I found the power point quite easy to brease through to get some quick reminders of what we should all be doing when we approach a customer with a reference question. These are all great reminders of the steps needed - clarifying the question, rephrasing back to them, making sure the answer is in a format they can use, and following up to make sure you got it right! I thought William Robinson's paper has a great way to phrase the question " just what do you need this for"? His paper says to try "What can you tell me about how you'll be using the information?" That way if a person doesn't want to get into a personal topic they can be vague or they might feel comfortable enough to share that it's for an assignment or a business job, etc.
I didn't get a partner for this exercise, but had the chance to do it when I recently took a Reader's Advisory course. I actually got paired with the teacher in that class because my partner never contacted me to do the assignment. I think we all feel pressure not knowing every subject, but that it's good to start with that sometimes. "I don't know a lot about that subject, so can you tell me a little bit before I clarify your question?"
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