1. Reference
Queries
Pallavi Sakharam Belkar

2. REFERENCE SECTION :
Every well-organized, large or medium library is
organized into a number of sections or departments. One
of the sections is called Reference Section.
In a small library, there may be no separate reference
section.
A reference section is that section which provides
reference service.

3. REFERENCE LIBRARIAN :
The person who provides reference service is called a
Reference Librarian.
A reference librarian gets an opportunity to meet people from
different strata of society.
His/ Her job is to bring the user in contact with the right
information / book.

4. REFERENCE SERVICE :
According to Rangnathan right contact means, “ contact
between the right reader and the right book at the right time
and in the right personal way”.
He has named this method as “ Reference Service”.
Reference service means, “ process of establishing contact
between a reader and his documents in a personal way”.

5. Reference Services
Short Range
Reference Long Range
Service / Ready Reference
Reference Service
Service

6. 1. Short Range Reference Service /
Ready Reference Service -
Definition :
According to Ranganathan, “ Ready Reference Service
is reference service finished in a very short time in a
moment if possible”. The concept of ready reference
service is based on duration of time. Such queries do
not get much time so they are known as “ Short
Range Reference Services”.

7. Examples :
i) What is the height of mount Everest ?
ii) What is the date of birth of Mahatma Gandhi ?
The above questions are such that the answers to these
can be found readily within a short time. Therefore, these
fall within the scope of ready reference service.
Ready reference service is more or less fact finding
service. Normally, sources of information used for fact
finding consist of reference books of different types.

8. Ready Reference Sources :
 Encyclopedias
 Dictionaries
 Yearbooks
 Biographical Dictionaries,
 Geographical Dictionaries, Etc.
It is not always necessary to provide information from
reference sources. In case the reference librarian knows
something personally.
For example : Somebody may be looking for the address of
a college. May be, the reference librarian remembers the
address.

9. 2. Long Range Reference Service -
Definition :
Long Range reference service on the basis of time
involved, sources of information used and the nature
of information sought. Research levels questions
which requires extended searches, several hours in
time like day, minutes or months or longer period of
continuous basis for search. Due to long period of
search time. It is known as “ Long Range Reference
Service”.

10. Long Reference Sources :
 Ready Reference Sources
 Periodicals
 Newspapers
 Non-book materials
 Theses and dissertations
 Reports, Etc.
A Reference librarian tries to gather information on
demand or in anticipation on the basis of questions
brought to the reference desk.
A Reference librarian should keep in touch with scholars
and institutions, so that relevant information, which is not
available in the library can be gathered from them.

11. It should be clear that ready reference and long range
reference services are essential in a library.
Because of these services user will get answers related
to small query or long query.