General Reference

General Reference services are available at the Library Help Desk located on the second floor of Hale Library. Librarians are available to answer questions and to provide other reference services each day that Hale Library is open. We can also be reached by phone at (785) 532-7421 or by .

Reference staff help patrons use library resources for personal inquiries and class assignments. Both electronic and paper sources are available at the Library Help Desk and include such resources as databases, the World Wide Web, encyclopedias, and many other resources. In addition, many of our Subject Librarians provide instruction for classes, workshops, and are available for indepth research consultations. Please contact your Subject Librarian to learn more!

Ask a Librarian expands our ability to answer your questions.

Internet Reference Sources

See our list of sites to help you evaluate web resources.

General Reference Mission Statement

Librarians working at the Library Help Desk are committed to providing excellent service to all users needing assistance with information resources.  Trained library staff will assist you by answering questions and help patrons learn how to use the library catalog, library databases, reference, and information resources for future use.  For more in-depth research, please consult you Subject Librarian.

General Reference Unit Goals:

1. Maintain professionalism in all Help Desk interactions with patrons
2. Offer best possible reference resources to patrons
3. If unable to answer question, refer patron to appropriate resource(s)
4. Improve our reference interactions with patrons through continual reference evaluation of ourselves and peers
5. Stay current with cutting edge reference services innovations and technology. 
6. Maintain reference statistics to make data-driven changes to the unit
7. Provide crucial desk information following communication policy (ie., blogs, wiki, email, w drive, etc. )
8. Encourage the development of information literacy skills through one-on-one reference transactions.

For questions about this unit or the services we provide, please contact Danielle Theiss-White, General Reference Coordinator.