Library Public Services

This page:
Librarians and the Community | Reference Process | Reference Sources | Reader's Advisory | Interlibrary Loan and Other Access Services

Librarians and the Community

• A Librarian at the Kitchen Table - A blog on the subject of librarians in the community working for social justice and human rights, by Kathleen de la Peña McCook

Reference Process

• CORE: California Opportunities for Reference Excellence - A great tutorial on doing reference work
• Technostress and the Reference Librarian - This article by John Kupersmith originally appeared in 1992, but it may be even more relevant now.

Live Reference Librarians:

• LiveRef - A directory of sites doing real-time reference service online. Check here to see if your local library is doing live reference before using one of the sites below.
• Ask a Librarian - Library of Congress
• Internet Public Library: Ask a Question
• Radical Reference - Answers questions at political events and through its Web site. Started during the 2004 Republican convention in New York.
• Ask-a-Librarian - U.K. service
• Virtual Reference for Non-Librarians: What It Is and How to Access These Services (ResourceShelf)
• See also Ask a Government Documents Librarian

Reference Sources

• Answering Reference Questions Using the Internet
• Eureka, newsletter of the reference dept. at Morris County Library, N.J. - Lots of good tips on common reference topics in public libraries
• MARS Best Free Reference Web Sites - Index to Web sites listed since 1999
• Outstanding Reference Sources - Annual list (RUSA)
• Special Lists and Features - Updates on reference books and Web sites from Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin
• What's Gnu? - "A blog of news, resources, and events of use to reference librarians" from Suburban Library System, Illinois
• See also:
• Reference Desks for directories of ready reference sources
• Fact Sources for collections of facts, like almanacs and encyclopedias
• Web Subject Guides by Librarians for large-scale directories of the Web's most useful sites

Fugitive Fact Files:

At one library where I worked, we had a "fugitive fact file" — that is, a file of answers to tough questions we knew we'd get again. Some libraries are putting these files online.

• Frequently Asked Reference Questions (FARQs) (Internet Public Library)
• Hennepin County (Minn.) Library Fugitive Fact File - Searchable database
• Project Wombat - The mailing list for tough reference questions (successor to the late, lamented Stumpers list)
• Web Guerrilla Reference - Miscellaneous links, compiled by librarian John Leonard
• See also Archives of Questions and Answers and Fact Sources

Reader's Advisory

These sites can help librarians advise users about what books they might like to read.

• Book Browser - Many reading lists and book reviews in fiction
• Book Lists and Bibliographies - Great book lists, mostly from libraries (Waterboro [Maine] Public Library)
• Fiction_L Booklists - Compiled by the subscribers of the Fiction_L mailing list (Morton Grove Public Library)
• Genreflecting
• Overbooked
• See also Reviews and Bibliographies and Great Books lists

Interlibrary Loan and Other Access Services

If you need interlibrary loan service, check with your library first. That will probably be the easiest and cheapest way to go.

• Circ and Serve - Blog on access services
• ILL Web - All kinds of tools for tracking down elusive items (Northwestern University Law School)
• Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Services - A guide to some of the available services (Library of Congress)
• ShareILL - International directory of resources for interlibrary loan and document delivery