Face-to-face v. phone v. electronic reference

This last Monday I received a flurry of phone reference questions. Most of them were easy to answer or were questions fit for the Access/Checkout/Circulation desk. One, however, was a student from CMU and needed materials from our Library System. He was a returning student and wasn't sure how to use the library.

I spent quite a bit of time with the patron, perhaps 5-10 minutes. This wasn't much of a problem because the morning was slow. While talking to this patron, I excused myself to answer a couple quick face-to-face questions at the desk. Eventually, I got into the In's and Out's of MelCat, ILL and Michicard. I wanted to make sure he got as much useful information as possible. You know, that's what I do.

In the midst of my explanation of the various cooperatives and ways to get books from other schools, a patron walked up, stood at the desk and stared at me. I was focused on finishing my point with the man on the phone when I realized I was getting rushed by the patron at the desk. He was gesturing for me to hurry up.

Flustered, I cut off my explanation and excused myself again. I put the phone down and with the best smile I could chisel into my face, I tersely said, "I'm sorry, sir, how can I help YOU?" He asked his directional question and eventually he apologized for being such a [fill in the blank] and went about his way.

This type of situation made me wonder what I should do in situations with patrons that need a touch more assistance, but are not in person. I asked one of the librarians here at UGL, Lothar Spang, and he said that we usually have a 5-minute limit for all patrons. That was a useful policy to know, but it still didn't answer how to prioritize, if you will, the patron types.

I looked to RUSA's (Reference and User Services Association) to their behavioral guidelines. I recommend anyone trying to get into reference services to check this stuff out.

http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/referenceguide/ guidelinesbehavioral.htm

Yet, I really didn't find too much stuff about who to put first in a situation like, for example, I was on the phone and a patron needed a quick question. I didn't find this little bit though:

1.3.1 Employs a system of question triage to identify what types of questions the patrons have when more than two patrons are waiting. Frequently asked questions, brief informational questions, directional questions, and referrals can be answered quickly, allowing more time to devote to in-depth reference questions.

So, looking back, I should've communicated better with the patrons at the desk and knocked out their questions right away. They were, after all, directional and easy. The man on the phone required more assitance.