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Re: Email & research requests



One of the first things they teach you in Library School is the technique of
the reference interview...(with all those corny "feedback" and "signal"
diagrams).

One could argue that a lively exchange of email allows for that two way
communication that results in an effective reference interview, but one
could also answer that the oft demonstrated incompetency of email users ("Im
out of the office until tuesday"), impatience of email users ("I havent
heard from you in an hour"), and unrealistic expectations of email users
("Why can't you scan that newspaper for me?) is a serious stumbling block.
Remember, in many cases what people initially ask for is not what they want,
and it is only after a rather in depth conversation can you narrow down the
real meat of the matter.

I believe in a sharp division between "reference" queries and "copy
requests" is also a good thing to keep in mind when discussing email.  Our
shop will not fill a copy request via email, period.  We, like the National
Archives and the IRS, love our printed forms and require people to read them
and fill them out properly.  (Two NARA NATF Form 80s which I correctly
filled out last month were sent back to me without a word of explanation,
but with a new carbonless form also stuffed into the envelope.  I believe
the implication is that if I fill out the new form and mail it back, I will
get the service records I asked for....but Im not sure because I didn't get
a "feedback signal" with any degree of strength...)

Our shop WILL perform "reference" work for an emailer based on the same
limitations we put for people who contact us by phone or snail mail.  They
get an hour.

Now people in the reading room ALWAYS get more than an hour, because they
are HERE, and talking to us periodically throughout the day, doing that old
Shannon feedback signal thing eyeball to eyeball.

Kim (nothing against email....use it myself) Scott

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