Taking Note: Assessing the Performance of Reference Service in Academic Music Libraries, A Progress Report

Keeping the score

“…Academic music libraries support teaching and researching by satisfying the information needs of music students and scholars within the academic community (Christensen et al, 2001;Furie and Dowell, 2002;Hunter, 2006;Morris, 2008;Lupton and Bruce, 2010). Apart from scholarly music material (books, encyclopedias, journals, musical printed pieces available for performance) and grey literature (graduate theses, diploma dissertations, etc.…”

The Detail Behind Web-Scale: Selecting and Configuring Web-Scale Discovery Tools to Meet Music Information Retrieval Needs

“…8 Similarly, a study of music reference service found that, in comparison to general reference, music questions "focus much more heavily on locating specific, known items" and were answered via different means, with music reference employees relying on "their local catalogs, the circulating collection and their own knowledge much more frequently than librarians in general reference situations." 9 This literature review shows that web-scale discovery and faceted searching represent a significant change in the way users can encounter library information. Simultaneously music, particularly printed music and recordings, presents unique information retrieval needs.…”

Calling All Academic Music Library Reference Desks: A Follow‐Up Study

“…4 The second study measured effectiveness in answering reference questions at thirteen music libraries using the Wisconsin-Ohio Reference Evaluation Program (WOREP) survey instrument. 5 That study considered (among other factors) the type of staff member (librarian, paraprofessional, or student) answering the question and found that student employees answering reference questions in music libraries had a consistently negative effect on reference success. The presence or absence of a music library reference desk was not considered as a factor affecting reference performance.…”

“…Hursh did not consider reference success but surveyed American academic music libraries and found that only 22% had a ''distinct, clearly labeled, and regularly staffed [reference] desk separate from the circulation desk. '' 6 Hursh identified six factors related to the presence of reference desks in American academic music libraries: (1) level of degrees offered by the institution, (2) enrollment of music majors at the institution, (3) number of music library staff members, (4) size of the music collection, (5) size of the music library, and (6) philosophy of music library staff members with regard to maintenance of a reference desk. 7 The first five factors all pointed to one conclusion: larger, better staffed music libraries tended to have reference desks, whereas smaller, more thinly staffed music libraries tended not to have reference desks.…”