Certification Study Suggestions
Examinations are based on the following materials together with actual I&R experience. An experienced Information and Referral professional should be able to perform well without additional studying; however, coverage of this material, together with professional experience is an effective way to prepare for certification examinations.
- Inform USA Certification Candidate Handbook - The essential guide to Inform USA Certification
-
Inform USA Standards and Quality Indicators for Professional Information & Referral — The Inform USA Standards address all aspects of an I&R operation including service delivery, resource database, reports and measures, cooperative relationships, disaster/emergency preparedness and organizational effectiveness.
-
Candidates may read the sections/volumes that pertain directly to their job:
-
CRS and CRS - A/D: Service Delivery sections, especially the first 6 sections of Volume 2. CRS - A/D candidates should also review the two sections on Serving Older Adults and Serving People with Disabilities.
-
CRS - DC: Resource Database sections/volume
-
-
All of the courses available on the Online Training portal are useful study material. There are also Certification prep packages and practice exams available.
- Inform USA Ethical Principals
-
CRS Practice Test is available as a module of our online training. Some of the questions are drawn from the AIRS I&R Training Manual while others have been pulled from old exams. Although there are only 50 as opposed to 100 questions, the format and the weighting of subject areas is the same as in the full exams.
- CRS Job Task Analysis
-
CRS - A/D Practice Test is available as a module of our online training.
-
There is a training course entitled "Certification for CRS-A/D Training" and is available on the ADvancing States iQ website here If you are new to ADvancing States iQ, you must create a new account.
-
An online CRS - DC Practice Test is available as modules of our online training.
-
Indexing with Taxonomy: A practical guide written by Margaret Bruni of The Detroit Public Library's TIP Service, originally published in Information & Referral: The Journal of the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems.
-
Taxonomy Supplements: How to Keep Taxonomy Updated for Your Resource File: A practical guide written by Georgia Sales of INFO LINE of Los Angeles, originally published in Information & Referral: The Journal of the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems.
-
Setting Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria: Determining the Scope of a Resource File : A series of considerations (with sample policies) written by Dick Manikowski, originally published in Information & Referral: The Journal of the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems.
- CRS - Database Curator Job Task Analysis