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Zhang, 1


Di Zhang


Instructor: Matthew Saxton


13 March 2011


LIS 520Assignment 4: Research Consultation


        In the middle of February 2011, I noticed an opportunity to help someone with a potential

information need. The person was a coworker whom I have worked with for the past 2-and-a-half

years as a fellow student assistant (STA) at the Seattle Central Library. The STA program lasts for

three years. My coworker was nearing his three year mark and was preparing to leave his job at the

library by March 5th. After hearing that he wanted to search for jobs to replace his current job, I

mentioned my reference consultation assignment and offered to help him with his search. He

enthusiastically agreed.


        During this initial conversation, he gave me some general information about his situation

(some of which I already knew). He is a junior at the University of Washington, where he plans to

apply to the UW computer science and informatics programs. He is specifically interested in part-

time jobs that will allow him to work with computers, although he would settle for other types of

jobs if necessary. He had done some searching on HuskyJobs, a database of job and volunteering

opportunities available at the UW, but had not yet applied to any jobs. We scheduled a face-to-face

interview for March 10th, the most convenient date for the user due to his schedule. The interview

lasted about 15 minutes. It began with open questions, such as: “Tell me more about your job

search so far.” I learned that his search had not progressed beyond looking through HuskyJobs and

the few job opportunities he learned about through friends; none of the latter was computer
Zhang, 2


related; he had not applied to any new jobs. I also asked why the user preferred computer jobs. He

stated that he wanted to springboard a career in computers and/or information systems by first

gaining experience in tech support. I then asked him to describe his skills, experience, and other

assets that he offers as a potential employee. This list includes skills such as html coding, PC and

Mac hardware installation, and troubleshooting experience.


        Next, I began to ask neutral questions such as: “What are you trying to learn more about?”,

“Can you tell me what kinds of assistance you would find most helpful?” and “How will this help

you?” These types of questions narrowed down the query to a more concrete problemand allowed

me to plan a search strategy. The user was experiencing somewhat of a barrier in his progress, what

Dervin and Dewdney (1986) would call a “gap.” He was discouraged from making progress in his job

search due to a combination of time constraints and knowing where to begin his search. After

further neutral questioning, I found out that what the user really needed was a list of job openings

in the Seattle area that fit his needs and qualifications. This would be the focus of my search.


        I used closed questions sparingly, mostly just to clarify statements. For example, when the

user mentioned newspapers, people, and the Internet, I asked whether these were sources he had

already consulted or was thinking of consulting. However, it turned out that neither was the case.

While he had heard about job openings from a few friends and had also used the Internet to search

for jobs at the UW, he had not looked in any newspapers; however, he thought that they would be

a good place to look. This illustrates how closed questions can often limit the user’s response to a

set of assumptions that may not characterize the actual situation. Luckily, in this case, the user

challenged the assumptions and provided more detailed and accurate information.
Zhang, 3


         During the interview, I tried to follow Anderson’s (2009) steps to keeping patrons happy1:


         1. Welcome the patron (no scripts)- I talked to the user like a real person, keeping plenty

             of eye contact and smiling often. I also tried to keep the interview friendly and

             conversational.

         2. Get some background information- I asked questions that revealed the user’s self-

             perceived situation and gaps, and how more information could help him.

         3. Let them know how long this will be- I told the user what I was going to do and when I

             would get my results to him: I would search for jobs, compile a list, and email him the

             list within 24 hours. He was satisfied with that plan.


Search Process:To get a better understanding of careers in computer related fields, I first consulted

the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 Edition on the U.S. Department of Labor website.

The handbook contains information on the training and education needed to obtain certain jobs

and earnings as well as expected job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions.

I thought that this might be a good resource for the user to refer to in deciding how to best

springboard his career. I included the link to the website in the document I compiled for the user.


         In terms of actual job searching, the City of Seattle website seemed like a good place to start

my search because the user had enjoyed working for the city (The STA program is paid for by the

City of Seattle) and would not mind doing so again. However, none of the job openings on the

website fit the qualifications and needs of the user. I also tried websites for classifieds, including

careers.nwjobs.com (an affiliate of the Seattle Times) and jobserve.us.I was unfamiliar with the

jargon that was listed in some of the descriptions (and thus unable to have asked about these

1
 although Anderson’s article was written for virtual-reference librarians, I found it to be helpful in face-to-face
interaction
Zhang, 4


termsin the interview). Therefore, I had to text the user to ask a few questions about his

qualifications. For example, there were several jobs that required experience in using JavaScript and

Ajax. The user called me back on the phone and was able to provide a more detailed description of

his programming experience (e.g. he had worked with JavaScript before, but not Ajax). He also

specified that he was not looking for programming jobs and preferred jobs involving tech support

and software/hardware installation. This altered my strategy by adding programming jobs to the

types of jobs I was weeding out, which already included engineering and management jobs, as well

as full-time jobs. I tried a variety of search terms, including “IT support,” “computer support,”

“computer technician,” without finding any results that fit the user’s needs and qualifications.


