Fundamentals of Reference

97

seventeen

reference standards

We provide the highest level of service to all library users

through appropriate and usefully organized resources;

equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate,

unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests.

—Article I, Code of Ethics of the American Library Association

t

he statement above affirms a standard toward which all librarians should
aim in the practice of their profession. Its last few words, “accurate,
unbiased and courteous responses to all requests,” are particularly germane
to those in the realm of reference. In this chapter the focus is on professional
and personal reference standards. Professional standards are service guidelines
that have been established by individual institutions as well as professional
organizations: in the former sometimes as part of a reference policy, and in
the latter, as a statement adopted by (and for) its membership. By personal
standards I mean the commitment made by a reference librarian to a continu-
ous improvement of skills and the pursuit of lifelong learning.

Professional standards

The Reference and User Services Association

is responsible for stimulating and supporting

excellence in... the provision of reference and

information services... in every type of library.

—“About RUSA” (www.ala.org/rusa/about/)

One way to support excellence is to create standards against which services
can be measured. Since the ALA bylaws allow only divisions whose focus