For Your Enrichment: The Librarian as Cryptologist

Jesús Sanabria

Abstract


Modern search behavior patterns and strategies have increasingly placed academic librarians
as ‘decoders’ of the work assigned to the students they serve. This function extends beyond the
traditional reference interview and places the librarian into collaborative academic relationships
where practices traditionally delivered by ancillary support services become part of the reference
and instructional process. The academic librarian is entrusted with the role of “cryptographer,”
navigating thesis assumptions with students to complete assignments. By examining how
reference questions are constructed and the terminology they use in particular with often repeated
terms, librarians can learn to identify those queries that require critical intervention and demand
instructional intercession serving to illustrate how frequently students may stumble with syntax,
words, and phrases which prompt librarians to aid students in “decoding” their assignments.

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.60.3.8425

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