Guide to Reference Essentials webinar 2.21.13
- 2. Guide to Reference Essentials Webinar Welcome Today we’ll introduce you to Guide to Reference, a foundational tool for librarians, teachers, researchers, students, and other library users. We’ll show you how it can help you in your work.
- 3. Our goal today We’ll show you how to leverage Guide to Reference to support your work in the following areas: » Reference » Collection development » Teaching and training
- 4. Who we are Melissa Wood Marketing & Sales Manager, ALA Digital Reference Dan Kaplan Marketing Manager, ALA Publishing Special Guest Denise Beaubien Bennett General Editor of Guide to Reference
- 5. Preliminaries If you have questions, please submit them through the questions function during the presentation. We’ll collect your questions and answer them during the webinar and during the Q&A at the end. For any technical difficulties, please send a questions to Dan Kaplan.
- 6. Library Journal’s 2012 Best Database Library Journal named Guide to Reference as the Best Database in the Professional Resource Category in 2012. This award was based on votes from librarians, readers of LJ, and reviewers.
- 7. Guide to Reference is ―(1) a reference manual . . . ; (2) a selection aid for the librarian; (3) a textbook for the student who . . . is pursuing a systematic study of reference books.‖ Constance Winchell Preface to the 8th edition, 1967
- 8. The premier evaluative bibliography » Reflects the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of the reference community over many years » Continues to serve as a center for learning about and practicing reference librarianship » Some call it ―the Bible‖ of reference sources
- 9. How does the Guide do it? » It’s selective and broad in coverage » It gives you nearly 17,000 of the best and most authoritative reference sources in 56 disciplines arranged under 6 major subject divisions, with in-depth annotations » It’s kept up-to-date by an Editorial Board and 70+ contributing editors—your colleagues and peers in the reference community » greditor@ala.org
- 10. Traditional strengths » Titles are chosen by reference librarians and subject experts » In-depth evaluative annotations » Broad subject coverage: General Reference Works; Humanities; Social and Behavioral Sciences; History and Area Studies; Science, Technology, and Medicine
- 11. New strengths » Sources include cutting-edge online resources and websites, free and licensed » Powerful and versatile search and browse » Interactive features that let you save and share your work » New interdisciplinary fields: Cognitive Science; Communication/Media Studies; Environmental, Cultural, and Gender Studies
- 12. The advantages of being online » Quickly browse and search in many subject areas » Customize and save your searches » Create lists of resources and share » Add notes/comments to titles and share » Hyperlink among titles inside and outside the Guide » Connect to local holdings via WorldCat
- 13. Reference » Direct library users to best and most authoritative sources for answers » Train and orient new reference staff and students/paraprofessional staff » Create subject bibliographies, finding aids, and instructional materials
- 14. Reference: Current Challenges » Reference questions are fewer but ―harder‖ » More questions require subject or content knowledge » Too much dependence on Google and other search engines
- 15. Reference: How the Guide can help » Find best sources quickly by drilling down into taxonomy and by refining searches » Use Editor’s Guides for orientation » Use annotations for guidance » Create lists of resources for bibliographies and finding aids » Save your best searches for regular use
- 16. Collection development » Evaluate your collection: » What’s missing » What needs to be updated » What should be retired » Build collections for new programs and for special libraries (law, medicine, corporate)
- 17. Collection Development Current Challenges » Making do with less: Budget cuts » Print vs. online sources » Buying for library staff vs. library users » Small collection development staff; limited staff time
- 18. Collection Development How the Guide can help » Use Editor’s Guides to understand shape and direction of reference literature » Use annotations to compare resources » Create lists of titles for possible purchase and share with colleagues » Add notes/comments to titles that should be updated or retired » Customize and save searches to run at regular intervals
- 19. Teaching and Training » Introduce next generation of reference librarians to reference sources and reference practices » Differentiate among types of reference sources and their value and use » Communicate nature of information- seeking and reference process
- 20. Teaching and Training Current Challenges » Value of bibliographies and traditional reference works in an online world » Difference between print and online sources » Too much dependence on Google and other search engines
- 21. Teaching and Training How the Guide can help » Orient students to the taxonomy » Ask students to read Editor’s Guides » Ask students to evaluate different resources based on their annotations » Ask students to find best resources for answering questions » Ask students to create subject guides » Create lists of resources for class projects
- 22. Three major points of entry » Home page – take a trial; subscribe; participate and connect » Browse page – see the subject organization of the Guide at a glance » Advanced Search page – construct and manage your searches
- 23. Take advantage of Editor’s Guides » They discuss overall shape of reference literature in different subject areas » They discuss characteristics of the literature outside the scope of annotations » They discuss changes to publishing and research patterns caused by the online revolution » They’re written by the Editorial Board and contributing editors
- 24. If you like your search, save it and run it later
- 25. Wrapping up » Taking a trial » Subscribing » Special offer for LIS programs » We’ll archive this webinar » guidetoreference@ala.org » greditor@ala.org
- 26. Q&A We’re ready to answer your questions
- 27. Guide to Reference Essentials Webinars » Recurring series of webinars every other month » Please tell your colleagues about the webinars » Join us again » We welcome any feedback » Contact us at: guidetoreference@ala.org
Editor's Notes
- #3: It is likely that many of you have already encountered the print GR in your training as a librarian. Certainly the print version served as a cornerstone of reference librarianship and training in the past century and today the online version has only increased the depth of coverage and the power of the classic brand. Today will touch on some of the philosophy that shapes GR and also cover its practical and current applications.
- #4: These are the primary areas where you can really leverage GR in your work.We will also talk about FREE access later for you and your LIS programs later in the webinar
- #6: We will also archive the slides and video of this presentation sometime next week.
- #7: We hope that because of this award voted on by your peers, you’ll want to at the very least take advantage of the free 60 Day trial after this webinar.
- #8: Historically GR is a large, even huge print volume. We feel this quotation is still relevant of the online version, and that the mission of GR has always remained that same.
- #9: Denise tell a story about how Guide to Reference came in handy for you or one of the other editors?
- #10: New volunteers welcome.Email us at greditor@ala.org if you’d like to be involved?Denise- http://www.guidetoreference.org/DynamicContent.aspx?ctype=13
- #11: Editors put a lot of work into the annotations and this provides the value of really helping you make decisions about titles.Very complete Taxomony that outlines human knowledge.
- #12: Copy editors have commented on the extensive coverage of online resources, and we think this shows how smart and savvy reference librarians are.IP authentication for your campus - save searches by logging in though both locally and globally
- #14: Three of our goals at GR are to help three major areas, Reference, Collection Development and Teaching & training. First up is Reference
- #15: We’ve talked to a lot of reference librarians and these challenges came up quite a bit. We believe that GR addresses these issues
- #16: EG give you an overview of ref lit and publishing practices in a subject area.
- #17: Our second goal at Guide to Reference is helping with Collection Development. We’ve worked quite a bit with folks who are starting a new program and needed to build up that section of the library. Or starting a new specialized library.
- #18: Tight budgets prohibit buying for staff use.
- #19: And of course, it’s constantly being updated.
- #20: We offer long term complimentary access to LIS classes.
- #23: Now, let’s take a look at the guide. Browse page particularly useful for LIS instructors introducing their students to reference work.
- #28: We’ll be holding this webinar again in two months so please feel free to join us again and don’t forget to invite your colleagues, too.When this webinar is over you’ll will be given a short survey to fill out. Let us know what you think about this webinar—your feedback is important to us.