Inform, Expand, and Focus: Using the Concept of Pre-Research in Information Literacy Instruction

In the latest webinar of our #ReferenceStrategy series, Mission Bell Media founder and CEO Rolf Janke gave an insider’s view of how decisions are made in the reference publishing world, and what’s needed for the industry to thrive. Rolf noted that too much time has been spent going back and forth with discussions of format, when what reference really needs right now is a commitment to producing quality, authoritative content.

Much has been written, discussed, debated, and argued about the future of reference in the hallowed halls of many a publisher and library. This session will focus on whether we should move away from the “formats” discussion and bring creating quality content back to the forefront. Our featured speaker will be Mission Bell Media CEO, Rolf Janke.

Our #ReferenceStrategy webinar series is off and running! Jodie Morin, library director at Buena Vista University shared with us The Four (or Five?) B’s: Preparing for the Research Process. Spoiler alert: there are five B’s, but whether the fifth B stands for Best, Bounty, Boffo, or something else entirely, is up to you!

The world of reference is changing. Does your library have a strategy toadapt and innovate? In August we looked at how reference has and hasn't changed in the last 140 years. Over the next several weeks we’ll look at what reference strategy means to different libraries and reference publishers, and what tactics they’re employing to adapt to reference in the 21st century.

Recently we dusted off a Library Journal article from 1876 in which  Samuel Green speaks to the “Personal Relations Between Librarians and Readers.”* In a series of vignettes about the reference needs of patrons inspired by his time with the Worcester Free Public Library, Green describes scenes that parallel the needs of users today. 140 years later, everything about libraries has changed, except for the many things that are exactly the same.

To borrow a sentiment from Twain, reports of the death of reference have been greatly exaggerated. Just because students now have unprecedented access to information through their phones, tablets and computers, that doesn’t mean they aren’t still doing research or using reference. But it does mean that if we want them to do good research, reference may have to adapt to new trends and technologies. So, what does 21st Century Reference look like?