Reference Services Review: Volume 36 Issue 1

Thumbs up: a new definition of reference

Eleanor Mitchell, Sarah Barbara Watstein

The purpose of this editorial is to examine the changing nature of the role of reference services, and to work towards a new definition of the term “reference”.

Comparison of Wikipedia and other encyclopedias for accuracy, breadth, and depth in historical articles

Lucy Holman Rector

This paper seeks to provide reference librarians and faculty with evidence regarding the comprehensiveness and accuracy of Wikipedia articles compared with respected reference…

Lessons from the academy: actuating active mass‐class information literacy instruction

Mardi Chalmers

The purpose of this paper is to mitigate the dearth in the library literature of large‐class, active learning pedagogies, by providing examples of these instructional approaches…

Drive‐by BI: Tailored in‐class mini‐instruction sessions for graduate and upper‐level undergraduate courses

Wendi Arant‐Kaspar, Candace Benefiel

This paper seeks to describe a program that provides quick and relevant library instruction and research support for teaching faculty and their students within the context of the…

Partnering and programming for undergraduate honors students

Catherine Fraser Riehle

This paper sets out to describe successful partnerships between Purdue University Libraries' faculty and directors of undergraduate honors programs. By reporting the results and…

Using peer review to foster good teaching

Sue Samson, Donna E. McCrea

This paper seeks to describe the implementation of a peer review of teaching (PROT) instructional improvement program at the Mansfield Library at The University of Montana. The…

Chat reference evaluation: a framework of perspectives and measures

Lili Luo

This paper aims to provide a holistic view of the current practice of chat reference evaluation and to suggest a framework that could help reference practitioners evaluate chat…

ERIC database alternatives and strategies for education researchers

Jean‐Jacques Strayer

This paper seeks to address scholarly concerns related to the performance of the “new” Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) database and provides education researchers…

Re‐establishing memory: memory's functions and the reference librarian

Walter Butler

This paper seeks to re‐establish memory's role within reference librarianship, and to argue that continued research on how memory affects the reference librarian can encourage…