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By Bob Duckett
 How were you trained to find information? Possibly you were not trained at all. One would like to think otherwise, but I suspect most of us were plonked at an enquiry desk and told to do our best. Probably there was an element of pre-selection in that we were identified as reasonably intelligent, articulate and sober. Maybe we were told where to find the encyclopaedias, Whitaker's Almanac and the Statesman's Yearbook, and were shown how to Google. But essentially we had to use our wits. I well remember the terror I felt when first left alone on an enquiry desk, and I was a graduate professional librarian and, therefore, expected to know everything!
But - and this is an important point - how do you train staff to find information? You can't. You can teach staff, or send them on courses, to learn to navigate specific topics - law reports, maps, government publications, statistics, and so on - and these are good for learning how a literature is structured, which then gives you a fighting chance to help an enquirer with legal jargon, grid references, white and green papers, and so on. It certainly helps to go on as many such courses as you can.
Overall, though, the Universe of Knowledge is so vast and its inhabitants so diverse, that predicting and planning the face-to-face interview is so much pie-in-the-sky.
I exaggerate, and lucky you if you know your clientele and know what their likely demands will be: the course that students will be doing perhaps, or the job descriptions of users of a firm's library. But on a public library counter the next enquirer is likely to be unknown to you. You are at the mercy of the World and his Significant Other. There is also the point, increasingly common in this age of de-professionalisation, that you and your colleagues are unlikely to be professionally or otherwise qualified.
The best way to prepare staff for enquiry work is to ‘sit next to Nellie' for a few years. But apprenticeships are a rare luxury and experienced Nellies are in short supply, or busy in meetings. (If your libraries have not thrown them away, the casebook studies by Denis Grogan are the next best thing. Although written before the days of the Internet and at a time when ‘reference work' rather than ‘information services' was common, they have obvious drawbacks, but they do give an insight of how enquiry work ‘ought' to be done.)
Basically, though, it comes down to ‘learning by doing'. When selecting staff for reference and enquiry work, I looked for someone with wide interests, who was informationally street-wise, and who knew who the Foreign Secretary was. One of my best recruits was a whiz at pub quizzes, collected militaria and wrote poetry; in other words, had a good general knowledge, a passion, and sensitivity.
So that is the raw material, but what happens when my poetical badge-collecting quiz whiz is faced with the World and His Wife? This was the task that faced colleagues Chris and Pete and myself when discussing how we could help the poor lambs led to the slaughter at the enquiry desk. How can things be made easier than it was for us? So we compiled an A to Z of topics and provided suggestions of where answers to questions might be found.
We also tried to identify the sort of things members of staff needed to consider when dealing with an enquiry, some of the common mistakes and pitfalls made (often by ourselves!), and any tips we could pass on. We got Facet Publishing interested and 'Know It All; Find It Fast' is now in its third edition. What follows is a selection of some of these tips and pitfalls. (And yes, I know, we can never 'Know It All', that was the publisher's choice of title, but 'Find It Fast' is spot on.)
Speak the right language
One of the skills needed to answer enquiries, specifically to communicate the answer, is to use appropriate speech, especially vocabulary. Don't use jargon or a sophisticated vocabulary to someone who doesn't understand it. Conversely, don't insult people by talking down to them. In listening to the person's question, one has to judge what level of discourse to adopt - words of one, two, three of more syllables? Will the enquirer know what a ‘bibliography' or a ‘statute' is? Or should we say ‘list of books' and ‘laws'? A pitfall is that we all use words in special ways without realising it. Take such commonplaces as ‘book stack', ‘issue counter' and ‘catalogue'. I soon learned to say ‘book store', ‘checkout' and ‘stock list'. Learn to be a chameleon so that your questioner thinks you are one of them.
Who wants to know?
This phrase can be used aggressively, but here it is neutral. It is important to know why, and for what purpose, the information is needed, since the answer will vary according to the user and the user's needs. The answer to ‘How many sheep are there in Australia?' may be to the nearest million if asked by a school child, but needs to be more precise if asked by the chairman of the Wool Marketing Board. The answer to the former can come quickly from an encyclopaedia, but that to the latter will require a more up-to-date statistical source, probably from a website.
Listen - confirm
As a library user I often find staff all too ready to rush off to get the answer before I've finished asking the question. Too keen to please, perhaps. Or seizing on something they do know rather than staying to find out what they don't. Related to this is the need to confirm that you understand the question. This is particularly important when there are language difficulties. Time spent listening and clarifying can be time well spent. Have you got all the facts? Nothing is more irritating, to both parties, when time is wasted. Involve the enquirer in your search and tell them what you are doing.
Contextualize. Why do you want to know?
Related to the above is the need to know the context of the enquiry, both to understand the enquiry, and to find an appropriate answer. Staff anecdotes are legion about misunderstood enquiries. A classic is ‘What have you got about Marx on China?' or is it ‘Marks on china?' - It's easier when written! On being asked about the law on marriage, I toddled off to Halsbury's Laws, only to discover later that it was the laws on marriage in Pakistan that was required. On being asked about shipping routes to West Africa, and wondering what source to seek, I was saved by the enquirer volunteering that he wanted to work his passage and happy being given Jobs Abroad from off the open shelves.
