Successful Enquiry Answering Every Time

Successful Enquiry Answering Every Time is designed to guide information professionals through all the stages of research, from finding out what the enquirer really wants, to providing a polished, value-added answer.

When people want to satisfy their immediate curiosity, they’re much more likely to use a search engine on their mobile device than ask their local library. But while the days of personal intervention in this kind of enquiry are inevitably numbered, the professional skills that underpin them are not. This book uses technology as the enabler of the thought processes that information professionals need to engage in when answering enquiries and makes the case that new technology, far from making them irrelevant, raises the skill stakes for all.

Now in its 7th edition, this book is fully updated to cover new skills, such as:

• Employing critical thinking to manipulate, categorise and prioritise raw search results.
• Using strategic reading and abstracting techniques to identify and summarise the essential information the enquirer needs from the retrieved documents.
• Drawing on established story-telling practice to present research results effectively – whether orally or in writing.
• Working to the POWER model: plan, organise, write, edit, review.

This book is ideal for anyone who has to answer enquiries from users in any information role; those working in contact centres who are dealing with information enquiries, processing transactions or trouble-shooting technical issues; and information professionals working on enquiry desks in large or small academic, public, school or special libraries.