ABSTRACT
One Saturday, early in the fall 2000 semester, the Reference Services Librarian at Valparaiso University (VU) came to the library to work on a project. As the head of the Reference Department, the Reference Services Librarian manages reference student assistants and oversees Interlibrary Loan, but also assists in other areas such as instruction and web design. Other librarians work in reference, but they do not report to the Reference Services Librarian. That afternoon, the librarian’s supposed fairly short visit turned into a five hour ordeal, largely because the Reference Services Librarian answered reference questions for much of that time. The several student assistants working the reference desk had not been adequately trained to work on their own and kept coming to the librarian for help. This lack of training stemmed from the newness of the reference student assistant program combined with professional turnover in that department. The barrage of questions prompted the Reference Services Librarian to wonder what happened on other Saturdays when she did not come into work. This experience served as the impetus for many changes in the Reference student assistant training program.
