Information Brokers and Reference Services

The contradictory yet complementary relationship between libraries and information brokers is examined in this volume, first published in 1988. Since its escalation in the 1960s, information brokering has challenged the role of the library in society. Librarians discuss their concerns about information brokers - the impact of brokers on reference services, the competence of brokers, abuse of library services by brokers, and whether libraries should provide competing fee-based services. Brokers share their own view as ‘entrepreneurs’, providing background, offering advice, and explaining the risks involved in their business. This lively, often controversial discussion offers suggestions for improving relations between libraries and information brokers, while continuing to serve the public well.

1. Agreeing to Disagree: The Relations Between Librarians and Brokers Robin Kinder Part 1. Fee-Based Services: Beginning of an Era 2. The Age of the Information Broker: An Introduction Brenda C. Rosen 3. Computer Search Services and Information Brokering in Academic Libraries Kathleen J. Voigt 4. Issues Facing Private Academic Libraries Considering Fee-Based Programs Loretta Caren and Arleen Somerville Part 2. Attitudes: Three Surveys and an Opinion 5. The Attitudes of Academic Reference Librarians Towards Information Brokers Elizabeth Bramm Dunn 6. The Effect of Information Brokers on Reference Services: Reference Librarians Express Their Opinions Robert M. Ballard 7. Working Together: The Librarian and the Broker Patricia Brauch 8. Librarian and Information Broker: The Challenge of Cooperation Christine Y. Maxwell and Ellen C. Reinheimer Part 3. Information Systems and Products: Impact on Reference Services 9. The Reference Collection Development Decision: Will New Information Technologies Influence Libraries' Collecting Patterns? John M. Haar 10. Virtual Information Systems: Unlimited Resources for Information Retrieval Hilary D. Burton 11. The MINITEX Reference Service: A Publicly Funded Information Broker M.J. Dustin 12. ExeLS: Executive Library Services Stephen Marvin Part 4. Brokers and Consultants: The New Entrepreneurs 13. The Entrepreneurial Librarian Susan E. Feldman 14. Do You Have What It Takes To Be a Successful Information Broker? Lynda Nash Leach 15. To Be or Not To Be an Information Broker Alice Sizer Warner 16. Information Brokering: Facts and Fantasy Edith F. Anderson 17. Boss Broker: The Information Entrepreneur as Employer Barbara Whyte Felicetti 18. Library Consulting: Challenge, Autonomy, and Risk Muriel Regan 19. Consultants for Interlibrary Loan Virginia Boucher Part 5. Current Trends in Reference Services 20. The Importance of the Verb in the Reference Question Norman D. Stevens 21. ‘I Heard You Say…’ Peer Coaching for More Effective Reference Service Ralph Gers and Lillie J. Seward 22. A Funaholic in the Reference Room Thomas P. Slavens 23. Reference Queries, Experience, and Secondary Reference Books Zheng Fan, with Nancy Slater 24. Instruction for Genealogists in the Public Library Craig R. Amason 25. Abstracting for Reference Librarians Elliot S. Palais 26. Searching of East Slavic Materials in Library Catalogues Michael Markiw