Reference Service and Map Librarianship.

Abstract

* *. . . untouched topic in the field of librarianship . . ?and it continues to be so. Maybe reference work is so simple that all librarians are very good at it and know how to do it well. Unfortu nately, a review of the literature provides few insights into what is good refer ence service, and the few articles that have been written fail to capture the essence of what librarians really do. This paper will not address, nor solve, all of the issues faced in working with maps. In reality, libraries are one of the few types of collections in which refer ence, acquisitions, and cataloging are per formed in one location?often by one per son. Reference service, therefore, must be considered the final step in a three-part program?acquisitions, cataloging, and reference?and given more equal atten tion in the future. Map reference service should also expand beyond the working re lationship with current users?a strictly parochial view?to include analyzing the community of users and public relations. Too often, reference service is considered only after the collection has been acquired and cataloged. Just what is reference service? Very simply, it is the act of deciphering pa trons' usually indirect questions and pro ducing a document, or groups of docu merits, that satisfactorily provide an answer while taking into account the vari ous factors of scale, projection, contour in terval, coloring, sheet size, and perhaps ten or twenty other variables that were not included in the original question. This an swer can be provided in seconds, usually in minutes, and sometimes only after many hours of research. More importantly, it must be realized that answers will be found using numerous sources: atlases, aerial photographs, automated systems, cartobibliographies, dictionaries, gazet teers, government documents, library cat alogs, reference books, and even maps. The bookish'' library world has too often been criticized for its inattention to non book formats but, librarians could well be criticized as being too * Lappish.'' As a result, I prefer to think of librari ans as managers specializ ing in cartographic data. Considering the explosion of earth science information in so many formats, the terms map librar ian or map curator are now probably outmoded. An inordinate amount of time is spent on the acquisition of cartographic materi als and their bibliographic control, and many articles are devoted to these sub jects. The process of librarianship seems to then end, as librarians wait for the users and lament the fact that their

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