Redesigning Reference Works

Welcome and Introductions
Cliffor Lynch

Redesigning Reference Works
Michael Buckland

Research on library reference services has concentrated more on reference librarians rather than on the reference resources. Reference works themselves (biographical dictionaries, place name gazetteers, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.) have transitioned to digital versions of the familiar print on paper volumes. How might we abstract the nature of reference works in order to redesign them for a digital environment? How could the high costs of scholarly reference works be reduced? As scholarly activity becomes more digital could the transfer "from farm to table" be improved?