is a party):
(A) Residents and ratepayers entitled to free membership Any person who is a resident of the area of the local authority or a ratepayer of the local authority is entitled to membership of the library free of charge.
(B) Free access to certain materials on library premises Any person (whether or not a member of the library) is entitled free of charge to access any library material of the library and any information forming part of the information service of the library (other than information excepted from free access by guidelines issued by the Council) for use on the library premises.
(C) Free loans of certain library material to members Any person who is a member of the library is entitled to borrow free of charge from the library for use away from the library premises any library material of the library which has been classified by the librarian of the library as being of literary, informative or educational value or as being fiction.
(D) Free delivery to sick or disabled members No charge is to be made for the delivery to a member of the library of any library material or information that the member is entitled to borrow free of charge if the member for reasons of ill health or disability cannot reasonably be expected to attend the library in person.
(E) Free basic reference services to members Any person who is a member of the library is entitled to be provided free of charge with basic reference services (being any service classified by guidelines issued by the Council as a basic reference service), including assistance in locating information and sources of information.
Editing conventions for reference excellence ref-ex
Module 1 Overview of the reference process
Module 2 Reference interview skills and question types
Module 3 People skills, reference behaviours
Module 6 Ethics and legislation