Student workers are a well-established component of academic library operations. Recently, their traditional role has expanded to include responsibilities that were previously assigned to librarians, including in-person and virtual reference support. This trend has raised concerns about service quality and highlighted the importance of adequate…

Estimates show that 50 to 80 percent of questions answered by reference librarians are directional or informational. If librarians are performing tasks below their intellectual abilities, issues that could be affected include faculty status, employee morale, library cost effectiveness, and education for reference work. (Author/JAB)

A description of reference service is presented along with a brief discussion of library education, citing the programs of the Interamerican Library School. Suggestions for evaluating reference service in Latin American Libraries are included. (Author/JAB)

The importance of paraprofessional personnel in a university library is discussed. (PF)

The separate undergraduate library was originated to provide students with the same quality of library services as are available in a good liberal arts college library. This paper deals with how reference librarians have used this opportunity to provide reference services for the undergraduate student. The major emphasis is on case studies of…

Describes a course at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh which includes preparation of library pathfinders, i.e., printed guides to assist users in systematically searching specific subject areas. Undergraduate students in this course are required to prepare pathfinders for library use. Two references are listed. (RAA)

A questionnaire survey was conducted to determine the use and training of nonprofessional personnel (including student assistants) in academic libraries with student enrollments of 500 - 6000. (Author)

A series of three papers on the Harvard University Archives is presented. The first paper gives the history of the Archives and describes the collections. The second paper deals with the accessioning and preservation of records. The third paper describes the reference service. In each paper the particular description of the Harvard University…

Describes a program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in which library school students in the introduction to reference course participate in a required practicum at the research library information desk. Although a survey of other accredited library schools shows no other similar practicum program, 49% of those surveyed expressed interest.…

NASIC (Northeast Academic Science Information Center) was conceived by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and funded by the National Science Foundation to promote the increased and more effective use of machine-readable bibliographic information resources by the academic community of the Northeast. In this first volume of a…

This manual was produced during the 1992-93 Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario school year to be used as a reference guide and a training tool for library support staff assigned to work at the library's information desks. Its purpose is to help ensure a uniform standard of service and to provide practical procedures for information and basic…