Personnel Issues in Reference Services

Bill Katz, Ruth A. Fraley

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780367374105
• eBook ISBN: 9781000759037
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Library & Information Science
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This book, first published in 1986, discusses reference personnel concerns and problems and offers suggestions to administration and management for improving reference personnel performance and staff development.

PREPARATION FOR THE JOB, RECRUITMENT, CONTINUING EDUCATION AND OTHER CONCERNS

Everybody Needs Information

Miles M. Jackson

The extent to which an individual has the ability to gain access to information often determines the degree to which that individual will be personally effective in today’s world. The people who use information appreciate its power to change things. On a very simple level without adequate information an individual cannot effectively correct wrongs, solve personal problems or make sound decisions. This is especially true in today’s “information society.”

Over the past decade persistent questions beg to be answered, especially in behavioral terms: How and where do people get all of their information? How much do we know about human internal factors that drive information seeking?

Libraries are only one part of the many systems in the information environment that are dedicated to providing information. Paramount to designing information delivery systems is the recognition that all people need information, despite their demographic characteristics. Decision making is not limited to corporate cultures where more and more employees have access to information and information processing tools. Research has been able to ascertain that on a personal level information can help individuals understand their life situation and decrease uncertainty. However, there are people who are informationally deprived and are often the segment of the population which tends to lack survival information related to satisfying basic human needs.

Despite the huge sums of money spent through federal programs citizens continue lacking adequate information to meet their needs. Research has only begun to tap the surface of the problem. As an example information seeking is now recognized as multi dimensional and can only be fully understood through our knowledge of such fields as behavioral sciences, economics and political science. The knowledge we have about information seeking as a human social strategy is primarily based on two research traditions from communication and information studies: (1) information diffusion and (2) information needs.

The author is Dean, Graduate School of Library Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2550 The Mall, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822.

INFORMATION DIFFUSION

Earlier studies in information diffusion suggested that information often flows from the mass media to individuals who were identified as opinion leaders and from these to less active sections in the population. Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, Elihu Katz and Everett Rogers were among the leaders in the late 1940’s and 1950’s who pioneered in tracing the patterns of information diffusion. The results of their research proved the basis for the “two-step flow” theory of communication. These studies found that people are strongly influenced by “other” types of individuals and in many cases more so than by mass media. The hypothesis holds that communication from the mass media to the general public is mediated by opinion leaders. Prior to the “two-step flow” hypotheses of information diffusion it was felt that users of print and broadcast media were a mass of disconnected individuals who were linked in some way to the media. The two-step flow theory when offered was a unique approach to understanding more about the dynamics of interpersonal communication information flow and the use of mass media. Although the theory is controversial among some communication experts, it still is one widely accepted approach to information flow. Despite the pervasiveness of the broadcast media, especially television, most individuals use interpersonal communication channels causing people to be strong intervening variables in information transfer. Another key variable in the diffusion process is the opinion leader.

Contrary to what many people think opinion leaders need not occupy positions of leadership i.e., political office holder, teacher, preacher nor any type of elite. In fact, their chief characteristics might well be that they have no specific demographic characteristics such as race, age, sex, occupation or income. They can be everyday people we have all known in school, organizations or on the job. Opinion leaders as information carriers are simply people who consciously or unconsciously influence the opinions and attitudes of others by serving as information sources. They are likely to be heavy library users but also are likely to get their information through a variety of media and channels—broadcast, print and person to person.

INFORMATION NEEDS

The ability of librarians to fully understand information seeking behavior requires comprehension of the nature of information needs. In general, studies of information needs have often been related to library user studies. User studies were primarily for planning information services for libraries and most frequently focused on people who were already using the library and belonged to mostly professional or scientific groups. Further, research focus on the information needs of professionals and scientific researchers managed to persist to the neglect of the informationally deprived. Perhaps the lag in pursuing information needs of the general population stemmed from the fact that social and behavioral scientists have only recently come to the stage where they can now define the social and psychological attributes of individuals. Public libraries in particular have made exceptional gains in the area of designing information delivery systems. Community analysis of needs has been the most common method of analysis. Such demographic facts as age, ethnicity, income and education are still considered valid factors in planning information systems.

Population characteristics revealed in recent U.S. census data show that people live longer.¹ Men will live an average of age of 70 and women 75.5 years. This life expectancy is expected to increase in the coming decade. The psychological plus the physiological realities of aging need to be understood by planners. The elderly have basic information needs in the areas of housing, retirement, health care and social service benefits.

Racial, ethnic and cultural variables are still real considerations in planning information services. As an example, Spanish-speakers have become the largest linguistic minority and are one of the fastest growing population groups. A special task force appointed by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science indicated racial minorities are still being underserved by many information agencies.

