College and Research Libraries f - Reference beyond (and without) the Reference Desk Barbara J. Ford Is the reference desk still the contact point where most academic library users find the seroices, information, and assistance they n~ed? The author proposes that the reference desk as the cen- ter of reference seroice in academic libraries is an assumption that should be examined in light of new technologies and changes in the way people find and use information . An alternative or supplementary model is delineated . l:i-~'lJ n 1876 Samuel Green stated in ~~~ f:.~ American Library Journal that \~ ~ "personal intercourse and rela- - ...... tions between librarians and readers are useful in all libraries." 1 Sam- uel Rothstein's 1955 publication, The De- velopment of Reference Seroices, provides an excellent overview of how current refer- ence service originated and developed in the period from 1850 to 1940.2 Rothstein's discussion of reference services includes personal interactions, but only mentions in passing the reference desk as the orga- r:tizational pattern for delivery of these ser- vices. By the 1984 ACRL Conference at the Al- ternative Format presentation, "A House Divided: Public Service Realities in the 1980s," an assumption of those address- ing the challenges and changes facing ref- erence services was that the reference desk is the center of this assistance . Speakers seemed to support Patricia Swanson's viewpoint that "the reference desk represents the critical mass of resources-human, printed, and now electronic, so configured for a convenient component of reference service. · A survey of the literature shows that few authors have questioned this assumption. One of those who has, Thelma Freides, brought up this point in 1983 when she stated, "Equally unarticulated and unex- amined is the assumption that the hub of this assistance is the reference desk, where a reference librarian, or surrogate, is available to the reader at all times. The arrangement conveys an implicit promise never to let the reader go unserved, but it also pegs the service at a low level. " 4 In 1985, in a symposium about reference work in The Journal of Academic Librarian- ship, Mary Biggs' proposal to cut the num- ber of desk hours in order to provide other service met with an enthusiastic re - sponse. 5 The reference desk appears to be a sacred library tradition that many librari- ans are unwilling or unable to relinquish or question. · and predictable location so that library pa- trons can find the service and can find someone to help them . " 3 Even those pre- sentations that were supposedly the most questioning and untraditional assumed that the reference desk is an important Some authors have begun to address the need to question assumptions relating to library programs and services. Nina Matheson says, "We must ask ourselves some very hard questions. What have we been failing at that we had better stop do- ing or do differently? How long have we been trying to get people to come to the li- brary, to use the library? ... Do our solu- tions really respond to information access problems?' ' 6 While not talking specifically Barbara]. Ford is Associate Director at Trinity University Library, San Antonio, Texas 78284. This paper was presented at the ACRL Fourth National Conference in Baltimore, April 9-12, 1986. 491 492 College & Research Libraries about the reference desk, Matheson's . challenge is certainly applicable to those-of us concerned with the future of reference services. Patricia Battin, in discussing the library as the center of the restructured university, notes, "The weight of our his- toric traditions is such that we tend to find it very difficult to look at the future in terms of a vastly changed organizational structure.' ' 7 Richard De Gennaro sug- gests, "Libraries need to develop new goals and new strategies based on new technologies . . . or risk becoming mere symbols of culture and museums of the book."8 The reference desk, as the center and "given" of reference service, is one of the traditions that should be examined. Li- braries have changed dramatically in col- lection size, in physical space, and in the heterogeneous nature of collections and of library users since the time when the refer- ence desk became a common fixture in li- braries. Reference desk serviCe may have been more useful in simpler days of smaller collections and buildings and may be more necessary in public libraries. In- deed, there would seem to be a tension be- tween a general desk and subject special- ization, a topic that is hinted at but never explicitly addressed in Rothstein's history of the development of reference service. "Renaissance" reference librarians serving all comers at a reference desk may no longer be a realistic solution for provid- ing public services for patrons. Has what happens at the reference desk made gen- eral users less self sufficient and more de- pendent on library staff? The historic tra- dition of the reference desk makes it difficult for reference librarians and those studying and discussing reference to think of library services without the refer- ence desk as a given for providing service and user interface. On the other hand, much that is written indicates that the ref- erence desk does not provide the most ef- fective and efficient service, and therefore we must consider alternatives. William Miller has written, "Objectiv-e analysis of reference desk service indicate the cost of pretending that we can con- tinue to do everything for everybody, and do it well. This is an organizational fiction September 1986 which needs to be discarded. Our success is turning into failure, and we must ac- knowled~e this reality in order to cope with it." The time has come when librari- " ans must define their clientele and then decide whom they can best assist with var- ious services. Freides says, The reference desk works best for directional questions and requests for specific factual infor- mation. It is not well designed for dealing with questions requiring interpretation or explora- tion .. .. Studies of user behavior indicate that users indeed perceive the reference service as intended for simple questions and quick re- plies . . .. By establishing the desk as the focal point of reader assistance, libraries not only ex- pend professional time on trivial tasks, but also encourage the assumption that the low-level, undemanding type of question handled most '11 easily and naturally at the desk is the service norm .10 Academic librarians must ask whether their clientele really need a reference desk or whether other services would meet their needs in a more effective manner. Without spending so much time and en- ergy providing service from a reference desk, could we as librarians devote our ef- forts more effectively to developing more appropriate and useful services for our primary clientele? Brian Nielsen has pro- vided a perspective on many library ser- vices, including the reference desk, when he notes that because reference service "has seen little, if any, design change since its origin in the late nineteenth cen- tury, librarians tend not to think of the value choices implicit in that design that they have also inherited. They all accept as a basic postulate that reference service is useful to anyone, at least potentially. " 11 The reference desk in academic libraries needs evaluation based on new technolo- gies and changes in the way people find and use information and the role of li- braries in this process. Rao Aluri and Jef- fery St. Clair have suggested that" experi- ments could be conducted to see if much of the information supplied at the refer- ence desk could be made accessible through computers and other means . " 12 Much has been written about the impor- tance of user education, bibliographic in- struction, point-of-use aids and other means to assist users in libraries beyond the reference desk. Dana Smith and Steve Hutton report on their successful "use of uniquely developed microcomputer pro- grams to provide reference service to pa- trons at points throughout the library at all hours, but intended to support service at times when reference personnel are not available." 