Recently, librarians have been talking a lot about "roving reference." Reference librarians all over the country are roving! But why?

Simply put, roving reference involves reference librarians--you guessed it--roving around the reference department. We've recently started doing this at NPL. This allows us to check on patrons to see whether they need any assistance finding a book, getting information, or dealing with the computer.

We'll still be staffing the reference desk, so if you prefer to come see us there, you'll usually find one of us there to assist you. But you'll also find reference librarians up and about, making themselves available in more locations.

The idea is to break away from the model of the librarian sitting behind a desk, waiting for patrons to come ask for help. Now, as a patron, I like to browse by myself. But as a librarian, many's the time that I've gotten up from the reference desk to help someone, and picked up more questions from other patrons while I was in their area.

Are you a shy browser, or do you like the idea of having librarians get out from behind the desk to come check on how your search is going? Leave us a comment!