The award, $1,000 and a plaque donated by Reference Service Press Inc., is given to the author(s) of the most outstanding article published in RQ, the official journal of RASD, during the preceding two volume years.
The article, "Flying a Light Aircraft: Reference Service Evaluation from a User's Viewpoint," reports the experiences of 77 library science students who asked a librarian of their choice a question that mattered to him or her personally. The students' willingness to return to the same librarian and their overall satisfaction were significantly related to the librarians' behavior and the quality of the answer, according to the report. Want to read this award-winning article in its entirety online? Click here.
According to Joan B. Fiscella, chair of the Reference Service Press Award Committee, the article "focuses on behavioral and communication skills of personnel serving at reference desks, with implications for immediate application." She goes on to say, "The committee welcomed this article as a highly readable and positive contribution to the research literature on reference service."
Dewdney is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. Ross is a professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science and acting dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Western Ontario.
