ABSTRACT
CORE—California Opportunities for Reference Excellence—is an LSCA project designed to improve basic reference skills and collections in public libraries in California. The primary audience for the project is paraprofessionals in small and rural system branches. The project has purchased basic reference materials for participating libraries in English, Spanish, and a variety of Asian languages, to reflect the ethnic diversity of the State. Basic reference skills have been taught throughout the State, and a cadre of trainers have been created to teach a multiple-day, intensive reference skills workshop. Additionally, workshops dealing with special populations have been provided to participating libraries. A number of detailed training products have been developed by CORE and distributed to public libraries in the State to continue teaching efforts.
