Communication-based approaches to library reference services: anxiety-uncertainty management as a model for communication breakdowns
ISSN: 0090-7324
Article publication date: 19 October 2020
Issue publication date: 6 May 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present an overview of the history of communication research and theory in reference services literature and to discuss the potential of one relatively recent-emerging theory of communication (anxiety-uncertainty management theory) to describe and mitigate breakdowns in reference communication.
Design/methodology/approach
An overview and discussion of existing literature and communication-based theories of library reference services is presented.
Findings
This paper identifies and describes anxiety-uncertainty management theory as a lens through which to view communication breakdowns during library reference transactions. The concepts behind the theory and articulated as well as its insights for reference librarians.
Originality/value
This is the first article to discuss the anxiety-uncertainty management theory to examine communication breakdowns in library reference transactions.
Keywords
Citation
Lund, B. (2021), "Communication-based approaches to library reference services: anxiety-uncertainty management as a model for communication breakdowns", Reference Services Review, Vol. 49 No. 1, pp. 55-66. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-07-2020-0049
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited