Evaluating Reference Service in a Large Academic Library

An unobtrusive study of the ability of professional librarians to deal with factual questions was conducted at the Milner Library, Illinois State University.Students were recruited to pose questions for which answers were known, to 19 librarians in five departments.In all, 190 test "incidents" (10 questions for each of the 19librarians) were used.Librarians were evaluated on the accuracy of the responses given and on their responsiveness and helpfulness, as judged by the student proxies.The methods used in the study are described, including the accuracy and attitude scales developed, the major results are presented, and suggestions are made on the follow-up action that seems appropriate after a study of this kind has been performed.