General Reference services are available at the Library Help Desk located on the second floor of Hale Library. Librarians are available to answer questions and to provide other reference services each day that Hale Library is open. We can also be reached by phone at (785) 532-7421 or by .
Reference staff help patrons use library resources for personal inquiries and class assignments. Both electronic and paper sources are available at the Library Help Desk and include such resources as databases, the World Wide Web, encyclopedias, and many other resources. In addition, many of our Subject Librarians provide instruction for classes, workshops, and are available for indepth research consultations. Please contact your Subject Librarian to learn more!
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Internet Resources
See our list of sites to help you evaluate web resources.
General Reference Mission Statement
Librarians working at the Library Help Desk are committed to providing excellent service to all users needing assistance with information resources. Trained library staff will assist users by answering questions and helping users learn how to use the library catalog, library databases, and reference and information resources. For more in-depth research, please consult your Subject Librarian.
General Reference Unit Goals
- Team members will maintain professionalism during all Help Desk interactions with patrons.
- Team members will offer the best possible reference resources to patrons.
- If a team member is unable to answer a patron's question, he or she will refer the patron to the appropriate person or resource(s).
- Team members will strive to improve their reference interactions with patrons through the continuous evaluation of themselves.
- Team members will stay current with cutting edge technology that would enhance K-State Libraries' general reference services.
- Team members will maintain reference statistics in order to make data-driven changes to the unit.
- Team members will provide crucial desk information to other service desks following the communication policy (ie., blogs, wiki, email, w drive, etc. ).
- Team members will encourage the development of information literacy skills through one-on-one reference interactions with users.
For questions about this unit or the services we provide, please contact Danielle Theiss-White, General Reference Coordinator.
