Laying a Foundation for Comparing Departmental Structures between Reference and Instructional Services: Analysis of a Nationwide Survey

Abstract

Public services librarians in academe juggle multiple duties, with reference and instruction being the two most common and visible. A survey of midsized academic libraries measured the departmental relationship between librarians who provide reference services and librarians who provide instruction services. Results indicate that services are generally organized in one department and instruction coordinators are prevalent. Regardless of departmental structure, reference and instruction librarians have similar jobs; they nearly all teach classes and work at the reference desk. Summarization of the subjective commentary reveals underlying satisfaction levels with various organizational arrangements and insight into the pros and cons of maintaining integrated or separate reference and instruction services.