Reference interview

A reference interview is a structured conversation between a librarian and a library user in which the librarian responds to the user's initial explanation of his or her information need by first attempting to clarify those needs and then by directing the user to appropriate information resources.

A reference interview is structured according to a series of steps. First the library user states a question or describes a problem. The librarian then clarifies the user's information need, sometimes leading him or her back from a request for a specific resource (which may not be the best one for the problem at hand) to the actual information need as it manifests in the library user's life. Following that, the librarian suggests