Knowledge and Reference Effectiveness


Points happily granted.











6 thoughts on “Knowledge and Reference Effectiveness

  1. I’m horrible at business reference. However, I’m much better at medical reference, even though I am nearly equally ignorant about both subjects. With medical reference, I know and understand the databases well; e.g., I can explain how to use thesauri to help find the best search terms. With one subject, I am not only ignorant of the subject (financial ratios, anyone?) but that afternoon our reference class spent in a business library in the 1980s didn’t help me become proficient at using the resources. I think that you *can* do an adequate or superior job with reference in an area where you lack personal knowledge, but only if you thoroughly know the resources.

  2. I’m a cataloger by day, but I spend a few hours each week at the reference desk. My own background is in the humanities and I have no problem with anything in the areas of music, art, literature, religion, etc… But I have more trouble with the medical sciences and finance. I usually find myself spending 20-30 minutes AFTER the reference interview discovering ways in which I could have given better service and learning more about the field, hoping that the next time around, I’ll be better prepared.
    Were I in a situation where I had scheduled research consultations, I would certainly feel the need to do some prep work ahead of time.

  3. I think that commenters who disagree with your post may be confusing advanced research with more introductory research or the “how” in searching a database, etc.. When it comes to pointing students in the direction of general sources to use early on in their research process, I don’t have much trouble even when I am unfamiliar with the entire area in which their topic exists. As they have refined their topics a bit, I find that I have to ask them a bit more about it… who, what, where, when… (or, depending on the topic, gasp! look it up in Wikipedia) to get some idea of useful search terms, or related or broader topics. I have to admit that this is kind of embarrassing, but hey, even though I am highly-educated, I am not well-versed in all areas – virtually no one is. But at that point, once I know a bit more, I can still do an effective search and point them in the right direction. When it comes to even more advanced research (and by “advanced” I mean both higher “grade” level, so to speak, and further along in the research process) I will often have to refer questions to someone who has more expertise in the area. There often comes a point where in-depth knowledge of a topic is needed in order to understand the questions and connections involved, or, as you suggest, to even realize that there are things you don’t know. When it comes to advanced research, it’s not just about knowing the resources, unless by “knowing the resources” you mean truly knowing and understanding all of the contents of all of the books and other resources, and how those contents relate to the contents of other resources, etc.. Research is often not just searching a database – it’s often using materials, the content of which is “hidden” until you actually examine it closely. (That is, full-text searching does not exist for the vast majority of materials in a library.)

  4. I could have sworn that I included a bit more content in my comment above. I must have edited it out of one part and not put it back in as I had planned to. I’ve reread what was posted and I’m not sure if the ending is clear.
    I had intended to say that once you get to the point I have just described – knowing that a book is considered the authoritative work on an issue, or that a book covers X but not Y, and another book is a great book that looks at Y, and its relation to Z, you can usually be considered to be at least somewhat well-versed in a given area, even if you’re not an expert. So no, you don’t need a degree in a subject to be well-versed in it – you CAN do effective reference work if you “know the resources.” BUT simply knowing how to craft an effective search string or knowing the advanced features of a particular database does not mean that you know the resources. It’s handy, maybe necessary, but not sufficient for providing effective reference service to advanced researchers. (And sorry to say LC subject headings and contents notes are often woefully inadequate when it comes to describing the contents of a work – that’s why even the most carefully crafted catalog search will not turn up all the useful sources… that’s what I meant about full-text searching not being available for most things in a library.)
    So… once you reach a certain point, both a knowledge of the topic AND a knowledge of the collection is very important. (And no, I have not worked in my library for 30 years or even 5 years… but I recognize, with each passing month, how much better I get at reference as I read more and more and learn the contents of our particular collection.)

  5. There a level of indepth reference that I’m capable of doing in subject areas that I have been passionate about. Years ago I read “Reading and the Reference Librarian” and it helped me understand that reading, sometimes randomly and sometimes in depth through a topic is the best thing I can do to help my students. So it is a good day when I get a chance to recommend specific book titles, articles or strategies because it is a subject I know at least something about. I love sharing books that I read. I try to focus my reading to continue to grow in certain areas.
    It’s also a plug for getting Classroom instructors to collaborate with instruction librarians, the more I know about what you are doing in your class, the better I can help your students… but that’s a different subject entirely.

  6. With so much information available, it’s impossible to read everything about everything, let alone to know everyhting about every book.
    Just the sheer lingo of some fields make it pratically impossible to really get into some field, as you would need to study all the terminology -and understand ir- before you really know what’s in the book. I know I have started reading books on specialised subjects, only to find myself Google-ing every word out of 3 and not really progressing in the book, since I had to spend more time on understanding the terminology as Wikipedia esplained it, then on reading the book.
    So no, I don’t think when providing advanced research help, reference librarians in general are equally effective in areas or fields they know well and areas and fields about which they know nothing. The more advanced the subject and the more specialised the area is, the wider the gap will be.

Comments are closed.