You and Me and Google Makes Three: Welcoming Google Into the Reference Interview (Lpp Special Issue on Libraries and Google) (Search Engine‪)‬

Reference librarians have always helped patrons articulate, refine, and satisfy their information needs. This process, the reference interview, has always involved the patron, the librarian, and one or more reference resources. Recently, though, the process has changed shape. Previously, librarians ferried information between patrons and reference resources, distilling and translating as necessary. Now, the first resource many librarians consult is Google, the tool most familiar to and adored by patrons. Google is famously user-friendly, and its output doesn't require distillation or translation. As a result, the reference interview has evolved from a mediated dialogue into a three-way exchange with information moving in all directions: between librarian and patron, between librarian and Google, and between patron and Google. Let me not malign librarians of the past. I am not suggesting that they wanted to keep patrons at a remove from reference resources. Quite the opposite: like today's librarians, yesterday's librarians wanted patrons to engage with reference resources. But, because so many of yesterday's reference resources were dry, difficult to use, and generally impenetrable--in a word, unengaging--patrons were often unengaged. As a result, librarians had to act as go-betweens. For the most part, they facilitated the flow of information, but sometimes, simply by being between patrons and resources, they unwittingly obstructed that flow.