Success at the Enquiry Desk: Successful Enquiry Answering - Every Time

by Tim Owen

"Success at the Enquiry Desk" is an essential desk-book to help the information professional become self-sufficient in answering enquiries. Step by step, it guides the reader through all the stages of research, from finding out what the enquirer really wants to providing a polished, value-added answer. Designed as a 'one-stop' manual of techniques which will be equally effective in large or small libraries and information units - and in any subject area - the emphasis is on how to make the best use of limited resources. It includes the author's list of 25 multi-purpose reference sources you can't afford to ignore, and the crucial "Success at the Enquiry Desk" enquiry form, which is especially designed to match the book's step-by-step approach to enquiry answering. The fifth edition of this best-selling practical guide is fully revised throughout, with new examples and techniques. It illustrates when and when not to use the web, and assesses new developments including blogs, wikis and RSS feeds. It also includes an entirely new chapter on using your previous enquiry answering experience to create a brand new information service.

114 pages, Paperback

Published March 17, 2003

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this version from work as the job I was being interviewed for said it included enquiry desk work, and as it'd been awhile since I'd done any I thought I'd better brush up. I thought this was a very good practical guide on how to do enquiry desk work. How to ask more questions about the enquiry, what sort of answer the reader was looking for, what sources to use, even how information retrieval works. If you're new to enquiry work this is definitely a good place to start and a good review if you've not done it in awhile. It's short and sweet. Ironically I didn't get asked any questions on this topic at my interview, but I'm still glad I read it.