Reference and Information Services

Kay Ann Cassell is presently an adjunct professor at the Rutgers University Department of Library and Information Science where she teaches a variety of courses including reference and information services, collection development, public librarianship and government information resources. She has worked in public and academic libraries. She has been the director of several public libraries and was the Associate Director for Collections and Services at the New York Public Library. As NYPL’s Associate Director of Collections and Services she oversaw the development of reference, collections, programs and services for all of the branches and initiated new programs and services. She received her MLS from Rutgers University and her PhD from the International University for Graduate Studies. She is the author of Managing Reference Today and Public Libraries and Their Communities, and she was selected as the 2019 winner of the Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award, the Reference and User Services Association’s highest honor.Uma Hiremath was Executive Director at the Ames Free Library, Massachusetts; Assistant Director at the Thayer Public Library, Massachusetts; Head of Reference at the West Orange Public Library, New Jersey; and Supervising Librarian at the New York Public Library. She received her MLS from Pratt Institute, New York and her PhD in political science at the University of Pittsburgh.

Although this book is chiefly for newer librarians, it will lead everyone along new pathways via the resources cited in the tables and lists. Many of these will date or evaporate; others will remain constant. Although it is a US publication, most of the reference sources are employed in associated fields in Australia.This is an excellent resource for the library of any campus offering library science degrees, or any library with newly graduated librarians.

• PART I Fundamental Concepts1 Introduction to Reference and Information Services2 Determining the Question: In-Person, Telephone, and Virtual Reference Interviews3 Finding the Answer: Basic Search TechniquesPART II Introduction to Major Reference Sources4 Answering Questions about Books, Magazines, Newspapers, Libraries and Publishing, and Bibliographic Networks—Bibliographic Resources 5 Answering Questions about Anything and Everything—Encyclopedias6 Answering Questions That Require Handy Facts—Ready Reference Sources7 Answering Questions about Words—Dictionaries, Concordances, and Manuals8 Answering Questions about Current Events, Issues and Research Topics—Databases (and Indexes) 9 Answering Questions about Law and Business—Special Guidelines and Sources10 Answering Questions about Health—Special Guidelines and SourcesEmily Vardell11 Answering Questions about Geography, Countries, and Travel—Atlases, Gazetteers, Maps, Geographic Information Systems, and Travel Guides12 Answering Questions about the Lives of People—Biographical Information Sources13 Answering Questions about Government and Related Issues—Government Information SourcesPART III Special Topics in Reference and Information Services14 When and How to Use the Internet as the Primary Reference Tool15 Reference as Programming16 Readers’ Advisory ServicesMaria Fesz and Cindy Orr17 Reference Services for Children and Young AdultsMelissa Gross18 Information Literacy in the Reference DepartmentPart IV Developing and Managing Reference Collections and Services19 Selecting and Evaluating Reference Material20 Managing Reference Departments21 Assessing and Improving Reference Services22 Ethics in ReferenceDiana Floegel23 Reference 2.024 The Future of Information and Reference Services