What is a reference librarian?
It's a hard question to answer. But while individual definitions may vary, I can highlight certain aspects of being a reference librarian that are integral parts of the profession. In so doing I can also highlight how a librarian can help students make the most of their classes, and how professors and students both can further develop their research at CSU, Chico.
In particular, a librarian is a person trained in the art of connecting people to relevant, useful information. For many years this entailed books and journals, but now includes Internet sources, article databases, and other electronic media in addition to the print sources. The "reference" in reference librarian refers to the librarian's particular focus on reference sources - encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, and other similar sources that contain factual information (as opposed to an author's viewpoint) and point to additional materials on a given topic.
Two pieces of literature highlight this role. Writing in 1874, Samuel Swett Green gives an example of the type of assistance a librarian can offer: "A board of trade is discussing the question of the advisableness of introducing the metric system of weights and measures into common use. Members call upon librarians to furnish the best treatises on the subject." In his 1992 novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson invents a piece of software called The Librarian that helps the main character "move through the nearly infinite stacks of information in the Library with the agility of a spider dancing across a vast web of cross-references."
Reference librarians also offer instruction in using library resources and, in a university setting in particular, help patrons evaluate the level of scholarship of a piece of information. At CSU, Chico, librarians have been assigned to different fields of study, and offer one-on-one help in using resources in their fields to faculty and students. We have also developed the following guide to evaluating the level of scholarship of a resource, and librarian Sarah Blakeslee has developed the CRAAP Test to help evaluate the overall usefulness of a piece of information to your work.
And just to dispel any rumors, librarians no longer fit the stereotype of being a woman with her hair in a bun wearing sensible shoes and shushing people. Not anymore. I've seen librarians with pink hair. I've seen them flaunt geek chic fashion sensibilities that later went mainstream. And librarians don't always work in traditional libraries anymore either, as Joe Janes points out in this column in American Libraries.
So what is a reference librarian? In short, s/he is a guide to the world of information, helping connect people with information, understand how to use library resources, and evaluate the usefulness of a piece of information. Playing these roles is something we enjoy doing, and we look forward to helping you. You can contact us here, or come to the reference desk on the second floor of the library.
Posted by Aaron Bowen