Reference Desk Job Shadowing Assignment

Overview

The great irony of this course is that while I can give you experience researching answers to reference questions, and I can give you experience answering digital reference questions, I cannot give you experience answering desk reference questions, which is arguably the quintessential form of reference work. And why is this? This is because it's simple for me to create mock questions, and it's fairly simple to get you experience with practice digital reference questions, but it's nearly impossible to get you experience with practice reference questions at a desk. And why is this? This is because the training for doing digital reference (at least with the VRD) is a short training session and 3 practice questions, but the training for doing desk reference is an MLS.

Thus for this assignment you will be doing the next best thing: shadowing reference librarians while they work at a reference desk, and then thinking critically about the experience.

Job Shadowing

I have arranged for students to shadow librarians in the following libraries:

• UNC Davis Library

• UNC House Undergrad Library

• UNC Health Sciences Library

• Duke Perkins / Bostock Library

• NC State Hill Library

• Chapel Hill Public Library

• Durham County Library: Main, East Regional, and North Regional branches

You will choose one library in which to do your shadowing in class. If you are currently working in one of these libraries, or will be starting to work in one of these libraries during this semester, please choose a different library in which to do your shadowing. I will provide you with contact information for one librarian who will be your primary contact.

Schedule two sessions of shadowing of one hour each. You may shadow the same or different librarians for both sessions. I understand that you are all busy and have many time commitments yourselves, but try to schedule your shadowing sessions at the librarians' convenience. After all, they are doing us a big favor. Try to schedule your two shadowing sessions on two different days of the week and/or times of day, in order to attempt to maximize the variability in user groups using the library during your shadowing.

Different libraries will have different requirements for allowing you to shadow librarians, or may offer to allow you different levels of access. For example, some libraries may require that you receive training or orientation before your shadowing session. Some libraries may offer to allow you to attend a staff meeting or to observe different forms of reference work, such as information consultations or chat reference. Make time for whatever training the library requires before your shadowing session; again, they are doing us a big favor. If you have the time and interest, I recommend that you also make time for any other opportunities for observation. Work at the desk is a large part of being a reference librarian, but by no means the only part.

How to conduct yourself while job shadowing: Arrange with the librarian(s) to follow him or her around for your shadowing. Your task is to observe the librarian in action. Observe while the librarian performs the job of providing desk reference service; do not interrupt. If you have questions about what the librarian is doing, ask after the conclusion of the reference interaction. I recommend that you take notes. In short, you are doing participant observation, which I'm sure you will learn about in INLS 780, Research Methods. (That said, however, it's difficult to follow someone around for an hour and not talk to them. To the extent possible, just try to not influence the reference interactions.)

Written Report

After you have concluded your two shadowing sessions, write a brief report critically analyzing your experience. This report should be around 3-5 pages, and should include discussions of at least two reference interactions:

• One interaction (at the desk, a consultation, whatever) that went especially well or that impressed you for whatever reason. For example, the librarian may have been especially skillful in assisting a user who was unable to articulate his information need well, there may have been an especially productive collaboration between librarians, etc. Discuss what it was about this interaction that impressed you and why.
• One interaction that was problematic for whatever reason. For example, some resource that the librarian wanted to use was unavailable, the user was especially impatient, etc. Discuss what it was about this interaction that was problematic. Attempt to reverse-engineer this interaction. How did the reference interview, bibliographic instruction or information literacy instruction, or other component of the interaction proceed? In retrospect, what could the librarian and/or the user have done differently?

In your discussion of the two reference interactions, you may optionally want to address the following points:

• Did the library provide you with an orientation to working at the desk? What was the content of that orientation?
• What sort of of interaction, if any, was there between the librarians staffing the desk?
• What measures were employed to alert the users that there was a student trainee present? What measures were employed to ensure patron privacy?
• Consider the RUSA Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers.

Note: In my conversations and negotiations with the heads of reference departments in these libraries about hosting you all for your shadowing assignment, several department heads asked me if there can be a mechanism to give feedback to these libraries based on your observations. Thus, the quid pro quo that the department heads and I agreed on was this: I will share your reports with them. I made it clear, however, that I will allow any of you to opt out of this, so if you would rather that I not share your report, just let me know and I will not. If you decide to opt in, I will of course remove your name from your report so that it's as anonymous as can be. Also, in past semesters some students identified the librarians that they shadowed by name. I would recommend against this, even in the reports that you submit to me. I don't need to know who you shadowed specifically; feel free to call them Librarian X and Librarian Y or something equally cryptic. I will not give your reports to the heads of reference until after the semester is over, and therefore whether you opt in or out will not affect your grade on the assignment. This is entirely voluntary on your part; I'm offering this to the libraries as a small compensation for the favor they are doing me in hosting you for this assignment, and because hopefully it will be useful to the library for evaluation of the reference service.