Concurrent 2: Far but close? Reference services of Turkish university libraries during pandemics
Session Format
Virtual Full Paper Presentation
Proposal Synopsis
The COVID-19 pandemic has dominated all aspects of public and private life for almost two years, with lockdowns and other restrictions implemented around the world. The global spread of the coronavirus has significant consequences on professional life too. This health crisis resulted in adaptation to a new form of working. The lockdown introduced rather unusual work models like telecommuting, for whom most of the professionals were not prepared. There is compelling evidence that COVID-19 also has deep impacts on the way that information professionals work. As a part of our master’s thesis in information science, we conducted a survey in May 2021, which aimed at understanding the effects of telecommuting on reference services offered by university librarians in Turkey. The method that we have adopted was an online questionnaire survey to obtain a portrait of the impacts of telecommuting on references services and on reference librarians. We observed the effects of social distancing on reference services, which normally necessitate a proximity between librarian and user. Our results also show how telecommuting during the lockdown blurs boundaries between professional and private sphere. Our study also aimed at grasping new definitions of work introduced by the pandemic and at observing the effects of new professional perspectives on information sciences and especially on reference librarians in Turkey. Apart from document delivery and electronic databases, distance services at university libraries are rather new in Turkish context. So, in our opinion, the results of this nationwide study could be revealing to determine the roadmap in this process. In our opinion, our study would fill the lack in this field and contribute to adopt measures especially for the future.
Location
WALC 3122, a hybrid format for both virtual and on-site
Start Date
27-7-2022 10:30 AM
End Date
27-7-2022 11:20 AM
Concurrent 2: Far but close? Reference services of Turkish university libraries during pandemics
WALC 3122, a hybrid format for both virtual and on-site