Government documents reference service in Canada: A nationwide unobtrusivestudy of public and academic depository libraries

This study reports on a nationwide unobtrusive evaluation of government doc uments reference service at public and academic depository libraries in Can ada. Fifteen questions dealing with subject matter from both the legislativ e and executive branches of government were asked 488 times at 104 deposito ry libraries in 30 census metropolitan areas. Overall, depository library s taff members provided complete answers to questions 29.3% of the time. When complete and partially complete answers are counted together, the success rate climbs to 42.4%. Academic full depositories achieved the highest rate of success, followed by public full depositories. In-person questions were answered more successfully than phone questions. Print materials were by fa r the largest single source used (45.7%) to answer questions. When print al one was used, complete answers to the test questions were found only 39.9% of the time. When World Wide Web sources alone were used, the complete answ er rate was 60.7%. To improve service, extensive and periodic staff trainin g may be needed about the structures and functions of both the legislative and executive branches of government. Staff members need to know what progr ams are available and who is responsible for which program in the federal g overnment.