The paradigm of librarians who continue to follow the “traditional” behavior of sitting behind a Reference Desk expecting students to come to them, is shifting. A literature search reveals a variety of ways librarians are embracing “new” ways to connect with students. They are going where the students hang out: in the classroom, in residence halls, food courts, and student lounges. The reader of this paper is given a brief overview of literature searches that were conducted by the writers but the primary focus of the paper is on the library’s program of “Librarians in The Residence Halls (“LRH”),” where librarians set up weekly, lunch time “Help” desks outside Residence Hall Dining Rooms. The program presenter will share conclusions that were drawn by the librarians as they evaluated the conclusion of the program, “What was good, what was challenging, and what could have been done better?”

The staff of Cunningham Memorial Library’s Public Services Department is currently engaged in exploring the implementation of a “combined services” model wherein the Reference “Ask” desk and the Circulation Desk would be combined into a single service point. A useful part of the investigative process is being able to consult with libraries who already employ this model. One such library is the B. D. Owens Library at Northwest Missouri State University. Two of the Reference Librarians toured this institute and prepared the following PowerPoint for sharing with their colleagues.