Beyond Reference
April 24th, 2006I rarely give a presentation these days without mentioning that, IMO, the reference question does not end when the user walks out the door or closes their IM window. The reference question ends when the user hands in their research project or has completed the work. Follow-up is very important to reference work.
The other day, I received an e-mail from a librarian who attended one of my presentations. I have her permission to post this:
“Last month a partner asked me for info about and links to the Air Force FOIA Today, the BeSpacific RSS feed pushed an article from the National Security Agency with respect to the AF’s possibly breaking the law. I sent the story’s link to the partner with the note: Based on your previous research request, I thought you might be interested in this article. He forwarded it to my boss, her boss and several other interested parties with thanks for my work “above and beyond the call.” As a regular columnist for our local AALL chapter’s quarterly newsletter, I’ve decided to devote the next installment to RSS feeds.”
What a wonderful anectode.