Ohio Reference Excellence (ORE) Training Goals and Objectives

The goal of ORE is to improve the quality of reference service in Ohio. Objectives to meet that goal include demonstrating knowledge of the following concepts through exercises, quizzes, and behaviors applied on the job:

• Reference Service
  Provide a valuable service to the community and meet patrons’ real, if unexpressed, information needs.
• Reference Process
  Follow a four-step process including outreach, determining real information needs with a skilled reference interview, filling needs successfully with appropriate strategies and resources, and follow-up to verify that needs are met.
• Reference Interview
  Use the reference interview, the heart of the reference process, applying appropriate questioning techniques of paraphrasing, open questions, clarifying, verifying, and follow-up to assess real information needs.
• Working with People
  Use appropriate and effective actions and behaviors in addition to the questioning techniques of the reference interview, specifically the Model Reference Behaviors, and apply learned skills for working with special groups of people.
• Strategies and Resources
  Choose effective strategies and appropriate resources from all available resources in the library, in other libraries, or online, and apply reference tool examining skills to evaluate resources.
• Professional Ethics
  Perform work with consideration for professional ethics and the rights of patrons.

Certificate of Achievement

At the end of each module, the trainee is asked to do the following:

• Submit the quiz and exercises to you for your evaluation.
• Print a certificate when you have approved the work.
• Submit or mail a copy of the certificate to OLC (if necessary for certification).
• Complete the evaluation form and tell us what you think.