REFERENCE SERVICES IN THE 21ST CENTURY ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: OLD WINE IN A NEW BOOTLE

Abstract

The paper discussed reference services in 21st-century academic libraries. Despite the innovations in service delivery, the core functions of reference services have not changed. However, what has changed are the information sources reference librarians consult and the tools they use in providing services. Today, it is observed that current trends in reference services are: online database searching, online public catalog, video-conferencing, tied reference services, social media, mobile technology services, roving services, research consulting services, mobile services and the world wide Web. Yet as exciting as these current trends in reference services, librarians face some challenges in fully implementing these services. These challenges are lack of expertise, lack of marketing, technical issues, lack of enthusiasm, lack of sustainability, and lack of current reference sources. It is recommended that reference librarians should maintain and develop new skills, librarians who are friendly, knowledgeable, experience and have good communication skills should man the reference sections of the libraries, more awareness should be created for old and new services, library management should lobby electronic resources publishers to create more user-friendly and easy to use databases, resources should be shared among academic librarians, libraries should acquire more current reference sources, reference librarians should endeavor to attend regular training, workshops, seminars and conferences and they must be enthusiastic, dedicated and committed to their duties.