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Footnote

Rez in: JASIST 55(2004) no.4, S.365-366 (D.A. Agosto): "In this entry in the Library and Information Science Series, Saxton and Richardson present a meticulously explained quantitative study of reference service effectiveness, drawn from public library data collected for this project. The study is based largely an Saxton's dissertation work, for which Richardson served as chair. Based an original data, the researchers examine three desired outcomes of the reference process: utility, user satisfaction, and accuracy. The authors collected a large body of data (N = 3520) comprised of in-person and telephone reference transactions, as recorded by responding librarians. Although the research was conducted in public library settings, the results should be transferable to most academic and school libraries, and to many special libraries as well. The relatively brief text (roughly half of the book consists of appendixes and bibliographies) is organized into seven chapters, with an extensive bibliography for each chapter. Chapter 1 lays out the research goals that underlie the study. These include an attempt to discover the factors that contribute to high levels of research performance, an attempt to identify the best indicators of successful reference performance, and an attempt to determine how well the data collected support the proposed model. The next two chapters, which combined constitute more than a quarter of the text, present and critique related research. Chapter 2 provides an in-depth literature review of past reference service evaluation research. Above all, this chapter brings to light the lack of theory driving this body of past work, a gap that Saxton and Richardson endeavor to fill. Chapter 3 evaluates the major methodologies that have previously been used to study reference service evaluation. In this chapter, Saxton and Richardson critique the existing body of reference-related research an methodological grounds. They cite as the most significant problems insufficient sample sizes, the widespread lack of the use of random sampling, and the minimal use of theory to underpin study design. Chapter 4, which lays out the methodology of Saxton and Richardson's study, is the strongest of the seven chapters. It emphasizes issues surrounding sampling, the proposed variables, data gathering methods, and data analysis. The authors do a good job of explaining the statistical theories and methods that they employ, turning the book into a sort of mini-review course in multivariate statistics.
The authors also do a good job of explaining the process of complex model building, making the text a useful resource for dissertation writers. The next two chapters focus an the results of the study. Chapter 5 presents the study findings and introduces four different models of the reference process, derived from the study results. Chapter 6 adds analysis to the discussion of the results. Unfortunately, the "Implications for Practice," "Implications for Research," and "Implications for Education" sections are disappointingly brief-only a few paragraphs each-limiting the utility of the volume to practitioners. Finally, Chapter 7 considers the applicability of systems analysis in modeling the reference process. It also includes a series of data flow diagrams that depict the reference process as an alternative to flowchart depiction. Throughout the book, the authors claim that their study is more complete than any to come before it since previous studies tended to focus an ready reference questions, rather than full-blown reference queries and directional queries, and since previous studies generally excluded telephone reference. They also challenge the long-standing "55% Rule," asserting that "Library users indicate high satisfaction even when they do not find what they want or are not given accurate information" (Saxton & Richardson, 2002, p. 95). Overall, Saxton and Richardson found the major variables that had a statistically significant effect an the outcome measures to be: (1) the extent to which the librarian followed the RUSA Behavioral Guidelines; (2) the difficulty of the query; (3) the user's education level, (4) the user's familiarity with the library; and (5) the level of reference service provided. None of the other variables that were considered, most notably the librarian's experience, the librarian's education level, and the size of the collection, had a statistically significant effect an the outcome measures.