        Meanwhile, I also looked at the UW Libraries website. Although the user had looked at jobs

at the UW two weeks prior, there had been 2 job openings posted in the past week that he likely

did not know about. These jobs fit his needs and qualifications, so I included them in my list. The

next place that I searched was Craigslist, specifically the “technical support” section under the “jobs”

heading. Although most of the jobs called for engineers or persons with advanced degrees, I was

able to find several promising listings. Craigslist had 5 job openings that were listed within the past

5 days that fit the user’s qualifications and needs. I also checked the traditional big computer tech

employers (Boeing, Amazon, and Microsoft). Their openings tend to either call for B.A.s and/or

management experience and/or full-time commitment, so I did not include them in my list.

However, Microsoft does have internship programs in a variety of fields, including CS, IT, and

hardware/software development. I made note of this in the document that I compiled.


Compiling and Sharing:To present my results, I created 2 tables for the job openings. Both tables

had the same headings: 1) Job Title/Description, 2) Date Posted, 3) Rate/Hours per week, 4)
Zhang, 5


Location, and 5) More Info (which included links to job applications and websites). The tables were

used to organize the information about the job openings into digestible chunks and help the user

compare the different jobs. The first table had two rows describing the two job openings at the UW.

The second table had five rows and was devoted to the jobs found through Craigslist. All together, I

included seven job listings. As mentioned above, I also included some additional links to

information about Microsoft internships and career information from the U.S. Department of Labor.


        I emailed the user within 24 hours of our interview, as agreed. I kept in mind the following

piece of wisdom from Westbrook (2006): “In a digital forum, pushing a preformatted pathfinder on

the topic area can be as inadequate as pointing to a shelf of books” (p. 252). I made sure not only to

provide the list and the links to the information, but also an explanation of my search process, what

worked and what did not work, and why I chose to use the resources that I did. This would allow

the user to decide whether or not the search process was reasonable, thorough, and helpful. The

information presented cannot be evaluated without first evaluating the search process. I concluded

the email by asking the user to please let me know “whether you need more/different information,

how this information is helpful (if it is), and how you plan to use it (if you do)”


Feedback from User: The user responded by saying: “Overall, the list was really helpful and I’ll

probably apply to some of those or do some more searching myself later on.”2This indicated that he

felt the list was a useful starting point for his job search. More specifically, he said: “The

craigslist/UW websites you gave me in the table were pretty much spot on for what I'm kinda

looking for.” He also mentioned that at first glance, some of the Microsoft internships that I pointed

out “were good but seem to require a bit more experience than what I have right now.” While he



2
The user gave permission for his quotes to appear in this paper.
Zhang, 6


was not considering applying to the internships in the near-future, he would keep the opportunities

in mind. The user’s feedback suggested that he was satisfied with my search and results.


        One area that I could have improved upon was checking the reputations of the companies

that I did not know. The user did some checking on a company that did independent contracting

(for one of the jobs in my list). It turned out that the company has a reputation of being dealing

with its contractors in an unethical fashion. Sure enough, when checked the company’s record with

the Better Business Bureau, it had a score of “F.” I wrote back to the user to apologize for not

catching that fact before him. In the same email, I also reminded him that one of the jobs on the list

had a fast approaching deadline, in case he wanted to apply for it. In closing the consultation, I tried

to avoid the two problems that often occur at the end of interviews: premature closure and lack of

closure (Westbrook, 2006). I avoided premature closure by making sure that the user was satisfied

with everything that had transpired before ending the consultation. I closed by thanking the user

for his participation, wishing him luck on his continuing search, and asking him not to be hesitant

about contacting me if further needs should arise.


Conclusion: My research consultation a valuable opportunity to practice query negotiation skills,to

plan, applying, and communicate search strategies, to present the search results to the user, and to

bring positive closure to the consultation. My consultation process relied heavily on the neutral

questioning methods of Dervin and Dewdney, as well as Anderson’s and Westbrook’s respective

concepts for successful reference interviews. All of this was employed with an overarching goal in

mind: meeting the information needs of the user. The feedback that I received from the user

suggests that the research consultation was a success.
Zhang, 7


                                             References


Anderson, Craig. “How to Be A Person: Tips and Tricks for Virtual Reference.” C&RL News, Nov. 2009.


       Retrieved on 10 March 2011, from:

       http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/crlnews/2009/nov/person.cfm


Dervin, Brenda, and Patricia Dewdney. 1986. Neutral Questioning: A New Approach to the Reference


       Interview. Reference Quarterly 25: 506-513.


