Servicio de referencia
Feather, John; Sturges, Paul. 1997. International encyclopedia of information and library science. Great Britain: Routledge. Pág. 211
Uno de los servicios básicos que hoy se dispensan desde cualquier unidad de información, singularmente desde las bibliotecas. Consiste en una asesoría personalizada que se presta a quienes acuden a la biblioteca en busca de información o necesitados de una orientación, con el objeto de que, auxiliados por el personal competente o solos, puedan seleccionar y acceder al material de su interés, mostrándoles, en su caso, como se manejan los instrumentos que pueden proporcionarles la información que necesitan.
La formulación que encabeza este artículo puede ser considerada como redundante, lo habitual es llamar a este servicio “de referencia”, o bien “de información” o “de consulta”, pues el término referencia está utilizado aquí como un calco léxico del inglés “reference”, que significa lo dicho.
El origen de este servicio dentro de las bibliotecas hay que buscarlo en las nuevas necesidades de información que se suscitan entre los usuarios de tales unidades informativas, que acuden cada vez más a ellas a buscar no sólo información ligada con los documentos allí depositados, sino respuesta a cualquier pregunta que se les suscite. Las primeras bibliotecas en ofrecer este servicio fueron las norteamericanas, en el último tercio del siglo XIX, seguidas de las inglesas y, luego de todas las bibliotecas del mundo.
Como fechas clave de la aparición y consolidación de este servicio pueden señalarse: 1876 año en que se crea el primer servicio de referencia y se publica en la revista “Library Journal”, el primer artículo científico sobre el tema; 1883, fecha de la creación en la Universidad pública de Boston del primer puesto de trabajo (reference work) para un “bibliotecario referencista” 1891, cuando se adopta y difunde mediante la mencionada revista “Library Journal”, la denominación “Reference work” para nombrar el trabajo realizado por el referencista.
Desde su creación, los servicios de referencia han ido adquiriendo cada vez mayor importancia, dado que las tareas de información se encuentran hoy entre las prioritarias de las bibliotecas, adquiriendo una personalidad diferenciada dentro de las unidades en las que se integran donde se les dedican instalaciones (sala de referencia), materiales (colección de referencia), catálogos y personal propios. Incluso existe una normativa internacional donde se indica el número de ejemplares que debe tener una colección de referencia, en relación con el fondo total de la biblioteca en que se ubica.
López, José. 2004. Diccionario enciclopédico de ciencias de la documentación. España: Editorial Síntesis. Pág. 437
En general, el servicio de referencia, independientemente de la institución de información donde se ofrezca, contempla estas modalidades fundamentales.
1.- Servicio de información y consulta: destinado a suministrar información básica, específica y/o general en forma de datos factuales o búsquedas bibliográficas sobre determinados temas.
2.- Orientación: presta asistencia en la selección e identificación de documentos según las necesidades del usuario.
3.- Formación: incluye acciones formativas individuales o grupales que favorecen el desarrollo de habilidades de información entre los usuarios, para que puedan hacer un uso responsable, crítico y eficaz de los recursos y servicios de información disponibles. Esta actividad se conoce como alfabetización informacional (ALFIN).
Manso, Ramon; Pinto, María. 2014. Servicio de referencia virtual: realidad y perspectivas. España: Ediciones Trea. Pág. 50
Ya en el año 2003, la división de la Asociación Americana de Bibliotecas (American Library Association, ALA) para estos asuntos, la Reference and Users Services Association (RUSA), en su guía de competencias para los bibliotecarios que atendían el servicio de referencia, dejaba prevista la colaboración del usuario como una de las vías para fomentar la mejora de estas prestaciones, convirtiéndose en colaborador y coparticipe en el proceso de solución de una demanda de información. Esta participación se traduce en una serie de estrategias como solicitar opinión al usuario y asesorarlo durante el proceso de la transacción, implicar al usuario en la interacción.
Manso, Ramon; Pinto, María. 2014. Servicio de referencia virtual: realidad y perspectivas. España: Ediciones Trea. Pág. 43
Libraries perform four basic functions in order to fill the information needs of their communities. Each is extremely detailed and highly complex, yet all of the activities of the library can be included in one of these four functions. The functions of the library have evolved over time as libraries and their parent communities coevolved. 1.- Collections, 2.- Organization, 3.- Service, 4.- Publishing.
Service: the third function of libraries is to provide direct assistance to users in their search and retrieval of information, which is what librarians now call reference service. This aspect of librarianship began much more recently than the first two and was first discussed in the mid – to late 1800s. Although everyone today has grown up with this function of the library and tends to take reference service for granted, it was truly a revolutionary concept when first introduced.
