Reference and Information Services: An Introduction, 6th Edition

by Melissa A. Wong (Editor), Laura Saunders (Editor)

Reference and Information Services is the go-to textbook for MSLIS and i-School courses on reference services and related topics. It is also a helpful handbook for practitioners. Authors include LIS faculty and professionals have relevant degrees in their areas and who have published extensively on their topics.

The first half of the book provides an overview of reference services and techniques for service provision, including the reference interview, ethics, instruction, evaluation and assessment, and services to diverse populations including children. This part of the book establishes a foundation of knowledge on reference service and frames each topic with ethical and social justice perspectives.

The second part of the book offers an overview of the information life cycle and dissemination of information, followed by an in-depth examination of information sources by type-including dictionaries, encyclopedias, indexes, and abstracts-as well as by broad subject areas including government, statistics and data, health, and legal information. This second part introduces the tools and resources that reference professionals use to provide the services described in the first half of the text.

Genres: Nonfiction, Textbooks, Library Science, Grad School, Librarianship, School

768 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2020

Reviews

[library fairy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean I’m not going to read a whole textbook and NOT count on goodreads, you know?

[Bernadette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is used for those interested in doing Reference and Instruction as a profession. The book provides you with the latest insights and knowledge on what one encounters when doing the work of a Reference Librarian. What I like most about the book are the numerous amounts of resources and databases that's talked about that will be of value to anyone who takes part in doing reference interviews. A must have for my own personal and professional use.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a textbook, not to dry, but still irked that it quotes ane cites Wikipedia as a source. One class down 11 more to go.

[The Academic Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read got Grad School

[Kristeane Benavides · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book for librarians in training and current librarians. It's not the most exciting thing to read, but it is really helpful with issues related to librarianship.

[Stephen Terry]

Got to count it for the reading goals

[Samantha M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe I read the whole damn thing.

It's a text book. It's a door stop. It's bigger than the phone book (for those of you who remember phone books). It has EVERY handy resource and tool for working a reference desk, as of 2019 anyway. There was a new edition out in September 2024, however my class started in August and it wasn't an option. I'd hope the new text addresses AI since that wasn't much of a public-facing thing when this was published but still this was such an essential read. Was glad to read and discuss every step of the way as part of my Ref/Resources course in the MSLIS program (Univ of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign). So many cool elements of research librarianship in one spot. An interesting history of how the field progressed and innovated throughout the last century, and how there is a place for unique human touch (empathy, inclusion) despite the ready-reference availability of today.

[Chris Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent reference resource for librarians.

[Maryam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful book.

[Anderson]

very useful book for reference librarians

[Haley Christianson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again counting my textbooks, if I have to read them they are going towards my goal!

[Mckynzie King · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in its entirety for my library science degree :)

[Leezie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dense and with differing writing styles since each chapter has a different author. Index was also very unhelpful.

[LPR · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made a joke in my other "text book review" because I had beef with my other class, but this was a legitimately great textbook. Informative, up-to-date, and well organized.

LIS 407, Introduction to Reference Services, Fall 2020

[Reggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for my Information Sources & Services course. The formatting and size of the book made it challenging to read for long periods of time.