Throughout this internship, one of the most challenging aspects of the position has been learning to answer reference questions. Ever since we started practicing questions during the fall term, I’ve learned to appreciate the work of other reference librarians, acknowledging the amount of creativity and knowledge required for this career. After looking at questions on the chat with Claudia, I realized that questions could be about anything ranging from finding a particular article in any department to learning how to structure a certain citation.
Although learning how to answer reference questions is daunting, the experience has expanded my knowledge of the resources in the library and the ways in which you can assist patrons. I’m excited to continue working the chat with other librarians for the remainder of this term.
Clara Posner