LIS520
Janes
The Reference Interview, Determining Individual Information
Needs, Queries and Query Negotiation
readings
Taylor, Robert S. “Question-Negotiation
and Information Seeking in Libraries”, College & Research Libraries 29, 178-184,
1968.
Dervin & Dewdney, “Neutral
Questioning: A New Approach to the
Reference Interview”, RQ 25, 506-513, 1986.
Selby, Courtney, “The
Evolution of the Reference Interview”, Legal Reference Services Quarterly 26 (1&2),
35-46, 2007.
a
couple of training modules & other goodies
Reference Interview (Virginia
Commonwealth University)
Reference
Interview Resources (National Network of Libraries of Medicine)
The Reference
Interview (William C. Robinson)
Reference Interview module (Ohio
Library Council)
some
examples of digital attempts
Libraries with Digital
Reference Services/Web Forms (The Teaching Librarian)
questions
for class discussion
in
general
Why
is all this necessary? Why is the
“reference interview” so hard? So
necessary? What do people do when
searching on their own?
for
Taylor
What’s
the larger context in which he’s writing the article; or, to put it another
way, why is he writing it?
What
does he say is the central problem of “question negotiation”?
On
page 186, column 2 why is this sentence italicized?
“The
implications of such a statement, if taken at face value, can have the effect
of redefining librarianship.”
Do
you concur with his four levels of need? Anything you’d change, delete, add?
for
Dervin & Dewdney
What’s
the larger context in which they’re writing the article; or, to put it another
way, why are they writing it?
What
is a “neutral question”?
Do
you find neutral questions to be awkward or uncomfortable?
for
Selby
What
trends and patterns do you see when you read this?
What
would you think are the potential advantages and disadvantages of these various
methods (email, chat, IM, phone, FTF)?
In
addition, look through the resources above, including the training modules and
the examples of digital reference interview forms. How effective do you believe these
modules are for training people to conduct effective interviews? How effective are the digital forms in
replicating, simulating or even improving on the in-person interview? Is there a form you particularly like
(on this page or elsewhere)? Hate?
Janes, Joseph, “Question Negotation in an Electronic Age”, (pdf)
white paper prepared for Digital Reference Research Symposium, August 2002.