ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 672 / C & R L N e w s rie s ”) o f pencil sharpeners to be found in various parts o f the library although they all som ehow neglected to adequately describe how to locate the proper place to insert the p e n c il. As cited in slightly m ore detail in my earlier piece on the p e c u liar nature o f m usic librarians, Stephen Fry, o f the M usic L ibrary, concluded that three-part series w ith a longer than usual description o f one gray A psco “ G ia n t” type III-A sharpener there that, in the usual perverse fashion o f m usic librarians, had been installed in such a way that it is especially handy fo r left-handed people w ho w ere invited there ju st for that purpose. A favorite sport of some law librarians, follow ing an exam ple set by one o f the deans o f th eir p ro fes­ sion, is to offer law faculty and, especially, students the opportunity to ask w ritten questions on any m atter that strikes their fancy in a public notebook to w hich the law librarian him self, or h e rse lf as the case m ay be, subsequently responds in w riting for all to read and be en tertained by. In his notebooks R obert B erring, law librarian at the U niversity of C alifornia, Berkeley, w ho started the w hole thing, found tw o item s relating to the im portant question o f pencil sharpeners. O ne student asked w hat those “little bits o f disgusting pencil shavings” th at he finds on desks are and w hy people d o n ’t have the courtesy to clean up a fte r them selves. Zeb, fo r so the respondent styles him self, p o inted out that those are not, in fact, pencil shavings but “ tiny bits o f the ou ter lay e r o f the brain stem ” that “m ost first year law students shed...as a part o f the first year process o f a c cu ltu ra tio n .” T hose chips, w hich are highly toxic and not to be ingested, are collected and sold for reprocessing into m em ory chips for super com puters. A nother user asked Zeb if the fact that the electric pencil sharpeners alw ays break is a plot. Zeb replied that it indeed was a plot that is part o f a long-term clinical psychological study in frustration levels and that, actually, m ost o f those sharpeners never actually w orked at all. E m ily G reenberg, one o f B e rrin g ’s im itators, o f the U niversity o f Baltim ore Law Library, was asked by a student: “Is it possible to have a pencil shar­ pener installed on the fourth flo o r? ” In her rather lengthy answ er M s. G reenberg analyzes the usual b u reaucratic delays involved in the purchase p ro c­ ess— even for som ething as sim ple as a pencil sharpener— and the several difficult problem s faced in the selection o f the ideal location: noise (“that old -fash io n ed non -electrić hand-crank m achine is going to upset som e patro n s”); eyes, ears, and other body parts (“you have to m ount the m achine at a height w here even short p eople can reach it”); and aesthetics (“ it grieves m e to think o f sullying the horizon w ith a little m etal p ro tu b eran ce”). Ms. G reenberg u ltim ately concedes that a pencil sh a r­ pener will eventually be installed on the fourth floor. The m ost intriguing library anecdote involving pen cil sharpeners, w hich com es— alas— from a public library setting, is a b rie f tale recounted by A nita G regory w ho now w orks at the O ccidental C ollege Library. In her earlier life as a public lib rarian M s. G regory once e ncountered a patron w ho cam e to the C irculation D esk and asked for the location o fth e m e n ’s room . “He was inform ed [Ms. G regory w rites] that it w as kept locked, for his safety, and that the key w as m issing. H e blinked, and w ithout m issing a beat, asked, ‘W ell then, do you have a pencil sharpener? ’ ” Conclusion Surely if librarians can keep a straight face when faced w ith such im probable relationships, we can m aster any form o f technology. The h igher form s m ay broaden o ur horizons, expand o u r services, and offer our patrons entry into new form s of know ledge. T he low er form s continue to lim it our capabilities, restrict o ur services, and offer us entry into new form s o f am usem ent. Telephone information service By Edward A. Riedinger S chool o f L ib ra ry a n d In fo rm a tio n S tudies U niversity o f C alifornia, B erkeley The literature on telephone inform ation or ref­ erence service has concen trated on this activity p rim arily as it is conducted in public library set­ tings. Such research has been ap pearing for over h a lf a