PUBLIC-SERVICE EXPERIENCE IN THE INTRODUCTORY REFERENCE COURSE - A MODEL PROGRAM AND SURVEY OF ACCREDITED LIBRARY-SCHOOLS

The University of Hawaii School of Library and Information Studies and the university's graduate research library have implemented an interactive, educational public-service program that provides graduate students enrolled in the introductory reference course with experience at the research library's information desk. This paper describes the program and reports on the results of a 1988 survey of fifty-five accredited library schools in the United States and Canada investigating the existence of and opinions about public-service components in introductory reference courses. Even though 49 percent of the respondents were interested in the idea and 75 percent of the respondents knew of a reference or information desk where such experience could take place, no school except the University of Hawaii reported having a public-service work component in their introductory reference course. Supervision and management of the work program, along with host library interaction, were cited as the top two difficulties in developing such a program.