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Scouting the perimeters of unobtrusive study of reference

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Title: Scouting the perimeters of unobtrusive study of reference
Author(s): Childers, Thomas
Subject(s): Reference services (Libraries)
Methodology
Evaluation
Abstract: This paper reviews the origins of the unobtrusive method of evaluating reference service in libraries, setting the method in a theoretical and organizational context. Drawing examples from the more than sixty studies performed in the past twenty years, limitations and strengths of the unobtrusive methods are explored. It is concluded that the technique, perhaps the most rigorous method of evaluating reference service, is useful for its client-centered perspective and its non-reactivity. It deserves not only continued use but continued development as a method of evaluation.
Issue Date: 1991
Publisher: Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Citation Info: In B. Allen (ed) Evaluation of Public Services and Public Services Personnel (Papers presented at the Allerton Park Institute held October 28-30, 1990): 27-42.
Series/Report: Allerton Park Institute (32nd : 1990)
Genre: Conference Paper / Presentation
Type: Text
Language: English
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/607
ISBN: 0878450866
ISSN: 0536-4604
Publication Status: published or submitted for publication
Date Available in IDEALS: 2007-04-12
 
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