Fundamentals of Reference

Online Reference Service 71

and scope of your information needs helps us to deliver an answer that you will
find useful.” Opposite “Sources already consulted” on the form is the comment
that “Knowing where you’ve already looked will help us keep from sending you
someplace you’ve already been” (www.ipl.org/div/askus/). By now it should be
obvious that asking such questions on an e-mail request form takes the place
of the “listening/inquiring” phase of the reference interview. Let’s go back to the
RUSA “Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information
Services Providers” (see the appendix) discussed in chapter 12. These guidelines
identified the five components of a successful reference transaction: approach-
ability, interest, listening/inquiring, searching, and follow-up. As previously
noted, this version of the RUSA guidelines expanded each of these elements
to include the “remote” forms of reference service (telephone, e-mail, chat):

Under “approachability” we find: “Should provide prominent,

jargon-free links to all forms of reference service from the home page

of the library’s web site, and throughout the site wherever research

assistance may be sought out. The Web should be used to make

reference services easy to find and convenient.” (1.8)

So that e-mail request form should be as easy to locate as it is to use. To
indicate “interest” the librarian “acknowledges user email questions in a timely
manner” (2.7). An automatic message is often generated, such as “your request
has been received and you will receive a response in (fill in the blank).” The
listening/inquiring stage, as we’ve seen in the description of the Internet Public
Library’s e-mail reference form, is carried out by the use of such a form (3.10). As
for “searching,” the recommendation is that the librarian “uses appropriate tech-
nology to help guide patrons through library resources when possible” (4.11).
In the case of e-mail reference, this might include providing links to sources or
describing how such sources (e.g., a database) can be used. Finally, when it’s
time for the “follow-up” the librarian “suggests that the patrons visit or call the
library when appropriate” (5.9). Sometimes the information requested cannot
be relayed by e-mail, and the patron will have to visit the library in person.
Some of the benefits of e-mail reference are

1. The patron can ask the question when it comes to mind (and a
   computer is available) and not have to deal with busy signals or
   stand in line.