Desk Handbook: Reference Help

• If a patron approaches the desk with a research question, or looking for a subject instead of a specific title, they should probably be referred to a reference librarian. 

  • “Do you have books on WWII?”

  • “Do you have films about women in comedy?”

  • “I need statistics on gentrification in Boston”

  • “Do you have X book, or something like it?”

• For the last example, follow-up questions are important to determine whether a Reference Librarian is needed:

  • “Do you have Bossypants or something like it?” “I can check. Are you writing a paper on it?” “No, I just want to read a book by a female comedian.” – You can probably answer this.

  • But if they needed books or articles on a specific topic – women on SNL, for example – they might benefit from the help of a Reference Librarian.

If they DO need a reference librarian, they have a few options: 

1. We can call Trish and/or Lindsay to see if either of them are available to help. Call from the Desk phone; Trish's extension is 1844 and Lindsay's is 1567 
2. Schedule an appointment with a reference librarian. Trish and Lindsay, our two reference librarians, are available to help via appointment, which you can help schedule or show students how to schedule - here is where they schedule a reference appointment. 
3. For immediate help if a reference librarian is not available, the Access Services Librarian Sydney can provide some reference help as well, so if she is in, you can redirect the patron to her. 

• Our reference book collection lives mostly on the first floor of the library
• Reference books will all begin their call numbers with "REF" 
• Students and staff are not allowed to check out reference books
• Faculty can check out reference books, but it requires a Sierra override from a library staff member 

• What is a periodical?
  • A periodical is a journal, typically from a subscription that the library subscribes to
  • This includes the New York Times, Consumer Reports, and the Easton Journal (Easton's local newspaper) 
  • We have both physical and online periodicals
• Our current periodicals (within the last year) are on the first floor, by the South End of the library
• Periodicals from more than a year ago are bound and put on the second floor by the Technical Services office 
• We also subscribe to Flipster, a digital magazine subscription for a multitude of magazines 
  • These can be found with a normal search on HillSearch 
• There are also completely online journals run independently of Flipster. These can be found in our catalog under Publications