Quizzes, puzzles and competitions
The quiz addict, crossword puzzler and competition buff are sent to torment us. Fortunately this is an area where the internet has been a boon. Search engines and specialised web sites for crosswords can take pressure off the counter staff. Without wishing to be negative, and knowing how important it is for people to come in and use a library, it does require tact and skill to handle the persistent trivia addict. Some libraries have policies on this problem, particularly when the stream of questions is seemingly endless or the answer elusive. For quizzes, I had a rule-of-thumb of three questions or twenty minutes and no more. One solution for a persistent drip of trivia-type questions from the same person is an early tea-break. Or being rude. This is not recommended but sometimes it is necessary.
Do it yourself
Obviously one wants to encourage enquirers to seek their own answers, but try telling this to some people! And some don't have the skills. The ideal situation in a general library, as opposed to one - a company perhaps - in which it is one's job to find answers, is to show the enquirer how to find the information they require and leave them to get on with it, perhaps checking from time to time that they are OK. This has the benefit of making the enquirer more clued-up and may lead them to ask you less often in the future. There will, inevitably, be those people who just will not do their own research and who believe it is your job (and they pay your salary!) to answer their question for them: the librarian as Jeeves scenario. But we must continue to try to educate our public in information finding skills. They may even thank you.
Rescue strategy
When all efforts at steering the enquirer away from the counter have failed, or they persist in telling you their life story and that of their ancestors, and your assertive skills have failed too, bring into play the department's rescue strategy. The bogus phone call is a useful ploy. It is at times like this you need to look out for your colleagues in distress.
Seek help
No one can know everything and it is unwise, stupid even, to pretend otherwise. It can be a hard thing to admit you don't know the answer, or even understand the question. The clever thing is to seek help. To do so may even raise your standing in the eyes of the enquirer. Having studied for a Bachelor of Divinity degree, I reckoned I knew a thing or two about religion. I was quickly to learn most of what I knew was useless in a reference library. I hadn't a clue about Saint's Days, but was rescued by an experience junior assistant who handed me Chamber's Book of Days. Thank you, David, wherever you are!
Empathise, but not too much
Think about it. Which of the many people you seek help from - be it a library, shop or bank - do you prefer? It is the one who takes you seriously - who not only listens, but responds and shows they understand you. In a public service situation where people are coming at you from all directions all the time asking you all sorts of questions, it is hard to remain relaxed. It is hard to remain focused on the next enquirer and to take them seriously. It is so easy to ‘turn off' and treat the public as ‘them', as problems. But at times we need to make the effort, and not only will you give a better answer, you will have gained respect and kudos for the service. On the other hand, watch out - there are time wasters about. Stay focused on the specifics.
So you think you know best?
It is a marketing truism that the ‘Customer is always right'. Up to a point, this goes for libraries too. Yet we information and knowledge workers know that sometimes the enquirer insists he or she is right when you know they are not. Sometimes, having presented the correct answer or the relevant information, the enquirer persists in their folly. Time to call ‘Time!', shrug your shoulders (metaphorically of course), and get on with your life. Once, when a reader insisted that I was wrong (about Coptics and Gnostics or something), he later came back to apologize. We have been friends ever since.
Go for the obvious
One of the great problems in seeking information in indexes, catalogues and the like, is to know which terms to use. Language is frustratingly vague at times. Do we use the technical term or the common term? Is there a precise term? Often, especially in the social sciences, terminology is not well established. Even people's names can vary. Years of experience has told me not to be too clever.
Watch out for the obscure
Indexes can be very stupid, especially computer-produced ones. Watch out for terms filed under the definite (‘The') and indefinite (‘A', ‘An') articles. Watch out for different ways of filing terms: word-by-word or letter-by-letter are the basic ones, but different publications may file the same word differently, especially compound terms. De La Mare, Walter; La Mare, Walter De; or Mare, Walter De La? Likewise, always be mentally armed with synonyms.
Know your sources
It goes without saying that you should know your websites, your reference books and your contacts yet, for some reason, we librarians seem ashamed to read books. Take time every day to study the arrangement and indexes of reference books and check that websites haven't changed. You should know Whitaker's backward. What's in the preliminary pages of your desk diary? How do the Yellow Pages, the White Pages and Thompson telephone directories differ, and which is best for what? What electronic subscription services are available in your library? What are the log-on codes? Use them.
Where are they?
Question: Are your subject dictionaries filed with other books on the subject (textbooks often have useful glossaries) or with other language dictionaries? And how are your dictionaries arranged? By Dewey or some simpler system? What about multi-lingual ones? Do take time to prowl and see your resources as the public sees them.
The unanswerable
Finally, not every question has an answer. One definition of philosophy is that it is the study of questions that have no answer - meaning that unless a question can be answered, it is not a proper question. Sometimes people ask things in such a way that no answer is possible. ‘What is Freedom?' and ‘What is the meaning of life?' are two examples. Something to ponder while waiting for the next enquiry.
By Bob Duckett
Bob Duckett recently retired as Reference Librarian of Bradford City
Libraries. He was previously Subject Adviser (Social Sciences) there.
Before Bradford, Bob worked at Birmingham Reference Library and the
University College of North Wales (as a cataloguer). He is co-author
with Christinea Donnelly and Peter Walker of Know It All; Find It Fast: An A-Z Source Guide for the Enquiry Desk published by Facet Publishing, 2002; 3rd ed 2008.
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