Reference Interview, Search Techniques.

1. The Reference Interview

The Reference Interview is a crucial component of reference service, defined as the personal dialogue or interaction between a librarian and a user to determine the user's specific information needs. It is a skill that comes with practice and is considered more of an art than a science, as each interview is unique. Its primary purpose is to help the librarian thoroughly understand the query, especially for complex or Long Range Reference Service requests where in-depth information is needed for research or problem-solving.

1.1 Purpose and Importance

A successful reference interview helps the librarian to ascertain several key factors before beginning a search:

• The Query Thoroughly: It clarifies ambiguous terms and ensures the librarian understands the exact topic. For instance, a query on "airways" could relate to aviation or medicine, a distinction the interview would clarify.
• The Purpose: It establishes why the information is needed (e.g., for a lecture, research paper, general interest), which determines the depth and scope of the search required.
• The User's Background: Understanding the user's level of knowledge helps the librarian select appropriate sources.
• The Scope of the Search: The interview helps define the required scope in terms of document types (e.g., journal articles, patents, books), languages, geographical area, and time period to be covered.
• Sources Already Consulted: This prevents duplication of effort and saves time for both the user and the librarian.

The overall structure of a reference interview has three phases:

1. Establishing contact with the user in an approachable manner.
2. Finding out the user's needs through active listening and clarifying questions.
3. Confirming that the information provided is what the user actually needed.

Ultimately, the reference interview is a critical function because it helps fulfill the Second Law of Library Science, "Every Reader His/Her Book," by personally assisting each reader in finding the most relevant materials.

2. Search Techniques and Literature Search

Literature Search is the systematic and often exhaustive process of searching for published material on a specific topic. It is a fundamental first step in any serious research project, helping to avoid duplication of effort and identify new areas for research. An effective search is guided by a well-defined plan, or search strategy, which can be applied to both manual and computer-based searches.

2.1 Manual and Computer-Based Search Strategy: The Subject Approach

This is the most common approach and involves a series of logical steps.

• Step 1: Understand the Subject and Scope This foundational step, often accomplished through the reference interview, involves clarifying the topic, identifying key concepts, synonyms, and related terms, and deciding on the scope of the search (e.g., time period, document types, languages).

• Step 2: Formulate the Search Plan and Consult Tertiary and Secondary Sources A systematic plan begins with identifying if a bibliography on the topic already exists by consulting tertiary sources like A World Bibliography of Bibliographies or Bibliographic Index. If no pre-existing bibliography is found, the next step is to consult guides like Walford's Guide to Reference Material to identify relevant secondary sources such as reviewing, abstracting, and indexing periodicals. These secondary sources act as a key to the primary literature by gathering and organising scattered information.

• Step 3: Search Primary Sources for the Latest Literature After exhausting secondary sources, the search moves to the most recent primary sources—such as research journals, conference proceedings, theses, and patents—to find the latest information not yet covered by indexing and abstracting services.

2.2 The Author Approach

This is an alternative technique where the search begins with the name of a known, prolific author in the field of interest. By locating one of their relevant papers, a searcher can use the bibliography in that paper to identify other key articles and authors, creating a chain of references that can lead to a comprehensive bibliography on the topic.

2.3 Computer-Based Search Techniques

The advent of computers, online databases, and the internet has revolutionized literature searching, making it faster and enabling more complex search options. Modern search tools and databases offer several powerful techniques to refine a search.

• Keyword Search: This is the most basic search, where a keyword is used to retrieve documents in which it appears.
• Boolean Search: This technique uses logical operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine keywords and make a search more precise.
  • AND narrows a search, retrieving only documents containing all specified terms (e.g., Library AND Information).
  • OR broadens a search, retrieving documents that contain any of the specified terms (e.g., Library OR Information).
  • NOT (or AND NOT) excludes documents containing an unwanted term, increasing precision (e.g., "Driver" AND NOT Screw).
• Proximity Search: This searches for terms based on their nearness to each other in the text. NEAR finds words within a specified number of words of each other, while EXACT proximity requires them to be separated by an exact number of words.
• Truncation Search: This allows searching for variations of a root word. Right truncation finds words starting with a root (e.g., CLASS* finds CLASS, CLASSIFICATION, CLASSIFIER), while left truncation finds words ending with a string (e.g., *ISM finds COMMUNISM, SUPHISM).
• Field Searching: This limits a search to a specific field in a bibliographic record, such as the Title or Author field, making the search more specific.
• Limiting Searches: Searches can be narrowed by criteria such as date of publication, document type (e.g., PDF, PPT), or language.
• Fuzzy Search: This feature helps find relevant results even when the search term is misspelled by using error-correction algorithms like Soundex or Metaphone.