Reference Librarianship: Notes from the Trenches

Citation

Corbin, J. (2007), "Reference Librarianship: Notes from the Trenches", Library Management, Vol. 28 No. 8/9, pp. 577-578. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120710837855

Anderson and Sprenkle portray public library reference desk work in both a reflective and practical manner. The title could imply a broad coverage of the varying types of services which are associated with reference librarianship; however discussion centres on service point delivery. Reference Librarianship: Notes from the Trenches is presented with twelve chapters in the form of reminiscent musings focussing on US public libraries, each followed by a blog entry. The authors state the intention to raise issues, without necessarily providing answers or reaching profound conclusions. A thread of nostalgia (at times humorous) permeates the essays which are provocative and entertaining, and is in stark contrast to the interspersed blog entries which expose the daily grind of reference work, warts and all.

The musings

Any librarian who has spent even a small amount of time on a public library reference desk can relate to the issues raised in this book. Such as: frustrating and repetitive directional questions; clients expecting the library to have “everything”; equipment breakdowns; people's impatience with computer speed and crashes; deciding on what services to focus on in libraries; library as a place for homeless; how reference work has changed over time; the effect on frontline staff of policy decisions made by administration; the consequences of branches set up solely for popular materials (“retail outlet concept”); aligning the education and qualities of reference staff with the differing types of services offered over time; how the design of libraries can be mismatched with the purpose. The final chapter is a personal view of the changing role and content of public libraries in the US since the 1940s.

The blog entries – called “A grunts diary”

The issues in the musings are derived from both online discussion lists and a yearlong project in which one of the authors recorded in a blog, questions and happenings at the reference desk in a US public library on a daily basis. Fifty per cent of the actual blog entries are presented in this book, appearing as a mundane chronological hard copy representation of what would normally be skimmed and scrolled‐through on a screen. If the intention was to make librarianship sound tedious then this was achieved via the bulk and content of the blog entries. For instance the blog text in chapter 1 is spread over nineteen pages. One stated purpose in the preface is to provide “emotional and philosophical support for practitioners” (p. ix), so perhaps the inclusion of much blog content is to that end. A representative appendix of ten per cent of the entries would have been sufficient to illustrate the daily grind, and the inclusion of the url for “Ref Grunt”, for those wanting more: http://refgrunt.blogspot.com/ (not given in the book).

Alternatively the blog entries could have been analysed and linked to each chapter topic. An instance of linking is found in chapter 2 where we learn that “The tally of bathroom questions in a year accounted for only 2 per cent of the total” (p. 25). Although I'm aware that the authors were attempting to provide a more practical rather than academic piece of work, the readability of the text could have been further enhanced by creating more linkages.

Overall the structure of this book gives the impression of reading a series of magazine columns, interrupted by long lists from a diary. Contrasting the essays and blogs results in a book which does not flow easily, lacking a progressive feel, but the contents of which can be absorbed by dipping in and out of chapters. A condensed version could have produced the same effect of “reality” which I believe was an aim. The authors make no secret of presenting “current library work on the ‘dark side’” (p. 245), in preference for a time when reference work did not centre around computers. However the text ends with an underlying message of embracing change and looking towards even more possibilities for information retrieval. Library administrators may appreciate the detail given in this book to inform decision‐making. Librarianship students can consider the issues, and decide whether or not they want to be a part of the future developments of reference librarianship, whatever they may be.