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Essay about Online vs In-Person Reference

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I. The Question
The question that was posed to both the Ankeny Public Library and Ohio’s Know It Know online reference service was “I am looking for information about the weather in Daytona, Florida.”
II. The Services
This question was first posed both Ohio’s Know It Now online reference service on Monday, January 27th around 6:30 pm cst. The question was then asked in person at the reference desk at the Ankeny Public Library on Thursday, January 30th around 6:00 pm cst.
III. The Expectations
When I initially posed the question to both the Know It Now service and to the Ankeny Public library I was interested in information about the monthly temperature averages, precipitation averages, hurricane season, etc. During my reference …show more content…

She then provided me with another link, www.therealtyprosonline.com, which had information about hurricanes, temperatures and various other items such as culture, demographics, education and transportation. This website was an all-around good source as it provided additional information about Daytona that I might not have been able to find on my own. During the reference interview Patricia asked a variety of open and closed ended questions. The first open ended question that she asked was “Was there anything in particular you needed to know about the weather in Daytona?” This question allowed me to elaborate into what specific information I was looking for. Once she found the resources that meet the requirements I indicated then she proceeded to ask a closed ended question. The closed ended question that was asked of me was “Are those helpful?” Indicating are the two resources that I was provided with what I was looking for. I replied that yes in fact that were. The entire reference interaction took approximately 12 minutes. At the beginning of the reference interview, Patricia indicated that it would take a few minutes to research the reference question. She was conscious of the time as it only took her two minutes to locate the first reference. When researching information about hurricanes within Daytona, obtaining this information took an additional 4 minutes to locate. While it might not have been a very lengthy reference transaction, Patricia was

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