I created this proposal for a Reference and User Services class which in took in the winter of 2011. The purpose of the class was to introduce students to a variety of both print and electronic reference sources, discuss evaluation methods of those sources, and examine the nature and practice of the reference interview while learning effective search strategies. One of the theoretical bases utilized in this course and in the construction of this artifact was the diagnostic process approach to information services as discussed by Robert Grover and Janet Carabell (1995). This approach recommends that information professionals take a clinical and individual look at clients’ needs, which results in the professional’s ability to tailor information resources specifically for them. This is a bibliography for a proposed reference collection to be housed in an undergraduate fashion school. Rather than simply start to pull books from vetted fashion bibliographies, I had to diagnose the needs of my clients. For the purpose of this artifact, I carefully developed hypothetical clients — students at an undergraduate fashion school — and practiced diagnosing their specific information needs in addition to properly evaluating the print reference sources that I identified as integral to fulfilling those needs. As a result of this practice, I am now able to engage in a dialogue with clients (real or hypothetical) about their information needs, deliver targeted print and electronic information sources, and present those sources in a streamlined manner.
Alyssa Vincent 