century. H ow ever, telecom m unication changes now occurring in academ ic libraries, from ju n io r and com m unity colleges to m ajor research u niversities, w ill h eighten the im portance o f tele­ phone inform ation service in them . O nline collectio n catalogs are now com m on- 6 7 4 / C & R L N e w s p lace in libraries. W hat is em erging as an other com m on p ractice is accessing these catalo g s via a m odem from a u s e r ’s personal com puter. A t any tim e o f day (or night) and from virtually any lo c a ­ tion, a scholar can brow se a u niversity catalog and, h a ving a p rin ter, m ake a copy o f the inform ation found. H ow ever, besid es exam ining a c o llectio n c a ta ­ log, the online user can now access o th er in fo rm a ­ tion in a library ’ s database, such as an encyclopedia, perio d ical litera tu re guide, c u rre n t new s index, or o th e r file. As a result, the online user can exam ine a co n sid erab le am ount o f exten siv e referen ce r e ­ sources from an academ ic library (or lib ra ries) in his or her hom e. W ith this inform ation a u se r can p h o n e the lib ra ry ’s in fo rm a tio n /re fe re n c e desk (at an appropriate tim e o f day) and c o n fe r on the m aterial w ith a librarian. C onsequently, the nature o f the academ ic telephone refe re n c e inquiry is changing. It is assum ing m ore o f the ch aracterisitcs o f a traditonal face-to -face in terview since both user and lib rarian have the sam e catalo g and re fe r­ ence resources “ at h a n d .” I f a u se r has tw o phone lines, he or she could be looking at the sam e catalog screen as a librarian. The reso u rces availab le in online d atab ases are b ecom ing m ore extensive. F or exam ple, the online catalog o f the nine-cam pus U niversity o f C alifornia system (M E L V Y L ) in co rp o rates the catalo g s and d atab ases o f the C olo rad o A lliance o f R esearch Libraries (CA R L), which includes an articles index, an e n c y clo p e d ia (the e lectro n ic e q u iv a len t to 20 v o lu m es), and num erous o th er referen ce files. A ccessing these grow ing resources proves great­ est am ong the academ ic com m unity. T his group is one o f the larg est segm ents in the general p o p u la ­ tion m ost likely to have or use personal com puters, m odem s, catalo g s, and d atabases. A cadem ic lib ra ries m ust begin to thin k , th ere ­ fore, in term s o f m ore extended and sophisticated use o f telephone inform ation and refe re n c e se rv ­ ices. F o r the first tim e in the history o f this service, em phasis is beg in n in g to sh ift from public to a c a ­ dem ic libraries. Som e o f the literatu re on this service as conducted in public lib raries can be c onveniently adapted for college and u n iversity libraries. There are already tw o books, recently published, that should prove quite h elpful to this adaptation since they are as com prehensive as they are re le ­ vant. T hese w orks are A L ib r a r ia n s G uide to T e le ­ p h o n e R eference Service (H am den, C onn.: Library Professional Publications, 1986) by R ochelle Y ates and Im p ro v in g Telephone In fo rm a tio n a n d R e fe r ­ ence S ervice in P u b lic L ib ra rie s (H am den, C o n n .: L ib rary P rofessional P u b licatio n s, 1987) by R o se ­ m arie R iechel. T h e fo rm e r is especially h elpful in term s o f train in g , publicity and p rom otion, and ev alu atio n fo r a telephone service. T he latte r is p articularly useful in setting up the resources fo r such a service, including online facilities. T here are som e key areas in w hich academ ic reference services can already begin to plan. One o f these is user policy and how id en tifica tio n w ill be m ade o f those w ho are allow ed to use the telephone service. Online user access codes or I.D .’s m ay have to be developed. Policy concerning users will differ b etw een p riv a te and public un iv ersities. A m ong the latte r there w ill also be d ifferen ces betw een com m unity co lleg es and state institu tio n s. R egarding policy for the areas in which responses w ill be given to inquirers, no do u b t g u idelines concerning this issue will follow the library ’ s collec­ tion policy. T his p robably w ill have been fo rm u ­ lated to follow the teach in g and research fields o f the college or university. H ow long a phone inquiry is allow ed to continue w ill also have to be determ ined. In addition, it will hav e to be d ec id e d the ex ten t to w hich hom ew ork in q u iries w