Switch to RA from Reference
Dates: 4/3/02,8:08 AM through 4/8/02,2:52 PM (7 postings)
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Switch to RA from Reference
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FROM: Mary K Chelton <[removed]@optonline.net>
REC'D: 4/3/02, 8:08 AM
Thanks,
Mary K.
****************************************************************************
Mary K. Chelton, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Graduate School of
Library and Information Studies, 254 Rosenthal Library,
Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11367;
Phones: (718) 997-3667 (direct/voice/voicemail),
3790 (general office), 3797 (fax).
Home: 35 Mercury Ave., East Patchogue, NY 11772.
Phone: (631)286-4255, no home fax.
E-mail: [removed]@optonline.net
****************************************************************************
FROM: Diana Tixier Herald <[removed]@sff.net>
REC'D: 4/3/02, 8:29 AM
It seems obvious to me, that as finding information becomes easier and the
resources for finding it become more user friendly, interface with a
librarian for SIMPLE reference questions is not needed as much. Fifteen
years ago it was necessary to use a librarian who knew all the different
indexes published and how to deal with the quirks of each not to mention the
arcane queries that had to be so carefully constructed for searching
electronic databases. If librarianship is to flourish we need to give our
users what they want as well as what they need. Years ago Naisbit of
MEGATRENDS said that as we get more high tech high -- touch becomes more
important. Readers' advisory is a way of "touching" our patrons that
enhances their lives and reading experiences and also makes them look more
kindly on funding requests. Reference is a science. Readers' Advisory is an
art. The pendulum is swinging. I applaud the smart libraries that are at the
forefront of this trend.
--
Happy reading,
Diana Tixier Herald
Books of the Week Page http://www.genrefluent.com
[removed]@sff.net
on 4/3/02 9:54 AM, Mary K Chelton at [removed]@optonline.net wrote:
> A friend told me recently that she met some librarians who had been sent to
> the PLA preconference on readers advisory services that Duncan Smith, Joyce
> Saricks and I organized because they had decided to pay more attention to RA
> since their reference statistics were falling. Is this unique or some sort
> of trend I should know about? I had heard about reference stats falling, of
> course, but not about the RA part.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mary K.
> ****************************************************************************
> Mary K. Chelton, Ph. D.
> Associate Professor, Graduate School of
> Library and Information Studies, 254 Rosenthal Library,
> Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11367;
> Phones: (718) 997-3667 (direct/voice/voicemail),
> 3790 (general office), 3797 (fax).
>
> Home: 35 Mercury Ave., East Patchogue, NY 11772.
> Phone: (631)286-4255, no home fax.
> E-mail: [removed]@optonline.net
> ****************************************************************************
>
>
>
>
> .......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>
FROM: Heuer <[removed]@itol.com>
REC'D: 4/3/02, 10:14 AM
A friend told me recently that she met some librarians who had been sent to
the PLA preconference on readers advisory services that Duncan Smith, Joyce
Saricks and I organized because they had decided to pay more attention to RA
since their reference statistics were falling. Is this unique or some sort
of trend I should know about? I had heard about reference stats falling, of
course, but not about the RA part.
Thanks,
Mary K.
Well not at our library. I posted this message about a week ago but must
have missed it in the list so I will repost without my whining. I find my
customers truly appreciate and use RA but our support from above seems
lacking. I even got a some negative feedback as I organized our 4th Adult
Summer Reading Program, even though numbers have increased every year and I
put it all together for $50.
Below some of my previous post:
It is always nice to hear about libraries who truly appreciate Reader
Advisory, because our desk just took another hit yesterday. We used to have
a sign overhead that said "Fiction" then about ten years ago the Fiction
sign was moved behind us into the department and over our desk the sign now
reads "Information." The customers still understood that this was where
they could obtain information about fiction, but now we have been told to
add to our Information sign another sign that will read "Check-out."
We are located about ten feet away from the actual checkout
desk and when we are not busy and there are a lot of people at the
checkout desk we call them over to relieve the congestion. But on a regular
basis this just doesn't work. When I am trying to do RA with a customer I
hate to feel rushed because there are people standing in line at my desk to
check out. This is unfair to my RA customer and the customers waiting to
checkout but I guess that doesn't matter.
I know this is preaching to the choir but just this week I had to find" a
mystery series whose setting is the British navy and whose sleuth has a
smutty name". That threw me for awhile but we did find the Commander Hoare
mystery series by Wilder Perkins. Don't you just love the "smutty name"
clue? If nothing else it sure is more fun than looking up phone numbers and
stock quotes.
