Information on the
IFLA TOOLKIT FOR DEVELOPING REFERENCE SERVICES

Overview
To assist librarians and decision makers in developing countries and elsewhere, the Reference and Information Services Section, through an IFLA project, successfully developed a Toolkit for Developing Reference Services. Designed to enrich reference knowledge and to advance reference services, the Toolkit prepares reference librarians and decision makers to understand reference functions and the information needs of library users.

Intended Audience
The Toolkit is designed for librarians and decision makers, primarily from developing countries, who have little or no knowledge of or experience with the value and need for reference services and the basics of designing and delivering reference services to users. In many if not most cases, these individuals may not even have a library background. In other cases their background may be as reference service. The focus of the Toolkit is on the service of reference and not on the research information that is available to developing countries.

Toolkit Scope
A toolkit is a set of tools, implements, or weapons created and used by a cultural group or industry. Our Toolkit is a specialized toolkit, consisting not of carpenter’s tools, but of a set of librarians’ tools - - in this case Websites. Websites from libraries, professional associations, non-governmental organizations and others were reviewed were selected for the Toolkit based on their content, currency, and recognition as examples of best practices. The websites selected range from comprehensive websites to those that provide information on a specific aspect of reference service. Websites selected cover all aspects of reference functions, including service design, development, management, marketing, evaluation and partnerships with other entities to achieve reference goals and objectives. The sites selected for inclusion in the Toolkit are assigned anywhere from 1 to 6 subject descriptors as follows:

NEED for reference: service definitions, status and overview of reference services in developing countries, needs assessment;

PLANNING for reference: mission and vision, user populations, costs, service planning, staffing, space, policies and procedures, technology;

TRAINING for reference: standards and guidelines, core competencies, specialized skills such as medical, business, legal;

MARKETING reference services: techniques and best practices;

PARTNERSHIPS for reference: opportunities to collaborate at the local, national and international level; and

EVALUATING reference: tools and techniques for assessment, best practices.

Project Goals and Deliverables
The goals of this project were as follows:

• To determine if guidelines and other resources that currently exist (e.g. on missions, standards, needs assessment, staffing, etc.) and can be utilized for the effective marketing and planning of reference services in developing countries. The focus is on resources that are freely available or at low-cost.
• To compile good examples of training resources available that might be used to assist libraries in developing countries on user-centered reference services such as reference interview techniques, creating user aids, marketing techniques and outreach, etc.
• To disseminate the toolkit widely via the Reference Section’s newsletter, website, IFLANET and other relevant listservs, presentations, poster sessions, etc.

Martin Kesselman, Rutgers University Libraries, USA and Sarah Watstein, UCLA Library, USA led the work on the project on behalf of the Reference and Information Services Section. Special thanks go to Linda Hartley for her work on identifying, abstracting, and coding resources for the Toolkit and to Andrew Ruggiero for his design of the Toolkit database and website.

July 2006

site design: Andrew Ruggiero