Unobtrusive studies and the quality of academic library reference services

Authors

Jo Bell Whitlatch, San Jose State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-1989

Publication Title

College & Research Libraries

Volume

50

Issue Number

2

First Page

181

Last Page

194

Keywords

quality, academic, library, reference, services

Disciplines

Library and Information Science

Abstract

This article uses empirical data from a recent obtrusive study of reference performance to explore content validity and assumptions regarding unobtrusive studies. Data collected by author support the contention that improvements are highly desirable before conducting more unobtrusive studies of reference service. The two most important changes concern the development of test questions representing all types of queries and supplementing the correct fill rate with other measures of reference performance.

Comments

Copyright © 1985 Jo Bell Whitlach. The published version of the article can be found online at: http://crl.acrl.org/content/50/2/181.full.pdf+html.

Recommended Citation

Jo Bell Whitlatch. "Unobtrusive studies and the quality of academic library reference services" College & Research Libraries (1989): 181-194.