PowerPoint presentation of the Guide to Reference Essentials webinar. Guide to Reference is a selective guide to the best reference sources, organized by academic discipline.

1. Essentials Webinar

2. Guide to Reference
Essentials Webinar
Welcome
Today we’ll introduce you to Guide to
Reference, a foundational tool for
librarians, teachers, researchers,
students, and other library users. We’ll
show you how it can help you in your
work.

3. Our goal today
We’ll show you how to leverage Guide
to Reference to support your work in
the following areas:
» Reference
» Collection development
» Teaching and training

4. Who we are
Alison Elms
Sales and Marketing Coordinator
ALA Digital Reference
Former reference librarian
James Hennelly
Managing Editor
ALA Digital Reference
Troy Linker
Publisher, ALA Digital Reference

5. Preliminaries
If you have questions, please submit them
through the public Chat function during the
presentation.
We’ll collect your questions and answer them
during the webinar and during the Q&A at the
end.
For any technical difficulties, please send a
private Chat to ALA Publishing Webinar Host.

6. Guide to Reference is
―(1) a reference manual . . . ; (2) a selection
aid for the librarian; (3) a textbook for the
student who . . . is pursuing a systematic
study of reference books.‖
Constance Winchell
Preface to the 8th edition, 1967

7. A gateway to reference
sources
» A comprehensive collection of sources
» Answers reference questions
» Directs researchers to resources
» Creates local instructional materials
» Inventories and develops reference
collections
» Educates and trains students and
reference staff

8. A long & distinguished history
» First published in 1902 as Guide to the
Study and Use of Reference Books: A
Manual for Librarians, Teachers, and
Students
» Published in 11 print editions between 1902
and 1996
» Known by previous editor names: Mudge,
Winchell, Sheehy, and Balay
» In 2008, Guide to Reference goes online

9. The premier evaluative
bibliography
» One of the main cornerstones of reference
librarianship since 1902
» Reflects the accumulated knowledge and
wisdom of the reference community over
many years
» Continues to serve as a center for learning
about and practicing reference
librarianship
» Some call it ―the Bible‖ of reference
sources

10. How does the Guide do it?
» It’s selective and broad in coverage
» It gives you nearly 17,000 of the best and
most authoritative reference sources in 56
disciplines arranged under 6 major subject
divisions, with in-depth annotations
» It’s kept up-to-date by an Editorial Board
and 70+ contributing editors—your
colleagues and peers in the reference
community

11. Selection criteria
» Usefulness – How useful? How often used?
» Breadth of scope – How broadly focused?
» Quality – How accurate and complete?
» Imprint date – How current?
» Language – In English?

12. Traditional strengths
» Titles are chosen by reference librarians
and subject experts
» In-depth evaluative annotations
» Broad subject coverage: General
Reference Works; Humanities; Social and
Behavioral Sciences; History and Area
Studies; Science, Technology, and
Medicine

13. New strengths
» Sources include cutting-edge online
resources and websites, free and licensed
» Powerful and versatile search and browse
» Interactive features that let you save and
share your work
» New interdisciplinary fields: Cognitive
Science; Communication/Media Studies;
Environmental, Cultural, and Gender
Studies

14. Our goal restated
We’ll show you how to leverage Guide
to Reference to support your work in
the following areas:
» Reference
» Collection development
» Teaching and training

15. The advantages of being
online
» Quickly browse and search in many
subject areas
» Customize and save your searches
» Create lists of resources and share
» Add notes/comments to titles and share
» Hyperlink among titles inside and outside
the Guide
» Connect to local holdings via WorldCat

16. Three major points of entry
» Home page – take a trial; subscribe;
participate and connect
» Browse page – see the subject
organization of the Guide at a glance
» Advanced Search page – construct and
manage your searches

17. Doing Reference work
» Direct library users to best/authoritative
sources for answers
» Train and orient new reference staff and
students/paraprofessional staff
» Create subject bibliographies and finding
aids.

20. Let’s talk about your work

21. Reference
» Direct library users to best and most
authoritative sources for answers
» Train and orient new reference staff and
students/paraprofessional staff
» Create subject bibliographies, finding aids,
and instructional materials

22. Current challenges
» Reference questions are fewer but
―harder‖
» More questions require subject or content
knowledge
» Too much dependence on Google and
other search engines

23. How the Guide can help
» Find best sources quickly by drilling down
into taxonomy and by refining searches
» Use Editor’s Guides for orientation
» Use annotations for guidance
» Create lists of resources for bibliographies
and finding aids
» Save your best searches for regular use

24. Collection development
» Evaluate your collection:
» What’s missing
» What needs to be updated
» What should be retired
» Build collections for new programs and for
special libraries (law, medicine,
corporate)

25. Current challenges
» Making do with less: Budget cuts
» Print vs. online sources
» Buying for library staff vs. library users
» Small collection development staff; limited
staff time

26. How the Guide can help
» Use Editor’s Guides to understand shape
and direction of reference literature
» Use annotations to compare resources
» Create lists of titles for possible purchase
and share with colleagues
» Add notes/comments to titles that should
be updated or retired
» Customize and save searches to run at
regular intervals

27. Teaching and training
» Introduce next generation of reference
librarians to reference sources and
reference practices
» Differentiate among types of reference
sources and their value and use
» Communicate nature of information-
seeking and reference process

28. Current challenges
» Value of bibliographies and traditional
reference works in an online world
» Difference between print and online
sources
» Too much dependence on Google and
other search engines

29. How the Guide can help
» Orient students to the taxonomy
» Ask students to read Editor’s Guides
» Ask students to evaluate different
resources based on their annotations
» Ask students to find best resources for
answering questions
» Ask students to create subject guides
» Create lists of resources for class projects

30. Let’s take a look at the Guide

31. Begin with Browse
» Orient yourself to complete taxonomy on
Browse page; 6 major subject divisions
and 56 subject categories
» Drill down into different subject categories
» Move through deeper levels of subject
categories to refine search
» Pay attention to Editor’s Guides along the
way

36. Take advantage of Editor’s
Guides
» They discuss overall shape of reference
literature in different subject areas
» They discuss characteristics of the
literature outside the scope of annotations
» They discuss changes to publishing and
research patterns caused by the online
revolution
» They’re written by the Editorial Board and
contributing editors

42. You can search for Editor’s
Guides

50. Continue with Search
Two ways to search:
» Single-Box search: Search all record fields
at same time (Title, Author, Annotation,
Publisher)
» Advanced search: Search by different
record fields; combine search terms with
Boolean operators

56. If you like your search, save it
and run it later

58. Rely on the Annotations
» Annotations are written by experts
» They describe and evaluate essential
features of reference sources
» Intention
» Coverage
» Content
» Arrangement

59. Annotations will help you
» Understand the history of a resource
» Understand the utility of a resource
» Understand the value and reputation
of a resource
» Compare and contrast resources
» You can search for annotations by
keyword

64. Make the Guide your own
with Interactive Features
» Create a User Profile so you can save
your work
» Customize and save your searches
» Create lists of titles and share/export
» Add your notes/comments to titles
and share with your colleagues
» Create your own mini-Guide by
saving a subset of your favorite titles

78. Q&A
We’re ready to answer your questions

79. Wrapping up
» Taking a trial
» Subscribing
» Special offer for LIS programs
» We’ll archive this webinar
» Please take our survey

80. Guide to Reference Essentials
Webinars
» Recurring series of webinars every
other month
» Please tell your colleagues about the
webinars
» Join us again
» We look forward to your feedback
» Contact us at:
guidetoreference@ala.org