Such beliefs may have arisen because much of reference professionals work is invisible to their clientele and because librarians often give poor arguments to administrators wanting to cut desk service. It is important to understand the motives of information seekers and why they ask questions, said Lipow. Frequently, they don t want answers but information therapy, which cannot be done by a computer. Every information seeker has, by definition, become blocked in the midst of a situation and wants to become liberated. The function of reference professionals is to eliminate those blockages.
Convenience is paramount over quality.
People will use services that are convenient. We must reverse the downward trend in usage by becoming more convenient and visible. One way to do this is to think of ourselves as remote, not the users. Lipow envisions an In Your Face reference service that will work where the clientele works. It would gather informal information about the users, supply them with what they need, and thus become viewed as a partner in their work.