2026 ALISE Annual Conference

What is reference for? Competing answers to this question shape how reference is taught, practiced, and evaluated. This work-in-progress poster reports on an international research program using Q methodology to map librarians' orientations toward reference practice. Studies are complete or ongoing in Ghana, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Slovenia, South Africa, Thailand and the USA, with Sweden forthcoming and a cross-national synthesis to follow. Findings have direct implications for LIS education: curricula must equip future librarians to recognize, articulate, and choose among the values that animate reference work.