Cooperative Reference: Social Interaction in the Workplace

Expert advice for more effective teamwork in the library!

Cooperative Reference: Social Interaction in the Workplace addresses the need for reference librarians to work together to keep the system running smoothly. This book explores the various means of developing social professionalism, collaborating on projects, and combining forces with other libraries to remain on the cutting edge of information services in this new century. Using this guide, you will learn from the first-hand experiences of on-the-job reference librarians. This book will give you—as a reference librarian, administrator, library science student, or educator—ideas to support cooperative efforts in the library and beyond.

This book will show you how to better interact with:

• other reference librarians
• face-to-face users
• online users
• library and academia faculty
• other libraries

Cooperative Reference reveals how patrons perceive you from the other side of the desk. This book shows that first impressions—how you dress, your attitude, how you interact with other workers, and how you address the patron’s questions—directly affect the patron’s visit and influence his or her decisions about using your library in the future. The social skills in this volume can also directly benefit your library as library budgets can no longer keep up with the skyrocketing costs of library materials. To continue viability, many libraries must be willing to work together to share costs and experience.

Other topics in Cooperative Reference include:

• tag-team referencing—a dynamic, synergistic environment at the reference desk
• teaching librarians about interpersonal skills—how to establish professional, collegial relationships with one another
• librarians teaming up to teach a class together
• cooperative reference desk scheduling—how to create and implement tailored desk hours
• collection development between librarians for different departments
• working together to create online services
• a consolidation of reference services by two separate libraries

Using several case examples, this well-referenced book takes an innovative look at the ever-increasing necessity for librarians to work together for the good of the patrons, the workers, and the library structure. Cooperative Reference will improve the reference services of public and academic libraries both large and small.