Call for chapters: Reference in the Modern World(s)
Reference has gotten more complicated in recent years, with the plethora of materials online and in paper, more ways to ask questions and deliver answers, a larger multicultural public, and interdisciplinary subjects. All this is complicated by declining budgets as usage increases.
This is a call for chapters for a new book that covers these issues and more, for public and academic libraries. New authors as well as experienced authors are welcome. Chapters can be co-written. The deadlines are short to get it to press while still timely; a letter of commitment is needed by June 1, with a brief abstract or outline of topics and a short CV. Please feel free to ask
questions!
Working title: Reference in the Modern World(s)
Topics:
Length - 3,000 - 5,000 words (negotiable)
Bibliography is required
Reference for the unattached - freelancers, distance students, entrepeneurs, home schoolers, military, self-employed Business and academic support in the library, and vice versa
Balancing online and onshelf - budgeting for both, balancing services, training staff and patrons
Changing where we work - roving, virtual, embedded, and co-operative
Changing how we work - FAQs, websites, metadata, wikis, and knowledge management
Changing who does the work - staff and paraprofessionals, training, outsourcing
Specialists and generalists - new breeds and hybrids
Teaching your library - instruction, orientation, and learning commons
Images and media - reference when it's not written
Multicultural and multilingual - same skills, different outlooks
Special collections - getting patrons to the good stuff Geneology, rare books, archives, manuscripts, local history
More topics are welcome, please feel free to contact me.
Schedule:
Letters of commitment due June 1
First draft due week of August 2
Edited drafts returned week of August 30
Final draft due week of November 1
Audience:
Adult reference librarians in public and academic libraries, and LIS students.
Editor : Susan Knoer, MLS
susan.knoer@gmail.com
