Medical library placement - the reference desk

I recently finished my placement at a medical library. The library has quite a different feel from other libraries I have been in. The library predominately provides an on demand information service rather than a place where people would go to spend time browsing and reading like in a public library. The clients were medical professionals and university students on placement at the hospital. They generally have well developed research skills compared to patrons of a school or public library. We discussed the changing nature of the reference desk in libraries. The questions I answered most frequently during my placement were not ‘reference’ questions but rather computer trouble shooting, printer and scanning issues and how to use the self-borrowing system.

This issue is further highlighted in the article ‘Reference service without the desk’ (Arndt, 2010) which discusses how one academic library responded to this issue through the use of on-call and consultative reference services.

Reference questions that we did respond to came via email or phone the majority of the time. If the request was simple enough we could send the information back to them quickly otherwise we could book or conduct an over the phone reference interview.

You may find this video humorous about reference/ help desks.

Arndt, T. (2010). Reference service without the desk. Reference Service Review, 38(1), 71-80. doi:10.1108/00907321011020734