13 This at least is a beginning. While being hesitant to eliminate face-to- face personal interaction between librari- ans and patrons, reference librarians need to begin to think what has heretofore been the unthinkable, exploring alternatives and possibly eliminating the reference desk. In accordance with what is being written and discussed at meetings, the present configuration does not satisfy ei- ther librarians or library users. It appears there is a problem; by looking for different models, alternatives can be explored. To assist the development of possible al- ternative or supplementary models to the reference desk, an alternative model is de- lineated here . It is not disputed that ser- vice should continue or that people need assistance in using libraries. The question is whether such assistance is any longer most efficiently and effectively provided from a reference desk. A theoretical model for future reference service might replace the desk and librar- ian with a computer terminal where users could log requests and receive answers and appropriate printed handouts. Many questions answered at reference desks could be programmed for quick response; other questions might require interaction with the user, either in person, by tele- phone or through the computer terminal. For frequently asked questions, such as which source on a bibliography is the best place to begin, annotations and sugges- tions could be provided on a terminal; and if assistance is still required, the office hours of a librarian with expertise on the subject could be provided. Directional and other general questions, such as how to use the catalog or indexes, and how to find periodicals, could be handled through a terminal or printed matter. Librarians could be available much like teaching fac- ulty, by appointment, for certain hours each week in their office. Reference Beyond 493 What would happen if reference desks were closed? Would users be terribly frus- trated by not having a readily available person to talk to when questions arise, or would they begin to answer simple re- quests for themselves, or carefully read written aids and handouts, or pay more attention at presentations? Would aca- demic institutions be able and willing to cope with the consequences of possible frustration and changed service patterns? Would reference librarians become more productive, respected members of the aca- demic community? Would reference li- brarians be willing and able to accept the challenge? Should librarians support a model that takes away the personal com- munication between librarian and user at a reference desk? Has the reference desk seen its most useful time and will other patterns better meet user needs? If reference desks were closed, librari- ans might be astonished at either how lit- tle people missed the service or how terri- bly frustrated patrons would be in trying to use the library. Faculty accustomed to a traditional library setting would probably be disturbed, as most people are by changes, but librarians working with fac- ulty in other ways could fill these needs. Librarians could be available for classroom presentations and collaboration with fac- ulty to integrate library use into instruc- tional programs . Students who have grown up playing computer games and solving problems with computers might find new services and models more to their liking. In the academic setting, librar- ians could work with faculty and provide assistance and guidance for students on which sources and approaches are most useful. In short, they could use to their ad- vantage, and their clientele's, the struc- ture inherent in the academic environ- ment. With more time librarians could seriously address new ways to meet the needs of the primary clientele that may not necessarily be effectively served at a reference desk. So long as the reference desk model is uncritically accepted, librarians are not challenged to respond creatively to changes in materials, · formats, and re- search opportunities for our users, and us- 494 College & Research Libraries ers are not challenged to use any of a vari- ety of printed or computerized sources or aids. Librarians must come to grips with these disturbing notions, question their basic assumptions and begin to think about alternatives to fhe reference desk as the center of reference service. As Roth- stein's account makes clear, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries September 1986 there were a number of ways to provide direct personal assistance. TP.e current lit- erature and modern technology present even more alternatives. Various models and possible alternatives are needed to ex- plore the energies for transition to new service patterns beyond and perhaps without the reference desk. REFERENCES 1. SamuelS. Green, "Personal Relations between Librarians and Readers," American Library Journal 1:79 (Nov. 30, 1876). 2. Samuel Rothstein, The Development of Reference Services through Academic Traditions, Public Library Practice and Special Librarianship (Chicago: Assn. of College and .Research Libraries, 1955), ACRL Monographs, no.14. 3. Patricia K. Swanson, "Traditional Models: Myths and Realities," in Academic Libraries: Myths and Realities-Proceedings of the Third National Conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries (Chicago: Assn. of College and Research Libraries-;--1984), p.89. 4. Thelma Freides, "Current Trends in Academic Libraries," Library Trends 31:466-67 (Winter 1983). 5. Mary Biggs, "Replacing the Fast Fact Drop-In with Gourmet Information Service: A Sympo- sium," Journal of Academic Librarianship 11:68-78 (May 1985). 6. Nina W. Matheson, "The Academic Library Nexus," College & Research Libraries 45:208 (May 1984). 7. Patricia Battin, "The Library: Center of the Restructured University," College & Research Libraries 45:171 (May 1984). 8. Richard De Gennaro, "Libraries & Networks in Transition: Problems and Perspectives for the 1980s," Library Journal106:1049 (May 15, 1981). 9. William Miller, "What's Wrong with Reference: Coping with Success and Failure at th~ Reference Desk," American Libraries 15:322 (May 1984). 10. Friedes, "Current Trends in Academic Libraries," p.467. 11 . Brian Nielsen, "Teacher or Intermediary: Alternative Professional Models in the Information Age," College & Research Libraries 43 :186 (May 1982). 12 . Rao Aluri and Jeffrey W. St. Clair, "Academic Reference Librarians : An Endangered Species?" Journal of Academic Librarianship 4:84 (May 1978). 13. Dana E. Smith and Steve M. Hutton, "Back at 8:00AM-Microcomputer Library Reference Sup- port Programs," Collegiate Microcomputer 11:289 (Nov. 1984.) 1