Exemplary Reference Service Awards

Ask a Librarian is rolling out its new Exemplary Reference Awards to recognize great service in our chat service. We are looking for the best chats you or your co-workers have had this summer. We are looking for nominees in three categories: ‘Best Detailed Chat’, ‘Best Brief Chat’ and ‘Best Teaching Chat.’
The transcript awarded the ‘Best Detailed Chat’ by the Quality Assurance Workgroup will receive a $20 gift card to Borders. Other honored sessions with receive frame-able certificates and be promoted on the Ask a Librarian web site as examples of great reference work.

Please take a look at your own and your co-workers sessions.

The Quality Assurance Workgroup will evaluate all nominated sessions on the following criteria:
* Demonstrated the following qualities: accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage.
* Preformed a reference interview with the patron, asking questions to clarify the information need
* Calls should be answered as quickly as possible while staying communicative with the user. Try to keep sessions to 20 minutes or less.”
*”Whenever possible, use information from library resources.” (Proprietary Databases are better than Google or Yahoo.)
*”Always use a reference source to locate the answer to a question an always give the caller the name of the source.”
*”If unable to locate an authoritative answer to a question in a timely fashion, then either get back to the patron in a few hours (do a follow-up) or refer the question to local library.

Nominations for exemplary transcripts can be submitted online in the Ask a Librarian Toolbox. Please consider nominating a co-worker’s session, another Ask a Librarian you ran across or your own! Great Reference work needs to be rewarded!!

Nominations should be submitted before September 20th for sessions that occurred between July 1- August 31!