調查者不介入法

為使能在有限資源下發揮最大效能，參考服務品質評估之研究隨著參考服務範圍與內容之日趨廣泛、圖書館資源有限之壓力日增而日益受到重視。過去參考服務品質評估所使用的方式相當多樣，除重視「量」而非「質」之評估指標外，亦多從館方角度而非使用者角度進行評估。然為真正改善參考服務品質，唯有從讀者角度對服務進行確實的評估，始能有效掌握讀者需求。有鑑於參考服務中最重要的即為「問題解答」，而近30年來經常為研究者所使用的「調查者不介入評鑑法」即主要以參考服務中解答問題之正確性及館員之行為為評估重點，並且是從讀者角度進行的評鑑方式，其開啟了參考服務應用不同品質評鑑方式之先。因此本文冀期探討該法之特質及其於圖書資訊學領域之應用，以對未來參考服務之評鑑帶來實際助益。

The evaluation of the quality of reference service gains its importance in three aspects, namely, the range of reference service, the complexity of contents with the change of environment, and the pressure of library resources reduction. In the past, the evaluation methods of reference service mainly focused on the library itself rather than its users. A valid evaluation of the quality of library service should take the readers’ requirements and efficiency of the library service into consideration. The unobtrusive reference evaluation, designed from a user’s perspective, has been widely used by researchers. It assesses not only the accuracy of library staff’s response to readers’ questions but also measures the staff’s behavior. This article first discusses the features of unobtrusive evaluation and its related literatures and then analyzes its application in the field of library and information science. Thus the information gained from the results of the unobtrusive evaluation can be incorporated into the process of library planning and hence improves the quality of library service.