Reference and Information Services in the 21st Century: An Introduction (2nd, revised edition)

It seems a bit strange to review a book after one has been using it for a year as one of basic texts for one's courses. But, this very use has convinced me even further that I am holding in my hand one of the most, if not the most current and innovative, introductions to reference work. The content fairly reflects the current situation of reference services which intensively deal with ever richer combinations of resource types and formats, as well as variety of contact possibilities with their users. The second edition of this highly regarded book includes a lot of material on new reference sources and tools as well as new angles from which we can observe reference service.

There are four sections of the book. The first part covers fundamental concepts, such as introduction to reference work, reference interview, and basic search techniques. However, these go well beyond traditional coverage. The reference interview section also deals with some special issues such as various settings where reference interview may take place, assessment and accountability of reference librarian, cultural differences which may affect the procedure, and also incorporates the latest RUSA guidelines. The chapter with basic search techniques in fact bears the title Finding the answer and introduces an innovative approach of following the steps from categorizing an answer (in terms of its timeliness, length, complexity, currentness, specificity, etc.), visualizing it, and testing the waters, i.e. testing how the user may receive the answer. Besides covering the types of answers ranging from value‐added to elementary, the chapter also tries to give advice on common pitfalls in reference answering.

Part 2 is about major reference sources organized according the types of users' questions, e.g. questions about books, magazines, etc. which deal with bibliographical sources, questions about anything and everything (dealing with encyclopaedias), questions about words (dealing with dictionaries), questions that require handy facts (about ready reference sources), questions about events and issues (regarding indexes and full‐text databases), about lives of people (dealing with biographical sources), about health, law and business, about geography, countries and travel, and about government. Each chapter in Part 2 speaks in great detail about essential formats, features, and titles that reference librarians can consult to deliver high quality answers, and also about collection development issues of each respective resource type. As such it is among few reference texts which list the top resources in major subject areas. If used as a textbook, this part can be used to demonstrate how to approach the reference query by matching specific types of questions to the most appropriate sources.

In part 3 we find special reference topics: using internet as a reference tool, two chapters authored by a renowned author Mary K. Chelton (“Reader's advisory work” and “Reference work with children and young adults”), and information literacy, also including IL in different types of library and social and ethical use of information, as well as teaching aspects. To me it seems that the topics which are missing in this part are other special populations, such as cognitively and physically handicapped users, elderly, socially excluded persons, users of special and academic libraries. Readers could also find useful to find out about special circumstances of reference service, for example work with angry or frustrated users, sensitive topics (health‐ or law‐related issues), “second‐hand” information needs, etc.

Finally, Part 4 addresses the important questions of management and development of reference collections and services: selection and evaluation of reference material, management of the reference department, assessment and improvement of services, and two chapters on the future of information services dealing with issues such as Reference 2.0 and anticipated competences of future reference librarians. There is an appendix bringing RUSA outstanding reference sources in years 2005‐2009, and two indexes.

I know that already the first edition of this book has been widely used both as a textbook and as a manual that is a good evidence of its skillful and professional approach. Also the second edition lives up to its reputation, confirming the quality of combination when authors are coming from different sides of the LIS world, i.e. academic (research and educational), and professional (often called “the real world”). It is fair to say that the authors, helped by an advisory board and a focus group, again managed to put together an excellent combination of practice and theory and to successfully integrate the old and the new. For my classes on information sources and services and users of information sources and services I have indeed found the book to be very good, comprehending to a number of topics covered in these courses. One reason is that the style of writing is vivid, interesting and humor‐enhanced where least expected. The chapters are not too long, which makes reading quite easy to understand. Another impressive feature is lists of recommended reading at the end of each chapter, which is very helpful both for one's own reading and when one wants to assign additional reading in class. All in all, the book provides an up‐to‐date, comprehensive and at the same time easily read overview of the reference services, useful to all, LIS teachers, students and practitioners.