Despite changes brought on by artificial intelligence (AI), special librarians still need traditional or core skills. Succeeding as a librarian requires durable skills such as communication, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking, which are emphasized in the Durable Skills Framework from America Succeeds. AI can retrieve and summarize information quickly. It cannot replace a librarian’s judgment about what a person actually needs and whether an answer will serve them.
One place that these durable skills show up for special librarians is in the reference interview. Librarians have been conducting reference interviews for decades, and they remain an important part of the job. If our job is to connect people with the resources they need, then we need to understand their information needs, which is often best understood through a reference interview.
What is a Reference Interview?
Let’s start by defining the term. A reference interview is “A structured, interactive conversation between a user and a librarian or information professional intended to clarify the user’s needs for information and identify relevant resources, sources, or search strategies” (Learn and Work Ecosystem Library).
The first question a patron asks is rarely the full question. A lawyer at a firm might ask, “Do you have anything on non-compete agreements?” That could mean a state-by-state comparison, recent case law, a template for a client, or background for a new hire. Without a conversation, you are guessing. With a conversation, you can find out what the person is trying to do, how much time they have, what they already know, and what format will be most useful to them.
What Skills Are Necessary for Conducting a Reference Interview?
During the reference interview, the durable skills of communication and critical thinking are used together.
Clear Communication
A good reference interview starts with listening. Open-ended questions invite patrons to explain the situation in their own words. Follow-up questions narrow the scope. Paraphrasing what you heard (“So you need recent federal cases, not state statutes. Is that right?”) confirms you understand before you start searching. Communication also matters at the end. Checking back to ask whether the results answered the question gives the patron a chance to say what is still missing. Every step builds trust, and patrons who trust you will bring you harder questions.
Critical Thinking
While the patron talks, you are analyzing what they say. You are asking what the real need is behind the stated request, which sources are authoritative for this question, and what search strategy will produce useful results. You are also deciding what to do when the first search does not work. This matters more now that many patrons arrive with an answer from an AI tool. That answer may be accurate, incomplete, or made up. A reference interview gives you a natural way to ask where the information came from, what they plan to do with it, and whether it needs to be verified before they rely on it.
The reference interview is not a relic of the pre-AI library. It is a practical way to apply the skills that set special librarians apart.
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