Roving Reference
Challenges:
One challenge is settling on the most effective model: length of roving shifts, what other tasks may be including in roving, how is staffing optimized...
Another challenge is having rovers who are comfortable being proactive offering help, but also can navigate the privacy boundaries with patrons
"One of the main challenges was highlighting and promoting the service.” Perhaps the biggest challenge is making the roving reference resource as clear and visible as possible, and actually having people take full advantage of that resource (such as, getting research help instead of just asking how to use a printer)
Marketing the service can improve the usefulness by making the service known. An example from the article was offering free candy with labels informing patrons about the reference service.
Roving reference can be improved if the rovers are properly trained and have electronic resources such as a tablet for web access and a phone to contact a librarian for assistance/referral.
And, of course, presenting oneself as friendly and approachable is important as well.
