Meeting Changing Information Needs of Illinois Firefighters

Abstract The Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) Library, established in 1990 to support instructional teaching and research, continued to support the academic programs in the Institute while initiating and developing its Outreach Program in 1998. This program provides library and information services to Illinois fire departments and firefighters throughout the state. Since establishing the Outreach Program, the IFSI Library has accumulated more than 7,000 entries in a “Reference Request Database.” This paper reports and analyzes the data, including request methods, delivery methods, types of requests, and types of resources. Trends indicate a change over time in request and delivery methods. Different regions of the state and different user groups have begun to use the library. The research can serve as a model for designing, developing and evaluating outreach reference service in a special or small library dedicated to meeting the information needs of remote library users.