Success at the Enquiry Desk

This guide aims to help professionals become self-sufficient in answering enquiries. It takes them step-by-step through all the stages, from finding out what the enquirer really wants, through deciding what sources to use and how much information to select, to providing an answer. It offers practical advice on how to make the best use of limited resources, assessing the relative merits for different purposes of printed, portable electronic and online sources, and suggests strategies to adopt if the answer is nowhere to be found. It is designed as a "one-stop" manual of techniques which are equally effective in large or small libraries or information units. Throughout the emphasis is on techniques rather than sources, but a list of 25 multi-purpose reference sources is included.