Reference Interview Skills 2004: Looking for Questions in all the Right Places

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Reference Interview Skills 2004 Looking for
Questions in all the Right Places

• Sallie Pine
• pine_at_plsinfo.org
• Infopeople Project
• Spring, 2004

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What We Will Cover

• Opening the interview
• Navigating the question
• closing the interview
• Follow-up
• Special situations to think about
• Coaching a colleague

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What We Won't Cover

• Finding the Answer
• This part of the Reference Interview process is
  not within the scope of this workshop.

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The fact that you know how to find information
means that you're systematically prevented from
thinking about information the way your users
do. - Mary Ellen Bates http//web.utk.edu/wro
binso/531_lec_interview.html
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Why Patrons Don't "Just Ask"

• Need to size you up
• Not sure of what they need
• Not sure of what library has
• Dont want to look stupid
• Privacy issues

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Effectiveness of Reference Service

• Studies show that effectiveness is low whether
  measured by
• accuracy
• helpfulness
• satisfaction
• willingness to return

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Reasons for Low Effectiveness

• Communication failures
• Failed interviewing techniques
• Inadequate search strategies

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Definition of a Reference Interview

• Conversation between a member of the library
  reference staff and a library user for the
  purpose of clarifying the users needs and aiding
  the user in meeting those needs.
• (Bopp Smith, p. 47)

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Parts of a Reference Interview

• Welcoming
• Gathering information with open questions
  (expand)
• Confirming the exact question (contract)
• Giving the Answer
• Following up

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1. Welcoming

• Set an approachable tone by
• smiling
• making eye contact
• greeting the inquirer
• being on the same level

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2. Gathering Information

• Have a relaxed body posture
• Maintain eye contact
• Ask open questions
• Be attentive and encouraging with comments like
  yes, and I see (active listening)

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3. Confirming the Actual Question

• Paraphrase use your words so they know you
  understand
• Clarify as needed
• End with one of these
• Is that what youd like to know?
• "Is there anything more you need to know?
• Is there anything else you can tell me about
  your question?

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4. Giving the Answer

• Give the answer with the same attentive behavior
• Summarize
• the query
• the answer
• Cite the source for the answer

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5. Follow-up

• Request feedback and evaluation with questions
  such as
• Does this (completely) answer your question?
• Is this all the information that you need today?
• Is this what you need?
• Is this enough material to get you started?

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Open-Ended Questions

• Open-ended questions cannot be answered by yes or
  no.
• Open-ended questions begin with "who," "what,"
  "why," "where," and "when."

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Closed vs Open Questions

• Closed Questions
• Do you want paintings or a biography?
• Are you interested in travel books or the history
  of Alaska?
• Do you want books or magazine (journal) articles?

• Open Questions
• Can you tell me more about what you're looking
  for?
• What kind of information on Alaska are you
  looking for?
• Can you describe the kind of information you
  would like to find?

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Neutral Questioning Getting the Patron to Open Up

• Neutral Questioning is a type of open-ended
  questioning that can be used to gather more
  information when the patron cant describe what
  they need.
• Its used when your usual repertoire of open
  questions doesnt provide enough direction

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Three Ways to Use Neutral Questioning

• Assumes info need has 3 basic elements
• Situation from which the info need arose
• Gap in knowledge or what is missing in their
  understanding of the situation
• Uses to which they want to put the info, or how
  they expect the info to help them

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1 - Assess the Situation

• It would help me with our search if you could
  tell me
• What you are working on
• How this information need arose
• What you are trying to do in this situation
• What happened that got you stopped

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2 - Assess the Gaps

• What would you like to know about X?
• What do you need to know about X?
• What are you trying to understand?

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3 - Assess the Uses

• How are you planning to use this information?
• If you could have exactly the help you wanted,
  what would it be?
• How will this help you? What will it help you to
  do?
• I think I can help you faster, and certainly
  better, if...

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Dont Say NO
Never close with "Sorry we don't
have." instead Say "What I can do for you is."
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Referrals

• When you cannot answer the query from your
  collection's resources
• If possible, refer to a source you have checked
  first to make sure it can answer the information
  need
• headquarters library
• CA second-level reference centers
• other agency or library

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The Reference Setting

• The Reference Desk should be
• clearly visible from the library entrance
• clearly marked
• informal and unimposing
• Reference staff should not look busy with desk
  paper work

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When It Isnt in Person

• Differences when doing telephone,
• e-mail and virtual reference
• Loss of visual (body language) aural cues
• Expectation of speed

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The Digital Environment Using Electronic
Resources

• Assess patron's skills
• Inform about resources
• Teach how to use them

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Assess

• Assess patron's skills
• readiness to use electronic sources
• ability to use catalog
• ability to use a computer

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Inform

• Let patrons know
• the Internet and the web can't do everything
• there are good alternatives in print sources
• need to evaluate web resources

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Teach!

• Integrate instruction with interview
• choosing and using sources
• Boolean operators
• web interfaces
• printing options

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Peer Coaching

• Definition
• Why do it?
• Practice making it work

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Definition of Peer Coaching

• Peer coaching is a confidential process through
  which two or more professional colleagues work
  together to reflect on current practices expand,
  refine, and build new skills share ideas teach
  one another conduct classroom research or solve
  problems in the workplace.
• Slater, C. L. and Simmons, D. L., "The design and
  implementation of a Peer Coaching program."
  American Secondary Education, v. 29, n. 3 Spring
  2001, 67-76

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Peer Coaching Why Do It?

• Practice makes perfect!
• Transfer classroom skills to the workplace
• Its easier to overcome obstacles and create ways
  of coping if you have a partner

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Coaching Tools

• Coaching Checklist
• Model Reference Behaviors Checklist

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Wrap-Up The Successful Interview Process

• 1) Be approachable and use active listening
  skills
• 2) Repeat and verify the question to be sure it
  is properly understood
• 3) Ask open-ended questions to get the patron to
  reveal the context in which the question is being
  asked (which also clarifies the request, and can
  disclose the "real" question, which is often
  quite different from the original query)
• 4) Provide the answer in a format which best
  serves the patron
• 5) Ask a follow-up question such as "Does that
  completely answer your question?"