Lankes, David. 2016. The new librarianship field guide. England: The MIT Press. Pág. 4
That reference service developed at all is linked to two different, yet related 19th century ideals: universal education and public libraries. These two movements transformed the fabric of American society and had a lasting impact that remains today. Universal education was the concept that all children in the United States, no matter what class, race, or religion, would be able to receive free public education. Reasons for establishing universal education for all school-aged children varied widely and were often at cross-purposes to each other. Regardless of the motivations for establishing universal education, state and local governments throughout the nation established free public schools, which did, in fact, result in a more highly educated society. As a direct result of universal education, the literacy rate in the United States rose significantly during the 19th century. And as more and more people learned to read, they became more and more interested in doing so.
At the same time that universal education was becoming the norm, the concept of the free public library was being established. To convince the city fathers that such an institution would be a necessary and valuable component of the community, the trustees of the Boston Public Library made these arguments: “These question is not what will be brought about by few individuals of indomitable will and ardent thirst for improvement, but what is most for the advantage of the mass of the community. In this point of view, we consider that a large public education”. That the public library was viewed as a component of universal education is emphasized again later in that same report.
Lankes, David. 2016. The new librarianship field guide. England: The MIT Press. Pág. 6
Originally functions of the reference librarian. So what exactly does a reference librarian do? Green’s original paper on the topic consists primarily of examples of the types of questions asked by a variety of users of his public library. However, embedded within those examples are four distinct functions of the reference librarian.
Teach people how to use the library and its resources. Although some scholars may have known their way around catalogs, indexes, and the stacks, most of the newly literature members of society were unfamiliar with what libraries contained and how to find it. The first function of the librarian providing personal assistance to readers was to teach them how to find things in the library.
Answer readers’ questions. Green’s paper provides myriad examples of the types of questions asked by users of the public library, ranging from simple factual queries to in-depth research projects. The librarian was expected to be able to answer – all of these types of questions. As Green states so succinctly, “Persons who use a popular library for purposes of investigation generally need a great deal of assistance.” He then presents three pages of examples of the type of assistance that readers in his library requested.
Aid the reader in the selection of good works. People wanted to read but did not know what was worth reading. One of the major roles of the librarian was to serve as a readers’ advisor recommending material that fit each reader’s interests and ability. Green, in discussing his reference librarian comments, “I am confident that in some such way as this a great influence can be exerted in the direction of causing good books to be used… Only let her aim at providing every person who applies for aid with the best book he is willing to read”
Promote the library within the community. Underlying all of Green’s examples is the concept that by being personally available to members of the community the librarian would generate support from the community which of course lead to more use of the library and greater financial support. Green closes his paper by stating, “The more freely a librarian mingles with readers and the greater the amount of assistance he renders them, the more intense does the conviction of citizens, also, become that the library is a useful institution, and the more willing do they grow to grant money in larger and larger sums to be used in buying books and employing additional assistants.” In other words, if you help them, they will come – and provide funding.
Lankes, David. 2016. The new librarianship field guide. England: The MIT Press. Pág. 8
The functions of the moder reference librarian
Assistance and instruction (formal or informal) in the use of the library.
Assistance in the identification and selection of books, journals and other materials relevant to a particular information need.
Provision of brief factual information of the “ready-reference” variety.
More recently, in her dictionary of librarianship defined reference services as including but not limited to answering substantive questions instructing users in the selection of appropriate tools and techniques for finding information, conducting searches on behalf of the patron directing users to the location of library resources, assisting in the evaluation of information, referring patrons to resources outside the library when appropriate, keeping reference statics and participating in the development of the reference collection.
The role of the reference librarian today is also reflected in the definitions of a reference transaction and reference work, adopted by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association (ALA).
Reference transactions are information consultations in which library staff recommend, interpret, evaluate, and/or use information resources to help others to meet particular information needs. Reference transactions do not include formal instruction or exchanges that provide assistance with locations, schedules, equipment, supplies or policy statements.
Reference work includes reference transactions and other activities that involve the creation, management, and assessment of information or research resources, tools, and services.
Lankes, David. 2016. The new librarianship field guide. England: The MIT Press. Pág. 12
Whether they are physically present or not, people who ask reference librarians for assistance are often at a psychological disadvantage. In today’s information environment, where information is available everywhere all the time, people feel that if they cannot find what they want then have failed. Having to approach another person for help implies that they have admit that they are a failure, which some users are not willing to do. Of course, the librarian does not see the user as a failure, but the user does not know that. Because users are not certain how to proceed, they rarely exactly what they want.
