Success at the Enquiry Desk: Successful Enquiry Answering – Every Time (3rd edition)

Citation

Swain, M. (2001), "Success at the Enquiry Desk: Successful Enquiry Answering – Every Time (3rd edition)", New Library World, Vol. 102 No. 3, pp. 111-115. https://doi.org/10.1108/nlw.2001.102.3.111.4

This is a book, that in order to review I am going to have to be at my objective best, the reason being that I have used and recommended Tim Owen’s book in the past to colleagues and to students. It is, as it says: “An essential desk‐book aiming to help the information professional to become self‐sufficient in answering enquiries”, and it certainly does what it says it does. The author has vast experience of this type of work with experience of enquiry work at Westminster Central Reference Library, the City Business Library and as the Principal Information Officer at the London Research Centre. It is this experience that he uses to put together this essential, succinct and compact desk book.

The book is laid out in such a style that it is easy to read and intuitive for those new to enquiry work, or for those with experience it is still a very useful tool. The book begins with ten steps to produce an essential of successful enquiry work – the enquiry form – and then has a quick reference to “25 multi‐purpose sources you can’t afford to ignore” – very useful when combined with one of the later chapters, “Help!My mind’s gone blank!” The approach taken is step‐by‐step backed up by good use of examples. The first chapter begins with the one question that must never be asked of an enquirer but one that every information professional at some time or other has been sorely tempted to demand of their enquirer – “What do you really want?” From this first question the step‐by‐step approach takes the beginner on a journey through the information enquiry process, adequately backed up by relevant examples that illustrate points perfectly. A good deal of Tim Owen’s own knowledge is put to good use and many of the examples of enquirers and their questions used will bring a smile of recognition to those professionals with experience in this area.

This is the third edition of this ever popular and invaluable reference work for answering enquiries effectively. At first glance, apart from a change in the colour scheme, there appears to be very little difference from the second revised edition of 1998. Indeed, there is very little difference between the last revised edition and the latest edition, and the question you would like answering, if you have a copy of the previous incarnations of Tim Owen’s work, is “Do I need to buy this edition?” First of all let’s look at what is new in this third edition.

There is a new section “Getting the best out of the Web”. This is an important addition as many enquirers now hold the belief that the World Wide Web can provide the answer to any question ever asked, and not only answer the question but answer it authoritatively. This new section looks at how to make Web searching more effective, while reminding users that there’s no guarantee concerning a site’s authority or accuracy. This is a useful update, plus the bibliography of key reference sources now includes Web addresses for publishers and other reference sources. So is it worth buying for an extra four pages and some electronic sources? If you have the earlier edition, then the answer has to be no; however, if you have no copies of any edition, then this book is essential, and from a purely objective point of view I would say “Buy it!”