ill be answ ered. P hysical space fo r the service is an o th er key c o n sid eratio n . T h e fu n d am en tal req u irem e n t is efficien t integration o f all resources, lib rarian with refe re n c e reso u rces, and p rin ted reso u rces with those th at are online. It m ust alw ays be rem em ­ b e re d that p h y sical space defin es the telephone service in order to secure n o t only the m aterials necessary for its op eratio n b u t to indicate that there is sp ecially -train ed personnel. P rep aratio n o f s ta ff for phone referen ce w ork m ust balance e fficie n t w ith carefu l response. A salien t c h a ra c te ristic o f the new type o f academ ic telep h o n e referen ce w ork w ill be the fact that both user and lib ra rian are referrin g to and consulting m aterials th at n e ith e r is using in the p resence o f the other. T rain in g , therefo re, m u st e m p h asize not only active listening but also know ledge o f a kind of “ b raille o rie n ta tio n .” The lib rarian w ill n o t “ se e ” how an inq u irer is using m aterials b u t w ill have to “ fe e l” the sense that is being m ade o f them (until v ideophone, o f course). Instru ctio n s to the user r e ­ gard in g ad d itio n al resources fo r clarify in g or fu r­ th er pu rsu in g a q uestion w ill becom e m ore im por­ tant. S tatistics reg ard in g users should include the type o f reso u rces used and th eir im p o rtan ce in the response. T his d escrip tiv e statistical attention is im p o rtan t because it is new reso u rces that are d e term in in g the e xpanding and m ore com plex character o f telephone service. These statistics will, therefore, n o t only p ro file and v erify the ph en o m e­ non but be the basis for identifying reso u rc es to be stren g th en ed in future dev elo p m en t o f it. A cadem ic lib ra ries at all levels are going to find telep h o n e in q u iries b ecom ing m ore com plex due to the den sity o f referen ce con ten t they include. M uch o f th is d ensity w ill be due to online re fe r­ S ep tem b er 1 9 8 9 / 675 ences the user and librarian can access in common. We are currently in a fortuitious position to begin already planning for and thinking o f the innova­ tions necessary for this technological and historical change in academ ic library reference service. ■ ■ Librarians: An element of diversity within the faculty By Diane C. Parker D irector o f Libraries W estern W ashington U niversity One librarians answer to the question, “Why are librarians faculty ?” A t any college or university, librarians tend to be a small percentage o f the faculty, perhaps 3% to 4% of the whole. It is easy for a such a small group to becom e relatively unnoticed and not widely understood. In fact, librarians provide an elem ent o f diversity within the faculty. They are the same as other faculty in fundam ental nature, but differ in the form and scope o f their profes­ sional activity. A. The fundamental similarities 1. Faculty are involved with the life of the mind. They interact with others to share and extend the realm o f know ledge. 2. Faculty are engaged with the subject m atter of the academ y. 3. Faculty are involved with teaching others. 4. The career developm ent o f faculty m em bers is based on increm ental accom plishm ents culm inat­ ing in a high level of professional m aturity and contribution to the furtherance o f knowledge. Their promotion to senior ranks depends on enhanced mastery o f their discipline within a position, rather than changing jo b assignm ents. B. Patterns of engagements Instructors and librarians differ in their patterns of engagem ent with the fundam entals. Some o f the various patterns are described below: 1. W hile instructors focus more on the content of a discipline, librarians focus m ore on the structure of disciplines and how they are organized. 2. Librarians collect and organize m aterials into coherent collections so that instructors and stu­ dents can find specific items and brow se through subject m atter easily. The lib rarian ’s perspective on know ledge tends to be encyclopedic, with con­ cern for the whole universe of knowledge. 3. Instructors are professionally com m itted to academ ic freedom with its principles of the right to profess a point of view , provided that it is done responsibly. Librarians are professionally com m it­ ted to intellectual freedom with its principles of providing a neutral forum for diverse points of view. 4. W hile instructors provide a disciplinary inter­