Assessing reference services training through student staff satisfaction.
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| Title: | Assessing reference services training through student staff satisfaction. |
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| Authors: | Zahradnik, Tracy1 (AUTHOR) tracy.zahradnik@utoronto.ca, Henshilwood, Angela1 (AUTHOR), Tran, Marcellin1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Reference Librarian. Jan-Mar2026, Vol. 67 Issue 1, p64-88. 25p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Library reference services, *Job satisfaction, *Ambiguity tolerance, *Libraries, *Academic libraries, *Outcome assessment (Education), Professional-client communication |
| Company/Entity: | University of Toronto |
| Abstract: | Most research on satisfaction with academic library reference services explores patron, not staff, satisfaction. The research team speculated that understanding staff satisfaction with reference interactions could be used as a tool to help determine the proficiency of reference staff training. During the academic school years of 2019–2020 and 2022–2023, student reference desk staff at the University of Toronto's Engineering & Computer Science Library were asked to complete a survey after each reference interaction. The survey questions assessed both staff satisfaction and their perception of patron satisfaction against variables such as time of year, patron time constraints, number of questions asked, type of question(s), and patron affiliation. Results showed that staff were satisfied with most interactions, however, they would benefit from reminders that information may not exist for some reference questions, and staff should not internalize this or be hard on themselves. In interactions where staff expressed the most dissatisfaction, ambiguity in any form appeared to affect staff satisfaction more than any of the other factors. Moving forward, exploring how other fields develop training and strategies to help staff manage high levels of on-the-job ambiguity could be applied to better support library reference staff training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Abstract: | Most research on satisfaction with academic library reference services explores patron, not staff, satisfaction. The research team speculated that understanding staff satisfaction with reference interactions could be used as a tool to help determine the proficiency of reference staff training. During the academic school years of 2019–2020 and 2022–2023, student reference desk staff at the University of Toronto's Engineering & Computer Science Library were asked to complete a survey after each reference interaction. The survey questions assessed both staff satisfaction and their perception of patron satisfaction against variables such as time of year, patron time constraints, number of questions asked, type of question(s), and patron affiliation. Results showed that staff were satisfied with most interactions, however, they would benefit from reminders that information may not exist for some reference questions, and staff should not internalize this or be hard on themselves. In interactions where staff expressed the most dissatisfaction, ambiguity in any form appeared to affect staff satisfaction more than any of the other factors. Moving forward, exploring how other fields develop training and strategies to help staff manage high levels of on-the-job ambiguity could be applied to better support library reference staff training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 02763877 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/02763877.2025.2570154 |
