Reference Mode Preferences of Community College (Two-Year) and Four-Year College Students: A Comparison Study
By John Carey and Ajatshatru Pathak in Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 2017, 12.1
This study augments the existing literature on user perceptions of reference services by not only analyzing the reference medium preferences of students from different academic disciplines, levels, and demographic groups but also by comparing the preferences of students from two year institutions against those of four-year college students.
Results
Nearly 75% of respondents expressed a preference for face-to face reference, while only about18% preferred remote reference services (online chat, email, text message, and telephone). Close to 84% of the participants cited remote reference services as their least preferred modes and
slightly more than 10% said this of face toface. The data reveal a widespread popularity of face to face reference service among all types of participants regardless of institutional affiliation, age, gender, academic level, field of study, and race or ethnicity.
Conclusion
This study suggests that given the opportunity academic library users will utilize face-to-face reference service for assistance with research assignments. Academic libraries at both two-year and four-year institutions might consider assessing user views on reference modes and targeting support toward services that align with patron preferences.