Westbrook, Lynn. 2006. Virtual Reference Training: The Second Generation. College and Research


       Libraries 67: 249-259.

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Cybersecurity Workshop #1.pptx
 

Zhang d lis520_assignment4

  • 1. Zhang, 1 Di Zhang Instructor: Matthew Saxton 13 March 2011 LIS 520Assignment 4: Research Consultation In the middle of February 2011, I noticed an opportunity to help someone with a potential information need. The person was a coworker whom I have worked with for the past 2-and-a-half years as a fellow student assistant (STA) at the Seattle Central Library. The STA program lasts for three years. My coworker was nearing his three year mark and was preparing to leave his job at the library by March 5th. After hearing that he wanted to search for jobs to replace his current job, I mentioned my reference consultation assignment and offered to help him with his search. He enthusiastically agreed. During this initial conversation, he gave me some general information about his situation (some of which I already knew). He is a junior at the University of Washington, where he plans to apply to the UW computer science and informatics programs. He is specifically interested in part- time jobs that will allow him to work with computers, although he would settle for other types of jobs if necessary. He had done some searching on HuskyJobs, a database of job and volunteering opportunities available at the UW, but had not yet applied to any jobs. We scheduled a face-to-face interview for March 10th, the most convenient date for the user due to his schedule. The interview lasted about 15 minutes. It began with open questions, such as: “Tell me more about your job search so far.” I learned that his search had not progressed beyond looking through HuskyJobs and the few job opportunities he learned about through friends; none of the latter was computer
  • 2. Zhang, 2 related; he had not applied to any new jobs. I also asked why the user preferred computer jobs. He stated that he wanted to springboard a career in computers and/or information systems by first gaining experience in tech support. I then asked him to describe his skills, experience, and other assets that he offers as a potential employee. This list includes skills such as html coding, PC and Mac hardware installation, and troubleshooting experience. Next, I began to ask neutral questions such as: “What are you trying to learn more about?”, “Can you tell me what kinds of assistance you would find most helpful?” and “How will this help you?” These types of questions narrowed down the query to a more concrete problemand allowed me to plan a search strategy. The user was experiencing somewhat of a barrier in his progress, what Dervin and Dewdney (1986) would call a “gap.” He was discouraged from making progress in his job search due to a combination of time constraints and knowing where to begin his search. After further neutral questioning, I found out that what the user really needed was a list of job openings in the Seattle area that fit his needs and qualifications. This would be the focus of my search. I used closed questions sparingly, mostly just to clarify statements. For example, when the user mentioned newspapers, people, and the Internet, I asked whether these were sources he had already consulted or was thinking of consulting. However, it turned out that neither was the case. While he had heard about job openings from a few friends and had also used the Internet to search for jobs at the UW, he had not looked in any newspapers; however, he thought that they would be a good place to look. This illustrates how closed questions can often limit the user’s response to a set of assumptions that may not characterize the actual situation. Luckily, in this case, the user challenged the assumptions and provided more detailed and accurate information.
  • 3. Zhang, 3 During the interview, I tried to follow Anderson’s (2009) steps to keeping patrons happy1: 1. Welcome the patron (no scripts)- I talked to the user like a real person, keeping plenty of eye contact and smiling often. I also tried to keep the interview friendly and conversational. 2. Get some background information- I asked questions that revealed the user’s self- perceived situation and gaps, and how more information could help him. 3. Let them know how long this will be- I told the user what I was going to do and when I would get my results to him: I would search for jobs, compile a list, and email him the list within 24 hours. He was satisfied with that plan. Search Process:To get a better understanding of careers in computer related fields, I first consulted the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 Edition on the U.S. Department of Labor website. The handbook contains information on the training and education needed to obtain certain jobs and earnings as well as expected job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions. I thought that this might be a good resource for the user to refer to in deciding how to best springboard his career. I included the link to the website in the document I compiled for the user. In terms of actual job searching, the City of Seattle website seemed like a good place to start my search because the user had enjoyed working for the city (The STA program is paid for by the City of Seattle) and would not mind doing so again. However, none of the job openings on the website fit the qualifications and needs of the user. I also tried websites for classifieds, including careers.nwjobs.com (an affiliate of the Seattle Times) and jobserve.us.I was unfamiliar with the jargon that was listed in some of the descriptions (and thus unable to have asked about these 1 although Anderson’s article was written for virtual-reference librarians, I found it to be helpful in face-to-face interaction
