Neuroscience
Carol Tenopir’s March 1 column in Library Journal describes research by Marie Radford Lynn Silipigni Connaway into the social dynamics of chat, particularly in the relationship between librarians & patrons.
“They find that chat reference conversations are full of interpersonal ‘relational facilitators‘ and ‘relational barriers.‘“
Facilitators include “providing information about oneself, offering reassurance, using humor and informal language, and demonstrating interest or approval“, while barriers can include the librarians’ nemesis “negative closure”, such as an abrupt end to the session with a robotic script.
Overall, Tenopir reports that “positive relational facilitators outnumber relational barriers in chat transcripts by a ratio of 9 to 1 for librarians and about 3.5 to 1 for patrons. When informal, nonverbal, unscripted, positive interactions are initiated by the librarian, chances for a positive interaction and positive response from the patron increase.“
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My thoughts on User Services, or providing services to patrons in an academic library are many ... and I've just discussed them with students in Barbara Moran's Academic Libraries class at UNC's School of Information and Library Science. Notably,...
- Memory And The Reference Librarian
Ah, the intersection of cognitive and information science -- truly a dream for the CogSci Librarian. Today's confluence twins the reference librarian and memory, based on a recent article by Walter Butler in Reference Services Review entitled "Re-establishing...
- Reference Theory & Practice
I'm thrilled to link to my article on The Reference Interview: Theories and Practice, recently published by Library Philosophy and Practice (LPP). They abstract it thusly: The reference librarian's task is to translate the patron's question...
- Real Life Librarian Blogs
These two blogs are great for prospective reference librarians – they tell what reference library work is really like, as opposed to sources and formal reference theory which is what I teach at Simmons. Both have graciously allowed me to use their experiences...
Neuroscience
"Hi, Pat, your question is interesting"
Carol Tenopir’s March 1 column in Library Journal describes research by Marie Radford Lynn Silipigni Connaway into the social dynamics of chat, particularly in the relationship between librarians & patrons.
“They find that chat reference conversations are full of interpersonal ‘relational facilitators‘ and ‘relational barriers.‘“
Facilitators include “providing information about oneself, offering reassurance, using humor and informal language, and demonstrating interest or approval“, while barriers can include the librarians’ nemesis “negative closure”, such as an abrupt end to the session with a robotic script.
Overall, Tenopir reports that “positive relational facilitators outnumber relational barriers in chat transcripts by a ratio of 9 to 1 for librarians and about 3.5 to 1 for patrons. When informal, nonverbal, unscripted, positive interactions are initiated by the librarian, chances for a positive interaction and positive response from the patron increase.“
- How Librarians Can Help In Real Life, At #scio13, And More
Librarians are so helpful! (Creative Commons image courtesy of Christchurch City Libraries on Flickr) How do librarians help scientists? If you haven't worked with a good librarian, it's hard to know what we can offer and how we...
- "user Services" ... Or Helping People In An Academic Library
My thoughts on User Services, or providing services to patrons in an academic library are many ... and I've just discussed them with students in Barbara Moran's Academic Libraries class at UNC's School of Information and Library Science. Notably,...
- Memory And The Reference Librarian
Ah, the intersection of cognitive and information science -- truly a dream for the CogSci Librarian. Today's confluence twins the reference librarian and memory, based on a recent article by Walter Butler in Reference Services Review entitled "Re-establishing...
- Reference Theory & Practice
I'm thrilled to link to my article on The Reference Interview: Theories and Practice, recently published by Library Philosophy and Practice (LPP). They abstract it thusly: The reference librarian's task is to translate the patron's question...
- Real Life Librarian Blogs
These two blogs are great for prospective reference librarians – they tell what reference library work is really like, as opposed to sources and formal reference theory which is what I teach at Simmons. Both have graciously allowed me to use their experiences...