The content of this poster session on the public image of reference services was originally presented by the Reference Interest Group of the Washington Library Association at the Association's Voyages of Discovery conference, held Thursday, April 10, 2003, in Yakima, Washington.

A unique CD accompanied the presentation, the purpose of which is to help librarians articulate for themselves the nature and scope of their services, and in turn communicate this to their public. This presentation represents an effort to help librarians everywhere explain what it is they do to stakeholders in their respective libraries, whether public, academic, or special.

The montage of images found in the presentation adumbrate all the roles that reference librarians play; from teaching, writing, and production, to research. This composition is a timely public relations tool that can be used as a template to educate and reach a target audience, within institutional, academic, special or public libraries. Library professionals will learn to capture and propose positive images to inform the public and attract users, support and funding, by using this presentation as a template for their own library services.

Reference libarianship has come under increasing scrutiny with the
advent of the Internet. This presentation advocates for reference librarianship. It is a reminder to reference librarians of how much they do, and of how varied and original their services can be to their own constituencies.