Reference
Service Policy and Goals
Purpose and Goals
The Hinsdale Public Library
is committed to providing excellent reference service to all patrons,
regardless of age, race, sex, disability, social or economic status.
The primary goals of the Staff of the Reference and Youth Services
Departments will be:
• To assist patrons in the use of reference resources, library
materials and in the development of research strategies;
• To provide current, accurate information in a timely manner;
• To provide readers’ advisory service;
• To provide efficient referral and effective follow through
including interlibrary loan and supplementary reference services
to Hinsdale cardholders.
• To offer credentialed reference staff in order to provide
professional reference service during all hours that the Library
is open. All reference questions will be treated with impartiality
and confidentiality.
• To keep the community well informed about the reference
services and resources available from the library.
Scope and Responsibility
of Reference Service
The Reference Department
is responsible for the overall quality and development of the library's
reference services and for writing and implementing reference policies.
Though all departments contribute to the library's effort to provide
patrons with answers to questions and access to information. Specifically,
reference service is defined as assisting patrons to locate materials
that will provide needed information and/or providing answers to
factual questions. If determining the answer to a query involves
reading and evaluating a large amount of material, the staff will
locate suitable materials for the patron’s use. All answers
will be factual and sources will be cited. Staff may not offer personal
opinion, advice or interpretation as fact. In particular, staff
is not legally qualified to offer legal, medical, and tax advice.
Homework questions will be treated like all other questions, and
staff will work with local schools to prepare for major assignments.
Prompt Service
In order to provide effective
service to all patrons in an equitable manner, certain priorities
and limits have been established. Answering patron questions takes
precedence over all other staff duties. In general, in-person questions
will take precedence over questions received by telephone, email,
mail or other means, but all questions will receive a response within
24 hours. If a question from a Hinsdale cardholder cannot be answered
with sources available in the Library, it will be referred to a
supplementary reference service. The time that can be spent on an
individual question depends on whether other patrons or questions
are waiting. To insure that patrons do not have to wait too long
for service, generally no more than 10 minutes will be spent with
a patron while others are waiting. If the question cannot be answered
within that time, the staff member will offer to continue the search
and contact the patron with the answer later.
Special Services
Interlibrary loan is
available to Hinsdale Public Library Cardholders if the material
needed is not available here. Please see Interlibrary Loan Policy.
Service Availability
Reference service will be provided whenever the library is open.
At least one professional librarian is always on duty. The library
will meet the requirements for staff education and training stipulated
in the Suburban Library System's Minimum Reference Standards for
Public Libraries. Answering reference questions will have a higher
priority than other staff assignments for members of the Reference
and Information Services and the Youth and Young Adult Services
departments, especially during times these staff are assigned to
the public service desks.
Service to Schools
In recognition of the library's role as an educational support center,
the Reference and Information Services and the Youth and Young Adult
Services departments will cooperate with Hinsdale elementary and
secondary schools in handling homework assignments. Assignment alerts
will be solicited from the schools, and attempts will be made to
organize the library's response to assignments that are common to
several school classes. Where appropriate, books will be pulled
and placed on in-house reserve to ensure that adequate resources
are available for all students.
Service to Non-residents
Public libraries share a common purpose in serving the larger society
and have a long and mutually beneficial tradition of cooperation
and reciprocity. For this reason, non-residents who do not have
Hinsdale Public Library cards will be provided access to the reference
collection, and in a limited manner, to a level of reference service
corresponding with Reference Service Goals. Whenever possible, however,
staff will refer non-resident patrons back to their home libraries
and/or will suggest additional approaches which these patrons might
pursue on their own.
Ethics and Standards
Hinsdale Public Library subscribes to the American Library Association
Code of Ethics. All transactions with patrons and all patron records
will be kept confidential. Patron records will be disclosed only
by force of legal authority. When referring questions, staff will
provide patron information to an outside agency only if that agency
also guarantees confidentiality. The library will meet the "Standards
for Reference Sources" set out in Suburban Library System's
Minimum Reference Standards for Public Libraries.
Reference Service and Policy Evaluation
The Reference and Information Services and Youth and Young Adult
Services departments will continuously monitor and evaluate the
effectiveness of reference service on an informal basis. Feedback,
ideas, and suggestions from the public are always welcome.
The Reference Services
Plan is reviewed by both the Reference and Information Services
Department and the Library Board at least once every three years,
as recommended in Serving Our Public: Standards for Illinois Public
Libraries (Revised Edition, 1997, Illinois Library Association).
This is a public document.
Individuals may request a copy at the Reference and Information
Services and Youth Services Desks.