  • 4. Zhang, 4 termsin the interview). Therefore, I had to text the user to ask a few questions about his qualifications. For example, there were several jobs that required experience in using JavaScript and Ajax. The user called me back on the phone and was able to provide a more detailed description of his programming experience (e.g. he had worked with JavaScript before, but not Ajax). He also specified that he was not looking for programming jobs and preferred jobs involving tech support and software/hardware installation. This altered my strategy by adding programming jobs to the types of jobs I was weeding out, which already included engineering and management jobs, as well as full-time jobs. I tried a variety of search terms, including “IT support,” “computer support,” “computer technician,” without finding any results that fit the user’s needs and qualifications. Meanwhile, I also looked at the UW Libraries website. Although the user had looked at jobs at the UW two weeks prior, there had been 2 job openings posted in the past week that he likely did not know about. These jobs fit his needs and qualifications, so I included them in my list. The next place that I searched was Craigslist, specifically the “technical support” section under the “jobs” heading. Although most of the jobs called for engineers or persons with advanced degrees, I was able to find several promising listings. Craigslist had 5 job openings that were listed within the past 5 days that fit the user’s qualifications and needs. I also checked the traditional big computer tech employers (Boeing, Amazon, and Microsoft). Their openings tend to either call for B.A.s and/or management experience and/or full-time commitment, so I did not include them in my list. However, Microsoft does have internship programs in a variety of fields, including CS, IT, and hardware/software development. I made note of this in the document that I compiled. Compiling and Sharing:To present my results, I created 2 tables for the job openings. Both tables had the same headings: 1) Job Title/Description, 2) Date Posted, 3) Rate/Hours per week, 4)
  • 5. Zhang, 5 Location, and 5) More Info (which included links to job applications and websites). The tables were used to organize the information about the job openings into digestible chunks and help the user compare the different jobs. The first table had two rows describing the two job openings at the UW. The second table had five rows and was devoted to the jobs found through Craigslist. All together, I included seven job listings. As mentioned above, I also included some additional links to information about Microsoft internships and career information from the U.S. Department of Labor. I emailed the user within 24 hours of our interview, as agreed. I kept in mind the following piece of wisdom from Westbrook (2006): “In a digital forum, pushing a preformatted pathfinder on the topic area can be as inadequate as pointing to a shelf of books” (p. 252). I made sure not only to provide the list and the links to the information, but also an explanation of my search process, what worked and what did not work, and why I chose to use the resources that I did. This would allow the user to decide whether or not the search process was reasonable, thorough, and helpful. The information presented cannot be evaluated without first evaluating the search process. I concluded the email by asking the user to please let me know “whether you need more/different information, how this information is helpful (if it is), and how you plan to use it (if you do)” Feedback from User: The user responded by saying: “Overall, the list was really helpful and I’ll probably apply to some of those or do some more searching myself later on.”2This indicated that he felt the list was a useful starting point for his job search. More specifically, he said: “The craigslist/UW websites you gave me in the table were pretty much spot on for what I'm kinda looking for.” He also mentioned that at first glance, some of the Microsoft internships that I pointed out “were good but seem to require a bit more experience than what I have right now.” While he 2 The user gave permission for his quotes to appear in this paper.
  • 6. Zhang, 6 was not considering applying to the internships in the near-future, he would keep the opportunities in mind. The user’s feedback suggested that he was satisfied with my search and results. One area that I could have improved upon was checking the reputations of the companies that I did not know. The user did some checking on a company that did independent contracting (for one of the jobs in my list). It turned out that the company has a reputation of being dealing with its contractors in an unethical fashion. Sure enough, when checked the company’s record with the Better Business Bureau, it had a score of “F.” I wrote back to the user to apologize for not catching that fact before him. In the same email, I also reminded him that one of the jobs on the list had a fast approaching deadline, in case he wanted to apply for it. In closing the consultation, I tried to avoid the two problems that often occur at the end of interviews: premature closure and lack of closure (Westbrook, 2006). I avoided premature closure by making sure that the user was satisfied with everything that had transpired before ending the consultation. I closed by thanking the user for his participation, wishing him luck on his continuing search, and asking him not to be hesitant about contacting me if further needs should arise. Conclusion: My research consultation a valuable opportunity to practice query negotiation skills,to plan, applying, and communicate search strategies, to present the search results to the user, and to bring positive closure to the consultation. My consultation process relied heavily on the neutral questioning methods of Dervin and Dewdney, as well as Anderson’s and Westbrook’s respective concepts for successful reference interviews. All of this was employed with an overarching goal in mind: meeting the information needs of the user. The feedback that I received from the user suggests that the research consultation was a success.
  • 7. Zhang, 7 References Anderson, Craig. “How to Be A Person: Tips and Tricks for Virtual Reference.” C&RL News, Nov. 2009. Retrieved on 10 March 2011, from: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/crlnews/2009/nov/person.cfm Dervin, Brenda, and Patricia Dewdney. 1986. Neutral Questioning: A New Approach to the Reference Interview. Reference Quarterly 25: 506-513. Westbrook, Lynn. 2006. Virtual Reference Training: The Second Generation. College and Research Libraries 67: 249-259.