Issues and Trends in the Management of Reference Services: A Historical Perspective

ANNOTATED HISTORICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE MANAGEMENT OF REFERENCE SERVICES: A CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW

• Green , S. S. 1876 . Personal relations between librarians and readers . Library Journal , 1 : 74 – 81 . The first article to present the concept of direct assistance to library users (what we now call reference service)
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• Bishop , W. W. 1915 . The theory of reference work . ALA Bulletin , 9 : 134 – 139 . At the time that the word reference was beginning to take hold, the author discusses the differences between subject specialists and generalists
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• Butler , P. 1943 . The reference function of the library , Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press.Papers from an institute devoted to reference work, including chapters on administration, personnel, collections, and various types of libraries .
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• Rothstein , S. 1955 . The development of reference services through academic traditions, public library practice and special librarianship , Chicago, IL : Association of College and Research Libraries.The definitive history of reference service from the beginning through 1950 .
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• Phelps , R. B. 1957 . Reference service in public libraries: The last quarter century . Wilson Library Bulletin , 32 ( 4 ) : 281 – 285 . A midcentury look at issues affecting reference services
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• Goggin , M. K. 1964 . Current trends in reference services . Library Trends , 12 ( 3 ) : 359 – 472 . A special issue of Library Trends devoted to reference service, with articles on services in different types of libraries and one of the first articles on assessment
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• Crowley , T. and Childers , T. 1971 . Information service in public libraries: Two studies , Metuchen, NJ : Scarecrow.The first report of the results of unobtrusive evaluation of reference service .
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• Heinlen , W. F. 1976 . Using student assistants in academic reference . RQ , 15 ( 4 ) : 323 – 326 . One of the first reports of using nonlibrarians in reference service
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• Watson , P. D. and Landis , M. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Library Association . Detroit, MI. Working paper on staffing, services and organization of reference departments in large academic libraries , ERIC Document ED 142184.A survey of staffing, collections, and services in the reference departments of 43 large academic libraries .
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• Katz , W. and Fraley , R. A. 1982 . Reference services administration and management , New York : Haworth . Also issued as: Reference Librarian, 3, 1–147.One of the first publications aimed directly at heads of reference departments
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• Miller , W. 1984 . What's wrong with reference: Coping with success and failure at the reference desk . American Libraries , 15 ( 5 ) : 303 – 306 . 321 – 322 . Describes a number of issues leading to stress and service problems in reference
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• Campbell , J. D. 1992 . Shaking the conceptual foundations of reference service . Reference Services Review , 20 ( 4 ) : 29 – 35 . A major criticism of reference practices that inspired much of the rethinking reference movement
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• Lipow , A. G. 1993 . Rethinking reference in academic libraries , Berkeley, CA : Library Solutions Press.The papers from the first rethinking reference institutes .
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• American Library Association . 1995 . “ Reference and Adult Services Division, & Management and Operation of Public Services Section Evaluation of Reference Committee and Adult Services Committee ” . In The reference assessment manual , Ann Arbor, MI : Pierian.The first comprehensive review of assessment activities in reference .
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• Reference and User Services Association . 1996 . Guidelines for behavioral performance of reference and information services professionals . RQ , 36 ( 2 ) : 200 – 203 . The first behavioral guidelines for reference librarians. The revised guidelines are available at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidelinesbehavioral.cfm
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• Tyckoson , D. A. 1999 . What's right with reference . American Libraries , 30 ( 5 ) : 57 – 63 . Discusses the failures and successes of the reference reform movement
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• Rettig , J. 2006 . Reference service: From certainty to uncertainty . Advances in Librarianship , 30 : 105 – 43 . A 30-year retrospective on changes in reference services
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• Miller , W. and Pellen , R. M. 2008 . Reforming reference . Reference Librarian , 48 ( 2 ) : 1 – 40 . A series of papers reviewing the reference reform movement's successes and failures
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• O'Gorman , J. and Trott , B. 2009 . What will become of reference in academic and public libraries? . Journal of Library Administration , 49 : 327 – 339 . A discussion of reference services and collections today and tomorrow
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