1

Reference Observation Ashley Swan LI813 Graduate School of Library and Information Science Emporia State University

2 Introduction My observation took place the evening of June 19th at the Kansas City Public Library Central Library from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The reference section of the library is on the 2nd floor and is very easy to find. The librarians werent as busy as I expected during my stay there, but I did gather some good insight. The reference desk was manned by two female librarians at a large desk at the entrance to the reference department. It is very easy for them to spot people looking for information as a patron would have to walk past the desk to get to the reference collection. The desk is also overlooking a large room with many study desks. It was hard to hear a lot of what was being said because the nearest desk was about 25 feet away. Approachability of the Information Professional (IP) I found both librarians to be approachable. While they spent much of the time talking to each other, as soon as they noticed a patron approaching they directed their attention at the patron. They both appeared friendly and smiled most of the time when they saw someone approaching the desk. They made eye contact throughout most of their interviews and made sure to be polite and not act hurried when a question was asked. They both seemed willing to take the time with the users questions for the most part. There was only one instance where the librarian kept working on her computer, while with a patron. She didnt give him direct attention and it seemed she was not very helpful because he was in and out of the reference section within a couple of minutes. Assessment of the Information Need by the IP When they were approached with questions, they both attempted to clarify the information being sought by asking follow up questions. The questions seemed to be specific to narrow down the search for the patron, and were a mix of open and closed questions. I never did hear them try to clarify what the patron already knew about the subject, however. To be helpful to this user, the librarian may need to know something about both the [underlying situation] and goal, including subordinate and super ordinate goal levels (Dewdney & Michell, 1997, p. 59). Many of the follow-up questions seemed to be closed, though, because the patrons had one-word answers for several of them. In one instance, the librarian asked the patron a few questions, got short answers, pointed her in the general direction, and the patron went into the reference section alone. She came out empty-handed after 5 minutes or so and the librarian did not attempt to follow up with her in any way. Dewdney & Michell (1997) state that understanding an information need involves more than simply asking questions about the subject, form and amount of the information requested p. 51. Communication patters, search behavior, and user education Most instances of patron questions ended in short answers or being pointed in a general direction. A certain amount of resistance to using neutral questioning is perhaps to be expected because it requires librarians to change the way in which they think of information. Learning to use neutral questions successfully requires librarians to rethink the paradigm of information as commodity. (Dervin & Dewdney, 1986, p.8). Perhaps since these librarians were a bit older, they have a harder time becoming comfortable using neutral questioning in their reference interviews.

3 Only twice I saw one of the librarians lead the patron to a specific section and continue the interview along the way. At no point did they conduct a roving reference walk to see if anyone needed help. Most of the people in the reference section just seemed to be browsing without guidance. Many did not stay long. It would have been nice to see them at least check on the people in the reference section to see if they could assist them in their search. Ross & Dewdney (1998) state that the unmonitored referral more often than not results in reference failure (p. 1). Another area of improvement was to ask people if they need any follow-up information as they left the reference section. These patrons walked directly past them and many times the reference librarians did not even look up. Of the two times the librarian led a patron to a specific area, the first was when she led a man to a locked meeting space. She led a couple more people to this same meeting room, so I am only counting it as one encounter. The second was when she led a man to a section of books on the perimeter of the study area. I did hear her asking several clarifying questions, the most out of any of the interactions. There was a special desk in that area for Career and Business needs that was not manned for most of my visit. I finally saw what I thought was a patron sit at the desk, but it turned out to be the librarian on duty. If I was a patron, I would not have realized he worked there as he sat at the computer and seemed using it as a patron. The only reference interaction I saw from him was a phone call. I did hear him provide information to the user and he was on the call for probably 3 minutes. When a user walked by I never once saw him look up or smile, or offer to help. Attentiveness to users At one point, a woman approached the desk and asked the reference librarian if they had a reference book in large print. She told her she wasnt sure and the conversation just kind of ended. She went back to her work on the computer and the woman just left. It was disappointing to see no resolution to such an easy question. Ross & Dewdney (1998) state that instead of viewing this staff member as someone who was trying but failing to locate an answer for the user, we might see her as successfully using closing strategies that resulted in her getting the user to go away and stay away (p.3). We consider a referral to be a strategy of negative closure only when the librarian doesnt know enough about the real question or about the match between information need and recommended sources to have any reasonable confidence that a user who follow the advice will find an acceptable answer (Ross & Dewdney, 1998, p.5). There was definitely room to improve here. Many people walked by without being acknowledged. When they did give a user attention, they usually were friendly and asked a couple of questions, but most of the time didnt get open-ended answers. They could have spent a little more time on every patron or even chose to seek out a patron that was maybe too intimidated to approach the desk. Another situation which I found frustrating was when an older man came in and was allowed to talk loudly on his cell phone in a study area for several minutes. Im not sure if library policy doesnt let the librarians confront the man directly, but that is the feeling I got. After the incident, a uniformed security guard was informed of the situation and came over and had a talk with the man (who, frankly,

