Ready Reference Collections

Role Reinvention, Structural Defense, or Resigned Surrender: Institutional Approaches to Technological Change and Reference Librarianship

“…The ten libraries we studied encountered similar advances in reference technology that mirrored changes that David Tyckoson [56], Carol Singer [57], and others have documented more broadly. Our informants' earliest memories involved CD-ROM databases installed on dedicated workstations in the 1980s.…”

Not dead yet! A longitudinal study of query type and ready reference accuracy in live chat and IM reference

“…Research into the different types of reference queries extends back to the pre-Web days of traditional in-person and telephone environments (Singer, 2010). Several scholars developed useful question typologies, including Sears (2001) and Katz (1997Katz ( , 2002.…”

Library Space and Technology

“…Librarians and users turn to Google, the other search engines, Wikipedia, and more specialized free resources for quick answers. The more definitive reference sources purchased by libraries for years have almost all gone digital and update their content continuously in a way that was impossible for print resources (Singer 2010). The library no longer needs to purchase the current resource and then later on purchase an expensive cumulation to save users from having to look through multiple volumes of the index.…”