Library Services Student Assistant Guide

Don't forget, all questions must be logged in Gimlet!

If a patron would like to speak with the on-call librarian, or you feel a particular question you received should be referred to the on-call librarian, please follow the below steps.

• Determine if there is a librarian on-call
  • The weekly schedule can be found by looking at the on-call reference calendar
    • During the fall and spring semester, librarians are usually on call:
      • Monday - Thursday: 9 am - 8 pm
      • Friday: 9 am - 3 pm
      • Saturday: No librarians on-call
      • Sunday: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
• If there's a librarian on-call
  • The librarian will either be in the on-call office, located directly behind the library services desk, or available through the on-call librarian iPad
• If there's not a librarian on call
  • Pull up the library's Ask Us page 
  • Talk the student through the various Ask Us options, including the Ask Us by Chat service which is available 24/7

There is not a set list of questions that student assistants can answer and ones that should be referred to a supervisor or librarian. Whether or not a question should be answered by a student or referred to a supervisor/librarian depends a lot on the question being asked and the level of expertise of the library student assistant.

Listed below are examples of questions broken down into 4 main question types.

1) Directional: 

These questions typically do not require use of any additional resources. A general knowledge of where things are and how things are done is generally all that is needed.

• Examples:
  • How late are you open on Friday?
  • Where is the Admissions Office?
  • Does the library have iPads? Can students borrow them?
  • How long can I have movies out for?

2) Short answer reference:

Single fact or short answer is answered quickly by consulting one or two standard reference tools such as the catalog, library website, and even Google. Often, these questions will begin with who, what, where, or when. 

• Examples:
  • Who is the librarian for nursing?
  • What is a good database to use for biology research?
  • Where is the occupational therapy program located?
  • When are my books due?

3) Instructional reference:

Providing the answer involves demonstrating a skill. These questions usually begin with how. 

• Examples:
  • How do I reserve a study room?
  • How do I use the scanner?
  • How do I find the full text of a journal article?
  • How do I find DVDs in your catalog?

4) Consultation reference:

These questions involve looking for more information than a single fact. These questions are often a variation of "What are the best sources of information for my needs?" and generally require...

• Searching multiple sources for the answer. A search strategy needs to be formulated in order to select appropriate resources to answer the question.
• Presenting a range of information. The patron will need to be provided with a variety of resources – books, citations to articles, web sites, and reference tools. 
• Examples:
  • I am writing a paper on hummingbirds. What information do you have?
  • Do you have anything on the history of atomic energy?
  • I need to find primary sources for my history paper. Where do I go to find those?

Question types 1 - 2 can generally be answered by the student assistant.

Question type 3, depending on the question and the expertise of the student, may be answered by the student assistant or may be referred to the librarian.

Question type 4 should be referred directly to a librarian.

Questions, at the beginning, may seem like they are a level 2 but could easily become a level 4. They may ask a question like... "What is a good database to use for education related topics?" They might simply be looking for a list of good database to search through, or they might need in depth help in not only finding suitable database, but also coming up with search terms and evaluating sources. The latter would be something that a librarian would definitely need to help with, while in the first scenario, a student would likely be able to assist. This is determined by asking the patron what they are looking to find and once you've provided them with the information, asking if there is more that they need.

Please note that students are EXPECTED to refer questions that they are unfamiliar with or are not positive about the answer to the librarian, or even a supervisor if a librarian is not available. This should not be seen as a bad thing but is encouraged. Don't feel like you are passing off the patron or providing bad service. By referring the patron to someone who is better suited to answer their question you are providing them with good service. For example, if a patron asks how to cite a online journal article in accordance with APA but you are not familiar with that citation style and either accidentally provide them with incorrect information or spend a long time looking up the information for them, that would not be good service to the patron. We don't want to provide patrons with incorrect or partial information.