4 knew better, but did it anyway). The conversation was so disruptive and annoyed so many patrons that I was surprised the call was allowed to go on as long as it did. Accuracy of Search I found the accuracy of the search a bit lacking for most patrons. Not enough open-ended questions were being asked and a lot of people seemed to give up on their search because they didnt know what they were doing. This could have been easily avoided if more attention had been paid to the patron during the interviews and if they would have walked around and asked people if they needed help. Ross & Dewdney (1998) remind librarians that no headway will be made in encouraging librarians routinely to conduct a reference interview, ask a follow up question, and monitor all referrals until we acknowledge the very real system-based structures within libraries that discourage the use of behaviors that prolong the reference transaction (p. 14). Follow-up Behaviors I never saw any follow-up behaviors from these two librarians. They seemed content to just sit at their desk and let people leave after just a few minutes browsing the reference section and then leaving, seemingly, empty-handed. Ross & Dewdney (1998) recommend that in large libraries where it is impractical for the reference staff to accompany the patron to the shelves and make sure that the recommended sources are helpful, policies should be put in place to make it clear that an adequate reference transaction always includes a follow up question: "If you don't find what you are looking for, make sure that you come back and we'll try something else." (p. 14). Patron Satisfaction If I had to rate patron satisfaction, it would probably be mid-to-low. I think a lot of people thought they had to use the reference section without help. The librarians appeared to be having a long personal conversation or were on the computer and I think that kept them (as friendly as they appeared) from being approachable. Its that old adage of people not wanting to bother the busy librarian. I think more could have been done to advertise that it was okay to ask them for help. Overall Impression/Evaluation Overall, I felt like the KCPL reference desk could benefit from some changes. The reference librarians, while friendly and approachable, were avoided by a lot of people. The librarians on the other hand, did not seek out those people and offer to help them independently, either. As Bopp & Smith (2011) state The interaction does not end with the confirmation that the librarian understands the users inquiry; it encompasses searching, presentation of results, and follow-up (p. 61). They really need to work on that whole package: greeting, roving, open questions, paraphrasing, searching, results, and finally follow-up. Most of these items essential to a good reference interview were missing. While most patrons probably had simpler questions (i.e. can I see todays newspaper?), some needed more complex interaction and were mostly not receiving it. Im sure those patrons might have felt like they werent completely listened to. Bopp & Smith remind us that the reference interview starts and ends with the user (2011, p. 61).

5 References

Bopp, R. E., & Smith, L. C. (2011). Reference and information services: An introduction. (4th ed., p. 61). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Dervin, B., & Dewdney, P. (1986). Neutral questioning: A new approach to the reference interview. Research Quarterly, 24(4), 506-513. Dewdney, P., & Michell, G. (1997). Asking "why" questions in the reference interview: A theoretical justification. Library Quarterly, 67(1), 50-71. Ross, C. S., & Dewdney, P. (1998). Negative closure: Strategies and counter-strategies in the reference transaction. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 38(2), 151-163.

