Alienation, acceptance, or ambiguity?: A qualitative assessment of library staff and faculty perceptions of reference service change.

Mara H Sansolo, Kaya van Beynen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This study focuses on the perspectives of library staff at a medium-sized academic library who directly participated in the restructuring of reference and information services from a “just-in-case” reference model (defined as librarians sitting at a traditional reference desk waiting for questions) to a “just-in-time” model (librarians only called upon to answer in-depth research questions on an as-needed basis), with the additional creation of an IT help desk. Solicited through a qualitative assessment one year after the implementation of the new service structure, library staff reaction could only be described as ambivalent and evolving.

Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationAlienation, acceptance, or ambiguity?: A qualitative assessment of library staff and faculty perceptions of reference service change.
StatePublished - Jan 1 2014

Keywords

  • Reference services, Staffing, Service models, Academic libraries, Change management

Disciplines

  • Library and Information Science

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