ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


780/C & R L  News

The future of reference II

A panel discussion held at the University o f Texas at Austin, 
Spring 1989.

A
 second p rogram  on th e  fu tu re  o f r e f e r ­

ence, “A Paradigm  of A cadem ic L ibrary 
O rganization,’’was held at th e  U niversity o f

at Austin G en eral L ibraries du rin g  th e  Spring of 
1989. W h ere th e  first p rogram  (see C & R L  N ew s, 
O c to b e r 1988, pp. 578 -8 9 ) looked at th e  n e e d  for 
th e  re fe re n c e  desk and its associated p ro ce d u re s, 
th e second program  expanded this exam ination of 
reference services to include an entirely n ew p ara- 
digm, or m odel, o f service.

T h e p rogram  was sp o n so red  by th e  G e n e ral 
L ibrary’s R e fe re n c e  and In fo rm atio n  Services 
C o m m ittee. T h e a tte n d e e s in clu d ed  academ ic li­
brarians and adm inistrators from  th e  G e n e ral Li­
braries and th e  T arlton Law Library, librarians 
from  th e  c e n tral Texas area, library school faculty 
and stu d e n ts, paraprofessionals, and gen eral fac­
ulty and students.

 T

T h e keynote address was given by F rancis 
Miksa, professor, G rad u ate School o f L ibrary and 

eIxnafso rm a tio n  Science. His rem arks w ere follow ed 
by responses from  Lynne Brody, h e a d  librarian of 
th e  U n d e rg ra d u a te  Library, and C heryl K nott 
M alone, re fe re n c e  librarian, P erry-C astañeda L i­
brary R eference Services D e p a rtm en t, b o th  at th e 
U niversity o f Texas at Austin. T h e ir p resen tatio n s 
w ere followed by a discussion betw een m em bers of 
th e audience and th e  panel th at continued w ellpast 
th e  sc h ed u le d  e n d  o f th e  session. T h e th re e  a d ­
d resses a n d  a sum m ary o f th e  a u d ie n c e ’s com ­
m ents by W illiam  K opplin, 1988/89 ch a ir o f th e  
R e fe re n c e  and In fo rm atio n  Services C o m m ittee, 
are p re s e n te d  here.

The future of reference II: A paradigm o f academic 
library organization

By Francis Miksa

Professor, G raduate School o f  L ib ra ry a nd Inform ation Science 
U niversity o f  Texas a t A u stin

My p urpose h e re  is to com m ent on th e  fu tu re  o
th e  academ ic rese a rc h  library. In  m aking th e se
com m ents, I will assum e w hat alm ost no on e will
deny, th a t libraries in g en eral a n d  academ ic r e ­

f 
 
 

search libraries in p a rticu la r are going th ro u g h  a 
p e rio d  o f significant change. In  this light, my task 
will b e  tw ofold— first, to c h a ra c te riz e  th e  change 
th at is taking place; and second, to explore im plica­