Reinventing reference

CHICAGO — Uniquely positioned to connect library users to the information they seek, and thus to the wider world, library staff serving on the front lines of reference have both the power and responsibility, in turn, to position the library as an institution that remains relevant and responsive.  “Reinventing Reference: How Libraries Deliver Value in the Age of Google,” published by ALA Editions, takes a critical look at the overarching trends that affect current library policy and practice regarding the process of delivering information services and how factors such as public policy, economics and popular culture will continue to affect those trends in the future. Editors Katie Elson Anderson and Vibiana Bowman Cvetkovic, alongside library leaders and visionaries from across the spectrum of institutions, address such topics as:

• the history of reference librarianship and how it relates to the current landscape;
• privacy, censorship and reference ethics;
• the effects of the “born digital” library user on the purpose and function of reference;
• strategic challenges for reference in the coming decade;
• a reference forecast for 2025.

Anderson and Cvetkovic previously co-edited “Stop Plagiarism: A Guide to Understanding and Prevention.” Anderson is a reference and instruction librarian at the Paul Robeson Library, Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey. Other publications include chapters in “Teaching Generation M: A Handbook for Librarians and Educators,” “Sage’s 21st Century Anthropology: A Reference Handbook,” and “Portrayals of Children in Popular Culture, A Handbook.” Cvetkovic is reference librarian and web administrator at the Paul Robeson Library, Rutgers University. Her other books include “Scholarly Resources for Children and Childhood Studies: A Research Guide and Annotated Bibliography,” and she has also published in various journals and library and information science publications. In 2005 she was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker.

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