CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Reference and User Services Quarterly

academic journal

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ7307111 ↗
Source-derived summary

Reference and User Services Quarterly is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering library science. It is the official journal of the Reference and User Services Association and is published by the American Library Association. The journal was established as the Reference Quarterly in 1961 under the editorship of William Katz. A silver anniversary series appeared in 1986. The journal was retitled and obtained its current name in 1997.

In 1985 the journal appeared twice in the set design for the movie, Back to the Future, next to the bed of Marty McFly.

The journal is available electronically via EBSCO, Academic OneFile, and WilsonWeb, as well as its own website.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Reference and User Services Quarterly” as academic journal. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around User, Services and Quarterly.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1961, 1986, 1997, 1985—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1997. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with User, Services and Quarterly providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Reference and User Services Quarterly”, the useful work is to connect “academic journal” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7307111. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 1986, 1997 and 1985.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Reference and User Services Quarterly”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Reference and User Services Quarterly primary sources, Reference and User Services Quarterly archive and User research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Reference and User Services Quarterly”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Reference and User Services Quarterly” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.