--
Jeanne Heuer
Brown County Library
Green Bay, WI
[removed]@itol.com
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes, Art is knowing which ones
to keep." -anonymous
FROM: "Chapple Langemack" <[removed]@kcls.org>
REC'D: 4/3/02, 10:25 AM
I absolutely agree with the notion that RA is on the rise due in part to the
decline of reference. I believe that much of the public perceives that they
can now find information for themselves via the web (whether they do it ably
or not is another question). Libraries are retreating to the bastion of RA
to maintain relevance.
I don't know that my own library system's reference stats are down (other
than the call in, quick answer variety), but administration has certainly
accepted my plans for increasing emphasis on RA with alacrity, seeing it as
a value added proposition.
Chapple
Chapple Langemack
Reader's Services Coordinator
King County Library System
960 Newport Way NW
Issaquah, WA 98027
425.369.3318
[removed]@kcls.org
www.kcls.org
-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
[[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of Mary K Chelton
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 8:54 AM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Switch to RA from Reference
A friend told me recently that she met some librarians who had been sent to
the PLA preconference on readers advisory services that Duncan Smith, Joyce
Saricks and I organized because they had decided to pay more attention to RA
since their reference statistics were falling. Is this unique or some sort
of trend I should know about? I had heard about reference stats falling, of
course, but not about the RA part.
Thanks,
Mary K.
****************************************************************************
Mary K. Chelton, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Graduate School of
Library and Information Studies, 254 Rosenthal Library,
Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11367;
Phones: (718) 997-3667 (direct/voice/voicemail),
3790 (general office), 3797 (fax).
Home: 35 Mercury Ave., East Patchogue, NY 11772.
Phone: (631)286-4255, no home fax.
E-mail: [removed]@optonline.net
****************************************************************************
FROM: "Maureen OConnor" <[removed]@bramlib.on.ca>
REC'D: 4/3/02, 1:16 PM
Maureen
FROM: "Maureen OConnor" <[removed]@bramlib.on.ca>
REC'D: 4/3/02, 1:16 PM
Maureen
"Never apologize for your reading tastes." Rosenberg
____________________________________________
Maureen O'Connor
Brampton Public Library
[removed]@bramlib.on.ca
All opinions expressed above are mine alone.
FROM: Barry Trott <[removed]@mail.wrl.org>
REC'D: 4/8/02, 2:52 PM
At our library, reference stats are actually slightly up, but we
are paying attention to RA, with support from the administration, because
we feel that books and reading are still at the center of the library
experience. I think that the RA interaction is an opportunity for library
patrons to have some human contact, rather than interacting with a
machine, and that this is part of the value of RA services. If, as seems
likely, people are going to increasingly be using electronic resources to
answer their informational needs (whether these are at the library or in
their homes) in order for libraries to retain some value in people's lives
we need to offer something that they cannot get elsewhere.
I think that one of these things is what Helen Haines, in 1938, called
"book-values." Haines goes on to describe librarianship as " . . . a
personal fellowship with literature -- catholicity, tolerance, receptivity
toward the new, familiarity with those older tideways from which fresh
currents arise, diverge and flow endlessly through time; and always zest
in an infinite adventure of exploration and discovery."
The value of RA service is that it contributes a human presence to the
profession. It reinforces and supports the importance of stories in
peoples' lives. By providing access and assistance to people looking for
the right story for them, librarians can remain vital to the communities
we serve.
Barry
*******************************************************************************
Barry Trott 7770 Croaker Rd.
Adult Services Director Williamsburg VA 23188
Williamsburg Regional Library Phone: 757-259-4053
[removed]@mail.wrl.org FAX: 757-259-4079
http://www.wrl.org/bookweb/
*******************************************************************************
On Wed, 3 Apr 2002, Mary K Chelton wrote:
> A friend told me recently that she met some librarians who had been sent to
> the PLA preconference on readers advisory services that Duncan Smith, Joyce
> Saricks and I organized because they had decided to pay more attention to RA
> since their reference statistics were falling. Is this unique or some sort
> of trend I should know about? I had heard about reference stats falling, of
> course, but not about the RA part.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mary K.
> ****************************************************************************
> Mary K. Chelton, Ph. D.
> Associate Professor, Graduate School of
> Library and Information Studies, 254 Rosenthal Library,
> Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11367;
> Phones: (718) 997-3667 (direct/voice/voicemail),
> 3790 (general office), 3797 (fax).
>
> Home: 35 Mercury Ave., East Patchogue, NY 11772.
> Phone: (631)286-4255, no home fax.
> E-mail: [removed]@optonline.net
> ****************************************************************************
>
>
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>
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