have all advocated for the elimination of the reference desk. 4 Steven Bell has been an active voice in calling for eliminating the reference desk. He reiterated the main problems of the reference desk and said that the reference desk is only a symbol of reference service, not the service itself. He then concluded it is time to eliminate the reference desk and adopt new models. 5What are the problems with traditional reference service? Karen Summerhill pointed out that reference librarians have an inefficient service model, one that is designed for "'emergency' style services in a non-emergency situation."6 Summerhill argued that the consultation services that professional librarians should give should be offered by appointment, like lawyers, doctors, teachers, and professors do, not in the emergency style that is common at the reference desk. 7 Ann Lipow felt that when a patron needs help from the reference librarian, it means that the tools that are in place to help the patron-the catalog, the signage-have failed.8 Aaron Schmidt said that putting librarians behind a desk is "unfriendly" to patrons and makes it easy for librarians to ignore what is going on around them. 9 Other problems cited with traditional reference service include• librarians wasting time waiting for reference questions to answer; 10
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