Browsing by Subject "reference services"

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    “Don’t Jobs Change?” Substitution of Professionals by Support Staff in Public Libraries, 1997-2007
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2012-04-13) Applegate, Rachel A.
    Among MLS-level librarians, there is substantial anecdotal prevalence of the idea that administrators of public libraries seek to reduce costs by replacing MLS librarians with support staff. The migration of tasks such as copy and original cataloging and reference services to support staff has been well-documented. This study used national data from the Public Libraries Survey, from 1997 and 2007, to test this substitution hypothesis. Data indicates that for this time period, the utilization of MLS librarians as a percent of total library staffs did not diminish overall. Relative to population served, libraries did not reduce MLS positions but did increase support staffing. This has implications for understanding the 2008-2013 period of reduced public resources, and for the staffing of public libraries in the longer term.
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    Reference in the Age of Wikipedia, Or Not...
    (Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2010) Lewis, David W.
    The title of my talk today is purposefully provocative. But it is not because I believe that reference in the age of Wikipedia is dead, but rather that in the time of Wikipedia we need to be able to ask and answer the question implied by the, “or not…” We all know that the old models of reference work no longer are adequate. Our challenge is to be able to affirmatively explain what it is we do and how it adds value. Today I want to cover a number of topics. I’ll start with a definition and move to a consideration of alphabetical order. We will proceed to a short history lesson on three revolutions. Then I will present an opening quote and an example of the world we live in. We will then move to part one of a consideration of change using the work of Clayton Christensen. After an interlude with ChaCha, we will consider change in light of the work of Clay Shirky. After that we will sample some wisdom from Paul Krugman and Wired, looking at “Free” and “Better than Free.” We will finish with four questions, some answers, an uplifting quote, and a final challenge.