[Libs-Or] does Oregon need reference librarians? (Caleb Tucker-Raymond)

[Kirsten Brodbeck-Kenney]

We recently hired a new librarian here at Driftwood, and while there were many different ways this librarian could have been described (s/he was going to need to wear a lot of hats), I eventually went with "Reference Librarian."
 
Why?
 
Well, I needed a librarian who could make him/herself available to the public at a central point, whose main duties would be reader's advisory, ready reference, and longer questions that staff at the front desk were not able to field. Web searches, genealogy questions, technology questions... To me, that was the job description of a Reference Librarian. Of course, this librarian is also doing programming, collection development, and a certain amount of cataloging... but reference work of one kind or another comprises more than half of the position's duties. This makes me feel a little concerned about the elimination of reference as a standalone course, since I think so much of what we do as librarians on a daily basis still falls into that category.
 
 
 
 
Kirsten Brodbeck-Kenney
Library Director
Driftwood Public Library
801 SW Hwy 101, #201
Lincoln City, OR 97367
541-996-1251 (desk)
541-921-5620 (cell)
541-996-1262 (fax)
www.driftwoodlib.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/libs-or/attachments/20121007/b3b13393/attachment.html>