6 Reference and Observation Analysis Checklist

Date _6/19/2012____ Library ____Kansas City Public Library Central Branch_______

Skill The staff member smiles of has pleasant facial expression The staff member looks up The staff makes eye contact The staff member gives a friendly greeting The staff member at the eye level of the user The staff member speaks in a pleasant tone of voice The staff member appears unhurried and willing to take the time with the users question The staff member maintains a distance that seems comfortable to the user The staff member puts aside competing activities The staff member maintains appropriate eye contact The staff member makes short encouraging

Observed (check if present) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Librarians Words (verbatim)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, no, 6, 7 1, 2, 3, no, 5, no, 7 1, no, 3, no, no, 6 1- They just gave him the keys to a study space.

No, no, no, no. 5, no, 7

1, 2, 3, n/a, 5, 6

4 - Barely spoke to patron, gave him a newspaper and he walked away. 5 did not speak at all to man returning paper

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

1, too far away, 3, 4, 5, 6

1, stopped talking for a bit, 3 kind of, no, 5, 6

1, 2, 3, no, 5, 6

n/a, n/a, yes a little, n/a, yes

2 just pointed user to specific section & went back to talking. Guy came back and she stood up to help.

7 comments such as Um-hmmm, Thats interesting, Yes? to encourage the user to say more. The staff member gives full attention to the user The staff member doesnt just point to distant resources but goes with the user The staff member does not interrupt The staff member uses acknowledgement or restatement The staff member clarifies The staff member asks open questions The staff member uses probes such as What do you mean by X? The staff member checks that his/her understanding of what the user wants is correct The staff member speaks clearly The staff member lets the user know what s/he is doing (inclusion) The staff member checks if answer is understood 6 asked her questions & then pointed her in general direction. Lady came out 5 min later empty-handed and left. 1, 2, 3, no, no, 5

No, no, 3, 4, 5

2 2nd time got up & showed him to reference resource

1,2, 3 interrupted, 4, 5 interrupted 2 - yes, 5 - yes

3 asked other ref librarian if they had it in lg print. She wasnt sure. 1, no, 3, 4, 5, 6

1- no, 2 - Yes, 3 n/a, 4 n/a, 5 yes

2 - no

2 yes, asked if she had a name right

2 - yes 2 no, 5 - no

2 yes, 5 - yes

5 led him back to source and was helping him for a few minutes

8 The staff member offers help in using and evaluating source The staff member cites source used The staff member asks, Does this completely answer your questions? or equivalent question The staff member encourages the user to come back if the answer provided is not adequate or complete 3 didnt really answer question, user had to find it herself, & walked off after a min 2 - no

2 - no

2 - no

(Adapted with permission from Ross, C.S., Nilsen, K. & Radford, M.L., 2009)

Additional Comments: It was hard to see/hear because the desks were far enough away. Both ladies spent a lot of time talking to each other. Most users were on the computer or at a desk. They never walked around to see if anyone needed help, not even people browsing reference books. No one was at the Career & Business Center for a long time, then user came. No one offered to help him (he was on computer). Found out later he was librarian, too, because he was talking on the landline giving info to a user via phone. When users approached to even walked by, they didnt look up or smile or offer to help (even if the user walked specifically to the reference section behind them). They also didnt bother to ask a man to get off him phone right next to a no cell phone sign. Later, they didnt ask a man to get off the phone when he had a long, loud conversation in the study area. They finally told a security guard and he said something to him. One lady didnt ask many questions or even speak to people much, if at all. The other lady talked more and got up to help people twice, leading them to their source. First lady did see a kid walk by on crutches and pointed him to the elevator. There were lots of people there to use the computer and to enjoy the air conditioning, but they didnt cause any problems so they were left alone.