In the case of rural populations it is expected that the tax base will continue to be eroded by the drop in farm prices. There is a continuing rural to urban shift in population in some parts of the country. In other rural areas the median age falls in the mid-twenties. Agencies serving rural areas will have to be alert to finding out continuing information needs of a changing rural population.

DERVIN’S FINDINGS

Dervin’s research² assesses information needs of potential clientele by examining individuals in the context of their own lives. Described as sense-making, this research approach looks at individual information needs outside of systems of information. The focus is on problems rather than questions. Other more traditional approaches to information needs look at individuals in terms of a system e.g., library or information center. The traditional approach is content driven and is based on need related to subject. Dervin’s sense-making approach to studying information needs asks people “What kinds of situations were you in which required your attention?” “What kinds of questions did you have in these situations?” and “What kind of help did you hope to get from answers to your questions?” This approach draws out the implications for information service. Traditional needs studies ask “When was the last time you visited a public library?” “What is your source for job information?” “Did you find what you wanted at the library?” McMullin and Taylor give a word of caution that sense-making is not sufficiently understood at present to be used in designing information systems. “Rather it depends on that large class of interpreters endemic in the information society called consultants, counselors, instructors, etc.”³

Some of the implications from Dervin’s work are as follows:

1. Librarians need to put more emphasis on the human dimensions of information use. Providing access means more than making information available. It requires that information have ‘useability.’ Application for libraries would include finding ways to select and organize resources which are determined relevant by users, especially “for making connections to their own lives.” This also has implications for the reference interview. Clients should be encouraged to fully relate “in their own terms” the kinds of help they are seeking. Catalogers and collection developers might have to include in the organization of resources some of these more personal descriptions and categorizations of needs.

2. The information poor and the information rich differ in their life situations and the types of sense-making they do. A practical realization in psychological terms is that the poor and alienated and the not so poor have different ways and schemes of making sense of their worlds.

There is still a great need for crisis lines and I & R services planned to meet basic human needs. Many of these services are no longer being provided by public libraries since the cutting of federal funds for library programs.

The interpersonal communication links that many individuals depend on for information should be fully utilized. As a tradition interpersonal links are strong among many groups. Utilizing the total communication environment of individuals (e.g., community networks, popular media) might be helpful.

3. Wherein demographic variables are important as noted above there is growing evidence that information and library systems should place less emphasis on demographic variables in planning and organizing services. In Dervin’s work the demographic characteristics relate only to aspects of information seeking and use constrained by the same life conditions that demography indexes. On the other hand the sense-making approach shows that demography will not predict the subtle cognitive, internal types of sense-making. “Yet, library and information systems rely heavily on a variety of different demographic analysis of their communities. Clearly, these approaches have utility in some frames of reference.” However, Dervin’s work points to an important linkage between the individual’s situation and the use that will be made of any information obtained. The sense-making approach shows that demographic variables alone will not predict the subtle cognitive, internal types of need fulfillment.

4. Information needs change constantly and libraries should design information services that are responsive to current needs assessments. Occasional needs assessment will not do, it is an activity that should be an ongoing, normal library activity. A library reference department or information system might make a weekly random sample of potential clientele a regular staff routine.

An important area needing more research is on the nature and dimensions of information McMullin and Taylor have identified traits which can be seen as intrinsic to information. They maintain that some traits exist on a continuum and others appear to be “dichotomous and naturally exclusive.” These traits refer to such characteristics such as the following dichotomies: design/structure, assumptions explicit/not explicit, etc.⁴

Formulating a theory of information-seeking is still in process. It will be up to information specialists to use what is known and apply it to the creation of more efficient information delivery systems. Already it is suspected that future information systems for the general population will not be centered in isolated and traditional library systems. Is it possible there will be a new type of information providing system, separate from libraries? As an example, most information and referral systems today have evolved outside of libraries. Reference librarians must continue to establish linkages with other agencies mandated to provide information. Planners of information delivery systems will need to integrate client centered services into the total information environment which embraces all electronic and print media; government and social agencies; family; friends and community. Everybody needs information.

REFERENCES

1. Facigno, Kathleen and Polly Guynup. “U.S. Population Characteristics: Implications for Libraries.” Wilson Library Bulletin, 59, 1, pp. 25–26.

2. Dervin, Brenda. “Information Sense-Making” Unpublished 1976.

3. McMullin, Susan and Robert S. Taylor. “Problem Dimensio...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Overview
• Who Will Work the Public Service Desks?
• Administration, Evaluation, and Staff Training
• Preparation for the Job, Recruitment, Continuing Education and Other Concerns