Are reference questions on topic?

There have been a few questions from people asking for help finding library resources -- the type of question a library user would pose at the reference desk, rather than a question that someone in the profession would ask. Are these questions on topic?

sheepeeh

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Answer by sheepeeh

I believe those questions are better directed to someplace like the Internet Public Library, or the SE could rapidly be overwhelmed with this sort of question. (And while our expertise helps to answer the questions, they aren't about the expertise, if that makes sense.) The exception might be a reference librarian asking for help with a question s/he is fielding from a user.

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• KatieR: I agree with all of it except the part about a reference librarian asking for help with a question. Those are still not about the profession. I know that the YALSA listserv is filled with "help figure out what book this is" questions & I wouldn't be surprised if there is a similar listserv for reference librarians.

Answer by M. Alan Thomas II

I have to split the question into two parts:

​(1) Are reference questions asking for facts on-topic? No. They're on whatever topic they're asking about, and if that's not libraries or information science, they're off-topic for this community.

​(2) Are reference questions asking where to find facts on-topic? Yes. If it's a member of the public asking about library resources, that's a libraries question; if it's a reference librarian asking for the name of a good resource, that's a professional expertise question within libraries.

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