It is very important that people feel comfortable in asking for the reference librarian’s help and that each user is treated with dignity and respect. Most of the time, reference librarians are not helping users find specific, factual information but are helping the user to identify sources and suggesting search strategies, in this regard, reference service is more like counseling the user than it is providing the user with specific answers. Reference service is about developing a relationship between the user and the librarian, not about a specific answer to a question. In order to help librarians work with users, RUSA has developed a set of guidelines to assist librarians with the behavioral nature of the reference process. This is where the reference interview comes into play.
The reference interview is a set of listening and questioning skills that enables the librarian to work with the user to figure out what the query really is. A good interview is a conversation between the librarian and user that identifies and clarifies what the user is looking for. In many cases, the user has not thought through their topic, and the librarian helps the user determine the parameters of the information need. By using good interview skills, the librarian can help the user define the information need and come up with some search possibilities to satisfy that need.
Lankes, David. 2016. The new librarianship field guide. England: The MIT Press. Pág. 18
Why do we still need reference librarians when we have Wikipedia and Google?
It is the question that we have all heard before in one variation or another. After all, we live in a world in which every individual has instant access to more information than at any previous time in human history. With any networked device, we can all find information, take classes, make purchases, listen to music, watch videos, get directions, see what our friends are doing, and find out just about anything. In this connected world, why do we need libraries – or reference librarians?
It is a valid, but naive, question. The popular image of the reference librarian is of someone who dispenses answers. The question assumes that what librarians do is dispense facts. Do you need to find a biography of Einstein, the dates of the Norman invasion, the distance to the closest star, or the names of the seven dwarfs? You used to ask a reference librarian. But with the Internet, people no longer need to ask those questions – they can find that information themselves. Therefore, they naively make the assumption that reference librarians are no longer needed.
The problem with the question is that it misses the more subtle – and more important – nature of libraries and reference service. Yes, librarians sometimes give out factual answers. But most of the time, the questions that we get have no single answer. Is global warming real? Does listening to music while asleep improve memory skills awake? Do diet soft drinks increase a risk cancer? Are the beaches nicer in the Caribbean or in Hawaii? We help our users with many more of those kinds of questions than we do factual ones – and we always have. Finding facts is easy – answering complex questions that reference librarians are needed.
Reference librarians know how to search and how to evaluate information. We understand how to judge which sources are credible and we know search techniques that find resources that simple searching cannot. We know how to determine an author’s biases. We know how to identify the underlying political aspects of a document. And we never tell anyone else what we helped you with.
Lankes, David. 2016. The new librarianship field guide. England: The MIT Press. Pág. 24
RUSA Guidelines an integrated approach. The reference and users services association’s board of directors approved the most recent guidelines for the reference interview, “Guidelines for Behavioral performance of Reference and Information Service Provides,” in June 2013. These guidelines cover visibility/approachability, interest, listening/inquiring, searching and follow-up. Each of these five areas includes general guidelines, in-person guidelines and guidelines for remote reference, which includes telephone, e-mail and chat reference. For the first time, the guidelines have been tied to virtual reference as well as in-person reference. This provides the librarian with a way to begin to blend the various ways of answering a reference question, rather than treating virtual reference separately, as had been the case when the technology was first emerging. These guidelines stress the need for good communication skills, whether the question is asked in person or virtually. They also emphasize the importance of the interaction between the reference staff patrons.
Approachability. “The librarian’s initial response in any reference situation sets the tone for the entire communication process and influences the depth and level of interaction”.
Interest. “A successful librarian demonstrates a high degree of objective, nonjudgmental interest in the reference transaction. While not every query will be of interest to the librarian, the librarian should embrace each patron’s informational need and should be committed to providing the most effective assistance.”
Listening/inquiring. “The reference interview is the heart of the reference transaction and is crucial to the success of the process. The librarian should effectively identify the patron’s information needs in a manned that puts the patron at ease.”
Searching. “The search process is the portion of the transaction in which behavior and accuracy intersect. Without an effective search, not only is the desired information unlikely to be found, but patrons may become discouraged as well.”
Follow-up. “Supplying information is not the end of the reference transaction. The librarian is responsible for determining if the patron is satisfied with the results of the search and referring the patron to other sources including those not available through the local library.”
Cassell, Kay; Hiremath, Uma. 2018. Reference and information services: an introduction. United States of America: American library association. Pág. 54
