Core Reference Fundamentals

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January 28 - March 10, 2025 | Six-week course

Time commitment: 2.5 hours per week
 

In this course, you will:

• Become familiar with various communication and other reference service methods for working with people from cultures other than your own, people with disabilities, seniors, and children.
• Learn to evaluate the resources you use for accuracy, timeliness, and utility.
• Learn how to apply the code of professional library ethics in your work.
• Learn how libraries arrange materials to make them easier to locate, how to translate that organization into how you conduct remote reference guidance, and how most library catalogs can support your reference service delivery.
• Learn work practices introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic that can support service even now.
• Learn about indexes and how they can be helpful in locating otherwise-hidden information, as well as how a basic understanding of indexing can help you solve search problems you may encounter while doing online reference work.

There will also be time devoted to the effective and efficient use of such general reference works as encyclopedias and directories, as well as how to use the web as an effective ready reference tool.

Course Description: This six-module online course provides an overview of the basic tools and guidelines of reference work. Through readings, assignments, and discussions you will become familiar with techniques for eliciting library users' information needs.

Course Outline: When you log in to the Infopeople online learning site, you will see weekly modules with these topics:

• Week 1: The Reference Interview
• Week 2: Equitable Treatment and Access for All
• Week 3: Locating It in the Library
• Week 4: Indexes and Indexing: Understanding Print and Online Resources
• Week 5: Evaluating Your Information: Which Information Is the Best?
• Week 6: Government Resources, Niche Information Needs, and Nontraditional Resources

Time Required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 3 hours per week, for a total of 18 course hours. Each week's module contains readings and various options for assignments, discussions, or online meetings. You can choose the options most relevant to your work and interests. Although you can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night, it is recommended that you complete each week's work within that week to stay in sync with other learners.

Who Should Take This Course: Any library staff or supporters who are relatively new to working in and for libraries. This course is particularly valuable for library support staff who want to gain a foundational understanding of public libraries.

Presenter:

Francisca Goldsmith has worked as an Infopeople instructor since 2000. She has served as Branch Services Director of Halifax Public Libraries (Nova Scotia) and Library Services Manager at Berkeley Public Library (CA). She has managed branch services for a regional library system with urban, suburban and rural areas, served as the collection management librarian and head of teen services, and provided reference services in both academic and public libraries. Working with school and public library staff, she has provided training to support up-to-date reference assistance and to design local weeding projects. Francisca has taught a wide variety of Infopeople courses and statewide and national Teen Services development work, multi-format advisory work in public and school libraries, and strategic planning and curriculum development for staff undertaking the community-led public library service process. She writes for a range of professional journals in the U.S. and Canada. In 2015, ABC-Clio published her fourth book, Crash Course in Weeding Library Collections

This webinar is presented by Infopeople.