Ohio Reference
Excellence
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Library Policies
Ethics and library policies
Know the policies of the library for doing reference work.
Does your library have a reference policy? Does it address
professional ethics? Carefully examine the policies and procedures in your library (or
ask) to learn specifics about professional ethics in providing reference service to your
patrons.
All libraries offering reference service should have a
statement of objectives, a description of the types and levels of services offered, and
guidelines to help personnel who provide this service. The reference service policy must
also support the library's mission statement and overall goals.
What is the purpose of a reference policy?
The main reason for reference policies is to establish
guidelines for providing the best possible service to all our patrons. Policies do the
following:
- Establish standards of service.
- Assist in training new staff members.
- Establish levels of service to users, including limits of service.
- Establish priorities of service.
- Describe practical procedures that answer practical questions.
[Janet Easley. Reference Services Review 13, Summer, 1985: pp. 79-82]
What is included in a reference policy?
- Statement of library's mission
- Mission of reference department
- Purpose of reference guidelines
- Reference staff
- Library users
- General guidelines for desk service
- Specific desk service guidelines
- Specific question guidelines
- Online searching
- Loan of reference materials
[Deborah Grodinsky, in Illinois Libraries 73, November 1991, p. 513-14, suggests this
basic outline.]
What is included in a virtual reference policy?
- Eligibility. How will you respond to people who live outside your jurisdiction?
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Confidentiality. How long and for what purpose will you save transcripts of completed transactions? What will we do to ensure that the FAQ file will be rephrased enough so that it cannot be attributable to the person who asked the question?
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Use of licensed databases to answer questions. What is the policy for answering questions from a database the library subscribes to? What is the policy about emailing or faxing an answer from a licensed database?
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How will you identify yourself to the client? Will you use your full name? The name of your library?
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Delivery of material to the client. Will you fax or mail pages from a journal? Will you send books or other formats via the US Mail?
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Average length of transaction. How long, on average, will you spend on a transaction?
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Client satisfaction. What service behaviors will ensure client satisfaction? How will the client register a complaint?
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Inappropriate client behavior. What constitutes inappropriate behavior or objectionable language?
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Questionable questions. What categories of questions will your library reject (homework, illegal material, out of the scope of the library's collection)?
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Limit of transactions per client. What is the maximum number of questions a person can ask within a specified time period?
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Follow-up. Under what circumstances will you offer to follow up after a transaction has ended? Under what circumstances will you suggest clients contact the service for additional information?
[Lipow, Anne Grodzins, The Virtual Reference Librarian's Handbook, Neal-Schuman, c2003, pp77-89, in Minnesota Opportunities for Reference Excellence.]
Major Point: All libraries offering reference service should have a statement of
objectives, a description of the types and levels of services offered, and guidelines to
help personnel who provide this service.
Review your library's policy for reference service. In the policy (or elsewhere), does
your library indicate support for these guidelines:
- Code of Ethics
- Library Bill of Rights
- Free Access to Libraries by Minors
- Serving All People Equally, Being Objective & Treating All Questions Equally
- Privacy and Confidentiality of Library Records
- Freedom to Read
Answers
Library Bill of Rights
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Know what the policies are for providing reference service in your
library.
Kinsman Free Public Library
Putnam County District Library
Guidelines
for Implementing and Maintaining Virtual Reference Services, Section 3.2 Parameters of Service:
1. The level of service to be provided should be defined and announced, so that staff and patrons will understand the mission of the service. Level of service includes the types of questions the service will answer (perhaps easier to define in the negative), as well as the patron population the service will serve.
2. Guidelines should be established for determining which queries fall outside the parameters of service, and how to respond in those cases.
3. Before the service begins, it should be decided if document delivery will be included and whether patrons will be charged for document delivery.
4. Parameters of time should be determined and announced to both patrons and staff. For synchronous virtual reference, the times at which the service is staffed should be indicated. For asynchronous virtual reference, guidelines for how frequently queries will be checked, or how soon an initial response can be expected, should be given.
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