MOBAC Reference Committee Meeting
Tuesday, March 28, 2017 2 pm
Hartnell College Library
ACTION ITEMS: (details in minutes below)
___________________________________________________
Ann called the meeting to order at 2:10pm
Present
Ann Jacobson from Naval Postgraduate School
Alicia Martinez from Watsonville
Cynthia Ainsworth from Hartnell
Kris Amaral from Monterey County Free Libraries
Ellie Anderson from Monterey Public Library
Jean Chapin from Harrison Memorial Library
Sarah Dahlen from CSUMB (via Zoom)
Frank Gravier from UC Santa Cruz (via Zoom)
Recorder
Cynthia Ainsworth
Proxies
None
Approval of Old Minutes
February minutes approved
Public Comments
None
Old Business
None
New Business:
Library Services Survey
Time for each of us to review the information about our library on this public site : http://www.mobac.org/services-survey-draft-redesign/
Ann asked that each library review the information about their library (make sure it is accurate and up-to-date) by next meeting in May. No need to click through the "By Service" link. Just click on the name of your library under By Library. Changes can be noted on the wiki at: Library Services Updates 2017
Wendy Cao from PLP will make the changes on the MOBAC website. If you know how to make the updates, feel free to do so and indicate that on the Library Services Updates 2017 wiki page.
Facilitated Topic Discussion
Ellie Anderson, Facilitator: What do we do? What is reference and where is its value in a modern library?
Discussion Questions:
What does reference look like at your library? Who answers reference questions and what is the volume of questions? What is a reference question anyway?
What is the value of specialization? Is there a greater need for specialist in your library or generalists? What do those terms mean in different types of libraries?
Discussion on the what constitutes a reference question; the pros and cons of the single service desk and problems arise when non-reference staff are fielding questions. Do non-librarian staff understand what is a reference question? Yet, they are determining when a reference librarian is called. All agreed that with Google, the nature of what constitutes a reference question has changed. Reference is more aligned to customer service.
Identification of next meeting's topic and facilitator
The third discussion question will be the topic for next meeting: Kris will expand the question to make a fuller topic.
3) What does your community (school, town, etc.) need from its library? Who decides? How does reference service fit into the effort to fill those needs?
Review of our committee charge
Administrative Council asked the Ref Committee to review our charge: Does it makes sense? Do we need a new charge/purpose? Do we need a new name for the committee? Discussion on the different job titles held by those in attendance. At one time, heads of Reference attended meetings. Does the job of “Reference Librarian” exist and is it relevant to what we do? Our workshops tend to be non-reference related. Discussion of “Information Management” or “Public Service” as possible name changes. With a name change, would more libraries be open to sending other members who are not “Reference”? Committee members were asked to research other job titles that encompass the traditional reference role. Those can be shared on the Wiki at Job Titles
Reports:
Administrative Council
Included a discussion about the Reference Committee name and charge. We were asked to think about both and propose any changes to the Admin Council. The next meeting will be June 9th. We may not be ready to propose changes by then.
Tech Committee
Workshop April 28th on Google analytics and Internet security @ Marina Library. Flyer to follow
ILL Committee
No report
SPLAMBA
Play workshop last month was good but not well attended; committee working on a book list “Mirrors and Windows”: celebrating people who are different from ourselves
Reference Shares:
Kris shared that MCFL now has Bookbrowse, a readers advisory website similar to Goodreads: intended for paraprofessionals fulfilling more reference librarian roles. Suggestion made to invite a guest speaker to our Ref Committee meeting to present then open to discussion. Again idea about local history as a workshop topic was brought up.
News from libraries (off the record)
Meeting adjourned
Next meeting— (May 23, 2017 @ CSUMB)