Reference Assessment Manual - Softcover

Reference assessment is done-formally or informally, consciously or unconsciously-but it is done. Usually patron feedback, in the form of compliments or complaints, and librarian burnout are the principal measures of success and failure. The present volume attempts to organize the resources requisite to undertaking a formal assessment of reference services. Offering brief, basic essays, providing an extensive annotated bibliography, and reviewing instruments of evaluation, this manual is a step toward improving a most crucial aspect of library service. Among notorious studies of reference effectiveness, a dismal "55% response accuracy" seems not unusual. If libraries are to compete and survive in this new Information Age, reference service, perhaps their most visible feature, must improve. This book may help. For all professional collections.
Barry Chad, Carnegie Lib. of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.