But does it work? evaluating the brandeis reference model

Reference Services Review

Volumn 22, Issue 4, 1994, Pages 17-28

  Herman, Douglas ^a  

^a BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0011620123     PISSN: 00907324     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/eb049227     Document Type: Review

References (11)

1. For example, Peter Hernon and Charles R. McClure, “Library Reference Service: An Unrecognized Crisis—a Symposium,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 13 (May 1987): 69-71; William Miller, “What's Wrong with Reference: Coping with Success and Failure at the Reference Desk,”American Libraries 15 (May 1984): 303-322; Barbara J. Ford,“Reference beyond (and without) the Reference Desk,” College & Research Libraries 47 (September 1986): 491-494; Joan C Durrance, “Reference Success: Does the 55 Percent Rule Tell the Whole Story?” Library Journal 114 (15 April 1989); and Jerry D. Campbell, “Shaking the Conceptual Foundations of Reference: A Perspective,” Reference Services Review 20 (1992): 29-35.
2. Virginia Massey-Burzio, “Reference Encounters of a Different Kind,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 18 (November 1992): 276-279.
3. A good general overview and annotated bibliography is given by Marilyn Von Seggern, “Assessment of Reference Services,” RQ (Summer 1987): 487-496.
4. Samuel Rothstein, “The Measurement and Evaluation of Reference Service,” Library Trends 12 (January 1964): 456-472. A later summary of this problem and an attempt to overcome it is offered in Marjorie E. Murfin and Gary M. Gugelchuk, “Development and Testing of a Reference Transaction Instrument,” College and Research Libraries 48 (July 1987): 314-338.
5. Charles R. McClure, “Output Measures, Unobtrusive Testing, and Assessing the Quality of Reference Services,” The Reference Librarian no. 11 (1984): 215-233; and Peter Hernon and Charles R. McClure, “Unobtrusive Reference Testing: The 55 Percent Rule,” Library Journal (15 April 1986): 37-41.
6. Thomas Childers, “Evaluation of Reference Services,” in Reference and Information Services: An Introduction, ed. by Bryce Allen (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1991), 171-190; Ian Douglas, “Reducing Failures in Reference Service,” RQ 28 (1988): 95-101; Jo Bell Whitlatch, “Unobtrusive Studies and the Quality of Academic Library Reference Services,” College and Research Libraries 50 (1989): 181-194.
7. The following articles collectively give a good overview of current thinking on how reference services can be evaluated apart from surveys and unobtrusive studies: William F. Young, “Methods for Evaluating Reference Desk Performance,” RQ 25 (Fall 1985): 69-75; Peter Hernon, “Utility Measures, Not Performance Measures for Library Reference Service?” RQ 27 (Summer 1987): 449-459; Lynn Westbrook, “Evaluating Reference: An Introductory Overview of Qualitative Methods,” Reference Services Review 18 (Spring 1990): 73-78; Jane P. Kleiner, “Ensuring Quality Reference Desk Service: The Introduction of a Peer Process,” RQ 31 (Spring 1991): 349-361; and Jo Bell Whitlatch, “Reference Services: Research Methodologies for Assessment and Accountability,” The Reference Librarian no. 38 (1992): 9-19.
8. Massey-Burzio, “Proposal for a New Reference Model,” Internal memorandum, Brandeis University Libraries, 1989.
9. One study found that librarians failed to perform a reference interview 67% of the time: Linda Olson, “Reference Service Evaluation in Medium-sized Academic Libraries: A Model,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 9 (1984):322-329.
10. Christopher W. Nolan, “Closing the Reference Interview: Implications for Policy and Practice,” RQ 31 (1992): 513-523.
11. Katherine Raskin and Michael Tauber, Focus Group Evaluation of the Brandeis University Libraries' Services (Waltham, MA: Florence Heller Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare, Brandeis University, 1993).