Active Listening at the Reference Desk.

Abstract

he asked for help? Do you ever sense that the real meaning of a patron's question was somehow obscured, and that your re sponse was not at all what was wanted or expected? This article will describe the human re lations skill called active listening, as a tech nique to ensure positive and accurate com munication between patron and reference librarian. The technique of active listening, as de scribed by Thomas Gordon in his book Parent Effectiveness Training,1 has been used primarily as a tool in parent-child relation ships. However, the concept has applica tion to any and all relationships between people. Active listening is a communication technique that is useful for those times when effective communication is ham

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