Fundamentals of Reference

68 REFERENCE SERVICES

developed sources as well as access to the Internet, provides a solid basis for

answering telephone reference questions. These resources should be organized

in such a way that individual sources can be located quickly and easily. A

bank of telephones, or even a single telephone, each one next to a computer

with Internet access, surrounded by, or adjacent to, a print collection, is a

fairly typical model of a telephone reference service. Wireless headsets and

tablet PCs could also allow librarians to go into the stacks in order to answer

12 Telephone Reference Service..................................................................

Just as at the in-person reference desk, there will be some downtime. The

time between calls can be spent reading news magazines and other publica-

tions, checking news feeds or newspaper websites, or exploring the library’s

own website and electronic reference sources. And just as at the in-person

reference desk, it is very important not to get too engrossed in the page or

screen in front of you. A ringing telephone, though, is usually enough to get

your attention.

note

1. Emily Garnett, “Reference Service by Telephone,” Library Journal 61, no. 21
   (December 1, 1936): 911.

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