Investigation into the use of reference service by the English-as-a-second -language users of the tertiary library

Abstract

Increasing cultural diversity on the university campus presents to the tertiary library a challenge of serving English-as-a-second language users successfully and effectively. The reference service which is regarded as a connection between library services and users and involves much communication between librarians and users calls for a conscientious study of librarianship as far as this group of users are concerned. For these special patrons from vastly different background and cultures bring with them language problems, unique behaviours, different ways of thinking, different learning style, and perhaps unusual expectations of what libraries can do. This project responded to the need of filling a gap of the research through conducting a qualitative study by means of focus groups of both librarians and students to obtain a broader view of the issue. One focus group of librarians and three focus groups of students were conducted to focus on the similar questions prepared for both the librarians and the students. The data collected from the focus groups were combined and aggregated to produce an explanatory and objective summary of findings, analysis and discussion supported by the extant literature and research results. The study showed that the librarians recognized ESL students as a special user group as they found the transactions with them were more memorable, harder to deal with and took more time than those with other users. They had tried hard to cope with some frustrations in many ways but still confronted such problems as difficulty understanding their non-standard English, conflict between quick general services at the desk and long transactions needed, frustration of getting across some complicated ideas to these users etc. The most striking finding of the study is that majority of the members from the student focus groups didn't use the reference desk or used it not so much as or in a way that they were supposed to. The problems and difficulties of these special users have been identified by both the librarian and student focus groups. They all perceived language difficulty as a priority issue. Others include incomplete perception of the reference service, lack of local cultural and educational knowledge, great influence of their cultural and educational background upon the use of the service, and even psychological barriers. In-depth analysis has been done to explore the factors behind the present situation. The strategies put forward by the librarians of dealing with ESL users effectively range from having one more desk for longer transactions, promoting and encouraging virtual reference, providing more help-like services, offering other channels apart from those at the desk down to specifying a liaison librarian only for ESL users' affairs; whereas the expectations expressed by the students covers having more chances and ways of knowing about the service apart from orientations, having a bilingual librarian, sensitizing librarians to the problems of ESL users and even inviting one of their compatriots from higher level to help with library orientations and instructions, etc. All the groups agreed that the key to a successful and effective reference service were being friendly, approachable and patient. The study concludes with some recommendations based on the analysis and discussion of the findings, and a number of topics which were covered but not done in detail due to the nature and scale of the study.