LTA Reference & Information Services 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patron asks for legal information about their landlord-tenant dispute. What is the appropriate role of the library assistant?
- Advise the patron on their legal rights based on the assistant's knowledge
- Provide access to legal reference materials and suggest consulting an attorney for legal advice (Correct answer)
- Decline to help because legal topics are outside library scope
- Contact the patron's landlord on their behalf
Correct answer: Provide access to legal reference materials and suggest consulting an attorney for legal advice
Library staff can provide access to legal resources but must not provide legal advice, which requires a licensed attorney.
Question 2: What is 'WorldCat'?
- A catalog of rare and antique books only
- A union catalog containing holdings of thousands of libraries worldwide (Correct answer)
- A database of academic journals
- A children's book recommendation service
Correct answer: A union catalog containing holdings of thousands of libraries worldwide
WorldCat is a global union catalog maintained by OCLC that aggregates holdings records from libraries worldwide.
Question 3: Which resource is BEST suited for locating biographical information about a living US politician?
- Current Biography (Correct answer)
- Dictionary of American Biography
- Who Was Who in America
- Notable American Women
Correct answer: Current Biography
Current Biography profiles notable living individuals including politicians, updated annually.
Question 4: A patron needs to find the latitude and longitude of a foreign city. Which reference source is MOST appropriate?
- World atlas or geographic reference (Correct answer)
- Encyclopedia of world history
- Country statistical yearbook
- Travel guidebook
Correct answer: World atlas or geographic reference
World atlases and geographic references provide coordinate data including latitude and longitude for cities worldwide.
Question 5: What is the function of a 'serials list' in a library?
- A list of all fiction titles arranged by series name
- A record of periodicals, journals, and newspapers the library subscribes to or holds (Correct answer)
- A checklist of items sent to bindery
- A list of serially numbered government documents
Correct answer: A record of periodicals, journals, and newspapers the library subscribes to or holds
A serials list documents the library's periodical subscriptions and holdings, including coverage dates and format.
Question 6: When a patron cannot find a source that the catalog indicates is on the shelf, what should library staff do FIRST?
- Tell the patron the item is lost and cannot be found
- Check the surrounding shelves and reshelving carts before declaring it missing (Correct answer)
- Immediately place an ILL request
- Remove the item from the catalog record
Correct answer: Check the surrounding shelves and reshelving carts before declaring it missing
Items are often misshelved or on reshelving carts; a thorough physical search should precede any assumption the item is lost.
Question 7: Which of the following BEST describes the purpose of subject headings in library catalogs?
- To rank items by popularity among patrons
- To group materials about the same topic under consistent terminology for easier searching (Correct answer)
- To indicate the reading level of library materials
- To assign a call number location to each item
Correct answer: To group materials about the same topic under consistent terminology for easier searching
Subject headings use standardized terminology to collocate all library materials on the same topic, improving search consistency.
LTA Reference & Information Services 5
A patron asks for legal information about their landlord-tenant dispute.
What is the appropriate role of the library assistant?