The emerging reference paradigm: a vision of reference services in a complex information environment

Library Trends, Fall, 2001 by John W. Fritch, Scott B. Mandernack

ABSTRACT

THE EMERGING REFERENCE PARADIGM in a complex, technologically rich information environment tends toward a more deliberate blending of the conservative and liberal philosophies of reference. As key agents in the advancement of society and culture, librarians must recognize the value of community and the social context of information in providing services that support and enhance the full range of contemporary user needs. The complexity of the information environment, and more uncontrolled distribution and access, lead to new issues for users. Reference services, with a stronger instructional role, must become more proactive in providing a fully developed repertoire of services responsive to the multifaceted queries facing librarians today.

"WHERE THERE IS NO VISION, THE PEOPLE PERISH."

--Proverbs 29:18

With the explosive popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web, many authors have foreseen the demise of reference librarians and have predicted their role will become outdated and ultimately irrelevant. At least one article has called for the abolition of traditional reference service, suggesting that information technologies have largely transmuted the role of reference librarians from intellectual endeavors to manual tasks dealing with computer hardware and software (Ewing and Hauptman, 1995). The development of artificial intelligence "knowbots" has been proposed as a possible replacement for human-mediated searches (Zick, 2000). Some contend that Moore's Law, which suggests that the power of microchips should double approximately every 18 months (Moore, 1965), will eventually lead to a replacement for human intelligence. Proponents theorize that the combination of artificial intelligence and raw computing power may eventually even surpass the capabilities of the human brain.

Others argue, less dramatically, that change is coming to reference services, that users' reliance on information technology is altering or endangering traditional reference service (for a sampling see Wilson, 2000; Butcher, 1999; Frank, Calhoun, Henson, Madden, and Raschke, 1999; Ryan, 1996). Access to more and more online resources, significant developments in distance learning and instructional technologies, and a growing desire for independence and self-reliance suggest to some that future users will require little or no assistance from trained reference personnel. Indeed, the number of reference transactions reported in recent years indicates decreases in the range of 6 to 15 percent (Coffman and McGlamery, 2000, p. 66). Is this a sign that the role of reference services is in fact declining? Will reference librarians and reference services inevitably be replaced by advanced information technologies? If not, what will sustain the existence of reference services and trained reference librarians?

A HISTORICAL REVIEW OF REFERENCE SERVICE

Reference service, as a distinct function of the library, began in the late nineteenth century, largely in response to the growing prevalence of publicly funded libraries (both public and academic) seeking to serve relatively inexperienced and unskilled readers and scholars. In the mid-nineteenth century, American scholarship and research activity was minimal and unorganized, conducted primarily by independent scholars with private funding. As the U. S. economy became more highly and rapidly industrialized, a spirit of free investigation led to more significant research and inquiry. Greater social and economic mobility and the emergence of a growing democratic philosophy toward education spawned a more popular and more practical orientation. The Morrill Federal Land Grant Act of 1862 provided federal support and funding for higher education in agriculture, technology, and "mechanical arts," promoting even more widespread and significant advances in scientific research and broadening college and university curricula (Rudolph, 1962). Breaking from the custodial traditions of the past, in which the library was simply a storehouse of books, reference service developed (albeit typically only as an ancillary, part-time endeavor) primarily to assist patrons in the use of the catalogs and to recommend titles for reading.

With increasing dependence on the library by readers and scholars, reference service came to be recognized as an increasingly important function. William B. Child offered an early definition of reference work in a statement to the New York Library Club: "By reference work is meant simply the assistance given by a librarian to readers in acquainting them with the intricacies of the catalogue, in answering questions, and, in short, doing anything and everything in his power to facilitate access to the resources of the library in his charge" (Rothstein, 1972, p. 3). The practice gained acceptance and popularity to the point that separate, specialized reference units or departments became common starting in the late 1890s (Rothstein, 1994). The role of reference as an integral part of the library organization was established even more firmly over the first two decades of the twentieth century. Reference departments offered longer service hours and increased staffing levels, due in part to the extension of reference service in branches, and later, departmental libraries, and via the additional modes of telephone and correspondence (Rothstein, 1972).