ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ A p ril 2000 / 289 College & Research Libraries news Tips for roving reference How to best serve library users by Martin Courtois and Maira Liriano I n the late 1980s and early 1990s, refer­ ence departments began to experiment with roving as a means of providing ass tance to users at increasing numbers of OPAC terminals and CD-ROM stations. Several ar­ ticles reported on these experiments and in­ troduced the idea of roving as an effective means of serving clientele w ho w ere not reached through the traditional reference desk.1 The basic idea behind roving is that the library employee circulates within the refer­ ence area to offer assistance to users. A rov­ ing librarian approaches the user, rather than waiting for the user to come to the reference desk. The growth of Web-based and full-text sources has increased the need for patrons to use a com puter w hen doing library re­ search. This situation creates even more de­ mand for point-of-use assistance to help us­ ers through a challenging and confusing ar­ ray of sources. Remote access is welcomed by many users, but within the library there is a need to provide a helpful, human pres­ ence in this increasingly electronic environ­ ment. Recent discussions at ALA and on LIBREF- L indicate that increasing numbers of librar­ ies are offering roving reference.2 Libraries report overwhelmingly positive response from users, but also describe a few problem is­ areas: librarians w ho are unwilling to rove, frustration with the number of basic equip­ ment questions (jammed printers, frozen PCs, etc.), and difficulty in establishing roving as a consistent and quality service. Drawn from these discussions and our ex­ perience at George Washington University (GWU), we offer the following suggestions for providing roving reference. In the first section, we describe techniques that rovers can employ w hen working with users, fol­ lowed by ideas that departments can use to initiate or expand roving services. R o v in g te c h n iq u e s • Wear a nam etag o r badge. If you’re not behind the reference desk, users may not rec­ ognize you as part of the reference staff Some form of identification is a quick and easy way to establish credibility with users. Particularly in busy reference areas, it’s difficult to distin­ guish reference staff from other users. Badges with school colors, the library logo, and la­ bels such as “Librarian” or “Reference Staff’ will help users to identify you as the rover and encourage them to ask for assistance. • Be m obile. A key ingredient of roving is mobility. D on’t stay too long with any one user. Get the user started on the initial steps of their search, then move on to other users. Promise to check back with the user or en- About the authors M a rtin Courtois is science collection deve lo pm e n t librarian a nd Web deve lo pm e n t g rou p leader a t George W ashington University, e-mail: courtois@gwu.edu; Maira Liriano is reference and inform ation services group leader a t George Washington University, e-mail:lihano@gwu.edu mailto:courtois@gwu.edu mailto:liriano@gwu.edu 290 / C&RL N ew s ■ A p ril 2000 courage them to let you know when they’re ready for the next step. If you’re sitting down at the workstation and the user is looking over your shoulder, you’ve lost your effec tiveness as a rover. • Follow up with users. After you help a user start a search, check on his or her progress. This is an effective reference desk technique that is easy to do when roving. In large or busy reference areas it may be diffi cult to remember everyone you want to re visit; carry a small notepad and jot down re minders. • Address the user before addressing their screen. Users are unlikely to confide in you and discuss their needs if they per ceive you as “policing” the area. You may indeed need to watch for inappropriate use o f stations, but let that task be secondary to offering assistance. It’s likely that you will notice screens that are displaying ineffective search statements, immense result sets, or error messages. These situations present good lead-ins to approaching the user, but be dis creet. • Think in terms o f welcom ing behav iors. H ow do you like to be approached by sales people in a retail store? When you en ter a restaurant, how do you like to be treated? These establishments focus on generating repeat customers, and w e need to do the same. Focus on putting users at ease and making them feel welcome. • Address each user. We have seen sev eral techniques for roving. In passive roving, the rover doesn’t make the first step in ap proaching users, but merely walks around the reference area and waits to be summoned for assistance. In the broadcast method, the rover announces an offer o f assistance to a group o f users, e.g., “Anyone here have any questions?” We feel the individual approach is the most effective. Approach each user and offer assistance with lines such as, “Are you finding what you need?” “Can I help you with anything?” or “H ow is your search going?” • Be prepared for indifference. After you’ve made your offer, don’t expect or force a response. Some users will respond instantly with a description o f their problem. Others may decline with a “No, thank you,” and some may ignore you. Don’t press the issue, and don’t make the user uncomfortable. Let the user decide how and when the interaction will proceed. If the user doesn’t need your help right now, he or she may have a ques tion in a few minutes and will know that you are available to help. Im p lem en tin g ro vin g • Prepare staff to rove. Not all staff will feel comfortable with roving right from the start. Offer encouragement, but be patient. Make roving a topic for department meetings and ask experienced/enthusiastic rovers to share their techniques and positive experiences. Rovers need to project confidence and a help ful attitude. Forcing librarians w ho aren’t pre pared to rove will not benefit users. • Schedule times for roving. If your staff ing level permits, schedule times when a par ticular staff member( s) is the designated rover. Ideally, this would be during busiest times and will give staff scheduled at the reference desk more time to work with users on in- depth questions. Scheduling staff to rove will get them out on the floor and accustomed to the idea o f roving. Once they’ve tried it and experienced positive feedback, they will be more likely to make roving part o f their rou tine, even during unscheduled times. • Use your best people as rovers. A good rover needs to project confidence, a helpful attitude, and a thorough knowledge o f resources to win the trust o f the user and elicit questions. Is a student assistant with a few hours’ training the best person for this job? Rather, w e feel it’s more effective to use librarians or experienced support staff as “front-line” rovers and em ploy students or other assistants to handle referrals from rov ers. • Use assistants for back-up o r tech support. Student assistants can be used ef fectively for technical support. It’s more real istic to provide training for students to handle routine printer, computer, and network prob lems than to train them to be reference li brarians. Having assistants available to handle basic technical questions will free rovers to concentrate on helping users with their search questions and not get bogged down in fixing printer jams and rebooting computers. • Create an atmosphere o f active learn ing. Some librarians are concerned that rov ing violates users’ privacy. While it’s impor tant to respect this, it’s also important to (con tin u ed on page 315) “The ARL Japan Journal Access Project has broken down international barriers to create a resource sharing model that can be applied worldwide. OCLC contributed to the success o f this initiative with their ILL and ILL Fee Management services!’ M a ry E. J a c k s o n S en io r Program O ffice r for A cce ss S ervices, A sso cia tio n o f R esearch Libraries The Japan Journal Access Project is a collaborative effort involving Waseda University (one of Japan’s leading research institutions), 18 research libraries in Canada and the U.S., the Association o f Research Libraries and OCLC. This project gives students and scholars easy access to Waseda University’s extensive collection of materials via the OCLC global resource- sharing network. Most notably, the ILL Fee Management service eliminates difficulties associated with currency exchange by providing a single invoice in local funds. For over 25 years, libraries have been working together through OCLC to further access to information and reduce library costs. OCLC member libraries cooperatively created WorldCat® (the OCLC Online Union Catalog), which is now the most consulted database in higher education. At OCLC w e continue to develop new ways to provide innovative and affordable library services for our membership. For example, w e are working with 200 OCLC member libraries on an international research initiative that is using automated cataloging tools and library cooperation to create a research-quality database of Web resources. For information about what you can do now with OCLC services, please contact us at: purl.oclc.org/oclc/crin 1-800-848-5878, ext. 6251 Look what you’re doing now… with OCLC. 2 9 2 / C&RL News ■ A p ril 2000 C&RL News ■ A p ril 2000 / 315 also have good communication and structure so that all participants understand their respon sibilities to themselves and the group. The structure is dynamic but the processes for learn ing can b e articulated within that structure. Comfort with risk-taking on the part o f stu dents and instructors is one important goal. T h e discussion en d ed by sharing indi vidual highlights. Memorable aspects o f the discussion for participants included rem em bering to em b race the m essier aspects o f learning, seeking to balance cognitive with affective learning, searching for collaboration opportunities with new partners, and stress ing the primacy o f outcom es while w e e x perim ent and take risks. Learning com munities have a lot to teach us as w e continue to develop library instruc tion programs for our diverse student popu lations. The opportunities provide for rethink ing how w e approach our patrons and our teaching. Dynamic learning com munities of fer attributes that can b e adapted into librar ies or programs o f any size.—Jen n ifer Evans, University o f Washington Libraries, jrevans@ u.washington.edu ■ (Tips … continued fr o m p a g e 290) establish the reference area as a place for active learning w here the focus is on dia logue and interaction. R esearch d on e by Sw ope and Katzer m ore than 25 years ago revealed that 65% o f users w ho have a ques tion in mind said they w ould not ask a librar ian for help.3 Roving offers a way to draw out those unasked questions. • Refer questions fro m th e referen c desk to th e rover. Even with an active rov ing service, it’s important to maintain a pres en c e at the referen ce desk. Librarians sched uled at the desk should try to refer patrons who n eed to use a public workstation to the rover. This will allow d esk librarians the flex ibility to work with users w ho may have more com plex questions and steer the user to the rover, w ho will b e in a better position to of fer follow-up assistance. • Keep statistics. Many reference depart ments report declining numbers o f reference questions. This d ecrease may b e b ecau se few er transactions take place solely at the desk, but m ore users are helped at public workstations. This may b e difficult to do, but look for ways for rovers to keep accurate count o f the num ber o f questions they an swer. Your statistics should jump dramatically! A final recom m endation While it’s helpful to share our experiences and ideas, it may b e m ore beneficial to move toward a codification o f specific behaviors for roving. Considerable attention has been devoted to the behavior and perform ance o f librar ians working at reference desks, as seen in guidelines prepared by ALA’s Reference and User Services Association.4 O n o n e level, roving is an extension o f traditional reference; working at the reference desk and roving re quire many o f the same skills and behaviors. Roving, however, brings to play interper sonal dynamics that can b e quite different from those encountered in a reference desk setting. Further exam ination and discussion will help to identify standards that will in crease the overall quality and consistency o f e roving reference. Notes 1. Adeane Bregm an and Barbara Mento, “Reference Roving at Boston College: Point o f Use Assistance to Electronic Resource Us ers Reduces Stress,” College a n d Research Li braries News 53 (N ovem ber 1992): 6 3 4 -3 5 ; Eileen H. Kramer, “Why Roving Reference: A Case Study in a Small Academic Library,” Ref eren ce Services Review 24 (Fall 1996): 6 7 -8 0 ; Jen n ifer M endelsohn, “Human Help at OPAC Term inals is U ser Friendly: A Preliminary Study,” RQ 34 (Winter 1994): 173-90. 2. “Roving Reference: A Human Presence for the Information A ge,” RUSA/MOUSS Per form ance Issues for Reference and Informa tion Service Librarians Discussion Group, ALA Annual Conference, New Orleans, Ju n e 26, 1999; Martin C ourtois and Maira Liriano, “Summary on Reference Roving,” posted to L IB R E F -L , M ay 1 8 , 1 9 9 9 . http:// listserv.kent.edu/archives/libref-I.html [9/29/ 991. 3. Mary Ja n e Sw ope and Jeffrey Katzer, “W hy D o n ’t They Ask Questions?,” RQ 12 (W inter 1972): 161-66. 4. “Guidelines for Behavioral Performance o f Reference and Information Services Pro fessionals,” January 1996. http://www.ala.org/ rusa/behavior.html [9/29/99]. ■ http://www.ala.org/