THE PROBLEM

The number of reference questions answered have been going down every year here for the past several years at SOSU. Many of the questions are simple that can be answered by students.  The question can be asked, are reference librarians in the right place?

Steven J. Bell, Associate Librarian at Temple University, has written a few articles on getting rid of the reference desk, at least as far as reference librarians are concerned. With declining reference statistics here at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, and some of the ideas for alternative reference services in Bell's articles, a decision was made to do an analysis of our current reference services.  One of the aspects of this analysis is to find out what other academic libraries are doing with reference, and which ways that they conduct reference today, or whether or not they are thinking along the same lines as Steven Bell.

ANALYSIS OF REFERENCE AT SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY

Detailed analysis of SOSU’s reference statistics was conducted from July 2004 to May 2008.  Information was compiled on reference by hour, reference by day, reference by question type.  Also average number of reference questions per day, week and semester was determined.  Also total reference questions per year from 1992-2008 was determined. 

 QUESTION 2 

 In all cases, the SOSU number is less that the average of the 80 libraries.  It appears that adjusting for FTE size differences, that we have less reference questions than most other academic librarians.

 QUESTION 6

 QUESTION 7

• Giving directions (1)
• Showing how to use something (2)
• Finding a source that answers a question or research need  (3)
• Doing consulting on the best sources sources for a topic that is complex or takes a long time (4)
• Changing paper, fixing printers
• Giving out passwords

QUESTION 8

• Traditional reference
•  E-mail reference
• Chat reference
• Text messaging reference
• Staff or student reference
• Reference by location within the building
• Reference by librarians doing interviews with students in offices
• Reference by having librarians physically in other buildings

  Results of Traditional Reference

• 80% of academic libraries surveyed still do traditional reference for over 7 hours a day.
• 19% of academic libraries surveyed do traditional reference all hours the library is open.  
• 7.5% do no traditional reference, however. 

• Most libraries do e-mail reference to some extent
• 23% have it available all hours that the library is open
• 6% have it available 24/7
• 2.5% do not do e-mail reference at all

• 36% of academic libraries surveyed do not do chat reference
• 36% of academic libraries surveyed do chat reference over 11 hours a day (or it is avaliable)
• 6% of academic libraries surveyed have chat reference available 24/7

• 83% of academic libraries surveyed do not do any text messaging in reference work
• However, over 3% do text messaging all hours that the library is open

Results of Student and Staff Reference (Manning the Reference Desk)

• 46% of academic libraries surveyed do not have students manning the reference desk at any time
• 32.5% have students on the desk from less than an hour to 6 hours a day
• A small minority, however, (8.75% ) have staff or students at the reference desk all hours that the library is open

Results of Reference By Location

• 86% of libraries surveyed have no librarian in the stacks to help patrons
• However a small minority (1.25%) have a librarian in the stacks all hours the library is open

Results of Reference in Librarian's Offices

• 51% of the libraries surveyed have reference interviews with patrons in their offices from less than an hour to 4 hours a day

Results of Having Reference Librarians Located in Different Buildings

•  80% of libraries have no physical reference presence outside of the library building
• 15% of libraries do have a physical presence outside of the library for at least some part of the time, but all are less than 4 hours

QUESTION 9

• No, never
• Probably not
• Maybe in the distant future
• Maybe in the near future
• Definitely in the near future
• We have already done so

 Results 

• 65% of academic libraries surveyed said that they would never take librarians off the reference desk or that they probably would not.
• 21% said that they might in either the near or distant future
• 10% said that they have already done so

QUESTION 10

• There seem to be enough difficult questions to warrant having a librarian on the desk at this time.  (Univ of Michigan)
• Sitting at the reference desk is a good way of reaching the patrons at their point of need; I often use the reference interview as a way to educate the patron on issues of information literacy.  Also, being at the reference desk keeps a professional aware of the issues students are struggling with in research and use of library resources.  It helps to inform our decisions about collection development, services and instruction.  (Northeastern Ok State Univ)

• “Because of our strong instruction program, it has actually fueled greater activity at the reference desk plus, students who interact with librarians will be more likely to approach them if observed at the reference desk regardless of 24/7 convenience (e.g., email, IM, SMS, etc.)” (Southwestern Oklahoma State University 
• “I think that people need to speak to other people. Period. I think librarians manning the desk is very important for professional development.  If we take away the reference desk, then we have students answering the questions.  We are always cleaning up after their bad advice and missing quite a bit as well.”  (New Mexico State University)

• “The physical presence and visibility of a librarian in the commons among the students is priceless as a tool for developing relationships with students. To do away with it would be terrible. The closer we are to students the better. Appointment-only reference or the removal of librarians from the service desk are both absolutely awful ideas.” University of Tennessee Chattanooga
• “Our administration has not even begun to approach this topic as a posibility.  Although the Reference staff sees the advantage of doing specialized instruction in their offices our administration is not open to the posibility of eliminating the Reference Desk."  (New College of Florida)

• “Our reference area needs a place where students/faculty can ask a question - any kind of question.  We cannot afford for professional librarians to be so snobby as to refuse to deal with non-research questions. “  Carrol College--Wisconsin 
•  “We have a new director that believes we should be at the Reference Desk in spite of the low statistics. Our university administration understands the changes happening in the library and built office space on the second floor of the library for Academic Advising, SFA101 (orientation class), Teaching Excellence Center, and Office of Instructional Technology.” (Stephen F. Austin University)

• “Reference Librarians are the first face seen as one walks in the front door. This professional presence is very valuable to our users, especially faculty. Our presence reminds them that our building has an important function. Otherwise, turf wars might take away our    building! Loss of library space to other departments has happened in several locations around campus where the library is embedded in a department.” (University of Wisconsin--Madison) 
• We have tried "appointments" for difficult to research questions. Our students did not keep the appointments. In a community college, you are working with students who have families, children, part-time jobs, balancing life and school. They need it when they need it. As a commuter college, students do not congregate in the Student Center; so it would be difficult to identify a helpful off-site location. We have no dorms. (Rose State College)

• “There is still a belief that some of our most important interactions take place there, and that to move librarians from the desk could dissuade students from using the desk. We're also not entirely confident of the ability of students and assistants to identify questions that may need to be referred. (This may be a training issue”  (University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire)

• “because where else would you do it? this talk of doing it via cell phones, in offices etc. is annoyingly silly.    the reality is that here at least, ref stats dropped significantly about 10 years ago, as the WWW offerings grew, as we added campus PC labs etc. the ref stats leveled out then, and have remained steady for almost 10 years.    i see IM, in office meetings etc. as useful complements to reference work, but not something that can replace it. there are still enough people who wander up to the desk with substantial information needs to justify its continuance.    it makes me quite concerned for patrons sakes to hear the glib talk of a sort of triage, that there would be a service desk staffed by clerks, or students etc., who would refer the questions needing a librarian to someone in their office, and handle others on their own.    the problem of course is that a major part of reference work is figuring out what exactly people need, and I would be very worried that some people would get poor service because a clerk or student assistant didn't see what they needed.    even if they did see the need for a librarian, then why make someone have to go somewhere else for help? part of the beauty of the reference desk is that one can get on demand, as needed service, right there, right then...(State University of New York--Brockport)