Reference Retreat

We recently had a full day's worth of reference services discussion and learning here at the Penn State Libraries including the College Campus Libraries. We had as a guest the esteemed Marie Radford, who is still doing Chat Reference research but also talked about face to face interaction. She said one thing I agree with wholeheartedly, that chat and Facebook and phone (etc) are all just different modes of accessibility to our users. We need to provide the same professional and friendly service in all of these; that flexibility is a requirement of modern communications.

I have to say again, maybe for the first time here, that I am impressed by my colleagues here. They are always pushing for innovative approaches, some not any more technological than a hotdog cart (okay, a laptop enabled hotdog cart).