Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Teaching Reference Today: New Directions, Novel Approaches

Reference and Information Services, if it may still be referred to by this term, is an evolving outreach service in libraries. This is not only due to Google and the Internet, but also other technological advances afford users online access to a plethora of content, free and proprietary. This evolution has also caused a shift in the theories and practices (especially, core functions and values) of reference and information services as library schools seek greater alignment with practitioners and libraries on the forefront of these changes. As academics and practitioners work together to educate library students on the kinds of changes happening in reference and information services, they are rethinking their curriculum and assignments to incorporate real-world challenges adaptive to user needs. Likewise, libraries may work through their regional library consortia to plan professional development workshops or training sessions to teach new skills and methods of approach required for such changing services. Here's a tool for library school instructors, library students, professional development instructors, and current librarians poised to change, which specifically addresses the pedagogy of reference and information services in flux. It will help answer questions such as: ·How may we better educate a new and current generation of reference and information service professionals, given the challenges they will likely encounter? ·What kinds of assignments could be devised to better promote active learning in a transformative field like reference and information services? ·What new approaches or theories could be applied to assist library professionals in meeting the informational needs of users? Review Teaching Reference Today aims to educate those who are teaching tomorrow's reference professionals about what their students will need to know to be successful in a rapidly changing environment.... Footnotes and a bibliography are included at the end of each chapter, and a comprehensive index is provided at the end of the volume. Teaching Reference Today is an excellent tool both for those who are teaching others about providing reference services and those learning about the topic. It discusses the pedagogy of teaching reference and information services and provides answers to difficult questions that will continue to occur in a quickly changing information environment. It is recommended for any college which has a library school and for students interested in the library profession.--American Reference Books Annual Teaching Reference Today is a fine effort to contextualize reference service with contemporary understandings of intellectual endeavor, cognitive processes, philosophical concepts, and practical attributes of teaching, learning, information provision, and user needs. Each chapter in this collection grounds its theme in research and practitioner literature, professional practice and standards, and case studies. This work is an effective use of multiple voices to create a coherent choir of provocative thinking and useful action.--Randy Hensley, Former Professor and Head of Instruction & Reference, William & Anita Newman Library, Bernard Baruch College, City University of New York About the Author Lisa A. Ellis is an Associate Professor and Information Services Librarian at the William and Anita Newman Library of Baruch College, CUNY. She is library liaison/subject specialist to Marketing and International Business, as well as Fine and Performing Arts departments, primarily performing outreach services in the form of reference, course-related lectures and research consultations. Prof. Ellis co-launched the Newman Library’s Digital Reference Services in 2001 and worked as a contract chat reference librarian for OCLC QuestionPoint from 2004 to 2010 serving academic, public and foreign libraries. She serves as chair of the library department’s curriculum committee and is currently managing their