BRIEF HISTORY

(Brief history of the Division coming soon....)

VISION

Our vision is to partner with faculty and staff to provide quality reference services to Users as possible and to help faculty members, staff, and general public meet their information needs.

MISSION

Reference librarians provide exceptional reference & research services to Users to become lifelong learners by helping them conduct effective and increasingly independent research.

OUR GOALS

1. To connect students, faculty members, and staff to quality information resources for intellectual, spiritual, & professional growth
2. To provide the tools & services to empower students, faculty members, and staff to use information sources effectively & ethically
3. To provide comprehensive support to faculty and staff in their endeavors in research and evidence-based decision-making

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RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DIVISION

The primary purpose of the Reference Division is to meet the academic and research needs of the students, faculty members and the general public using references resources. The Reference Staff assists persons in finding information, and should be the starting point for their research and information needs. The Staff provides both individual assistance and classroom instruction to assist students, faculty members and staff in developing research strategies, identifying reference and other relevant sources, locating library materials using the online catalog, and searching electronic databases.

The reference collection consists of print and electronic sources that represent general and specialized encyclopedias and dictionaries, almanacs, handbooks, bibliographies, directories, indexes, statistical sources, manuals, maps and atlases, and biographical materials.

Reference customers are people seeking information, whether in person, by telephone, e-mail, or other electronic conveyance. Reference services are nondiscriminatory on the basis of age, race, or disability. Confidentiality of user requests is respected at all times. Reference staff will observe the Code of Ethics of the American Library Association.

UNITS IN THE REFERENCE DIVISION

1. Information enquiry Unit
2. Information Retrieval Unit
3. Online reference Information Service Unit.

(I) FUNCTIONS OF THE INFORMATION ENQUIRY UNIT

1. Provide ready reference information services
2. Provide directional reference information services
3. Provision of brief, Factual information of the ready reference variety. Provision of reader's advisory
4. Aid the users in selection of information resources.
5. Provide research information services
6. Provide long range reference information services
7. Provide answers to all kind of queries
8. Shelving of the consulted information resources
9. Shelve reading
10. Taking statistics of consulted information resources.
11. Participation in the training of students on Industrial Attachment and newly employed staff.

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(II) FUNCTIONS OF THE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL UNIT

1. Guide users how to use the library catalogue card/Online Public Access.
2. Catalogue (OPAC) to locate information resources in the library.
3. Assistance and instruction (Formal or Informal) in the use of Library and its resources.
4. Provide Orientation to users.
5. Assist users in their search for information.
6. Promote the library services within the Community.

(III) FUNCTIONS OF THE ONLINE REFERENCE INFORMATION SERVICE UNIT

1. Assistance in the identification of information resources relevant to particular information need.
2. Provision of online Information Service through Facebook and Email.
3. Answering of Remote and Physical users Information Inquiries.
4. Database Search Service.
5. Provision of Readers' Advisory Service.
6. Creation of an Online Reference and Information Services awareness.
7. Maintenance of 24/7 digital Reference Service.
8. Maintenance of Online users Service Records.
9. Participation in the training of students on Industrial Attachment and newly employed staff.
10. Synthesis of Complex Reference Queries.
11. Enhance the users' experience with new technologies.
12. Support the needs of big science (massive data, unstructured data, extraction, visualization and simulation).

RULES AND REGULATIONS OF REFERENCE AND INFORMATION SERVICE DIVISION

• Users are to come in with loose sheets only.
• Resources are strictly to be consulted within the division.
• Answering and Making calls is highly prohibited.
• Users must maintain absolute silence.
• Users can make photocopy of relevant pages within the library under the supervision of the reference staff.
• Users are not allowed into the “ready reference” room as it is strictly for staff only.
• Open reference shelves can be freely browsed by Users.

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