Thinking Inside and Outside the Boxes: Archival Reference Services at the Turn of the Century
Abstract
This article looks at reference service as a form of knowledge management that assists organizations and individuals in the knowledge creation and organizational learning processes. It proposes reorienting reference activities from an information provision or document delivery process to a knowledge creation process through an examination of four contexts in which reference archivists work: context of reference services, context of referees (or users), context of the records or primary sources, and context of reference personnel.
RÉSUMÉ
Cet article examine le service de référence comme une forme de gestion de la connaissance pouvant aider les organisations et les individus en matière de création de connaissances et de processus d’apprentissage organisationnel. Il suggère de réorienter les activités de référence de fournisseur d’information ou de livraison de document vers un processus de création de connaissances par le truchement d’un examen de quatre contextes dans lesquels s’exerce le travail des archivistes de référence: contextedes services de référence, contexte des répondants (ou utilisateurs), contexte des documents ou sources primaires, et contexte du personnel de référence.
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