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Reference Reborn: Breathing New Life into Public Services Librarianship

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More than 30 stellar authors have contributed to these up-to-date essays on public services librarianship, including timely topics such as new service configurations, the impact of e-resources in reference and collection development, and innovative outreach.

The roles of reference and public librarians are constantly changing. Today, it's not unusual for librarians to also serve as trend trackers, data analysts, project managers, IT troubleshooters, marketers, and staffing specialists. Academic and public libraries across the country are experimenting with new service models to accommodate new technology, budget constraints, and a clientele with new needs and expectations. Not surprisingly, librarians are assuming revised roles as a result.

Reference Breathing New Life into Public Services Librarianship is a collection of over two dozen essays on developments and trends in reference and public services librarianship, highlighting some of the best thinking on reference services, outreach initiatives, the migration from print to e-reference collections, staffing 21st century libraries, library school curriculum, and more. This text will appeal to library and information science students and educators, beginning and seasoned reference librarians and managers of public service departments in academic and public libraries. The education and training of reference librarians receives special attention.

401 pages, Paperback

First published December 16, 2010

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24 people want to read

About the author

Diane Zabel

10 books

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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Profile Image for Jonelle.
487 reviews12 followers
July 15, 2011
If you are looking for some inspiration about what's happening in reference right now (especially in academic libraries) this is the book for you. There were a lot of excellent essays (and editing) by Penn State faculty too.
Profile Image for Nikki.
238 reviews
October 30, 2012
I give 4 stars because the good chapters here are among the best of the professional literature I've read. But the bad chapters are very, very bad.
Profile Image for Jaq.
2,222 reviews2 followers
October 17, 2013
Some very good chapters on the reference interview.
Profile Image for Steve.
322 reviews16 followers
December 9, 2011
These articles too often state the obvious as if it's insightful.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews

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