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Title: Virtual Reference Service: An Overview


1
Virtual Reference Service An Overview
  • Diana Chan
  • The Hong Kong University of Science and
    Technology Library

2005 Library Conference Balancing the External
and Traditional Libraries at Tamkang University,
Taiwan Online Information and Education
Conference, Thailand Library and Online Resources
Technologies 2005 Xiamen Conference At Xiamen
University, PRC
2
Contents
  • Trends in Reference Service
  • Impact of the Internet
  • What is VRS?
  • Developments in VRS
  • Usage Studies on Real Time VRS

3
1. Trends in Reference Service
  • Anne Lipow- Early signposts pointing the wrong
    way
  • Decreased circulation statistics
  • Fewer walk-in users
  • Staff cant keep up
  • Reference desk eliminated
  • Outsourcing on the rise
  • Reduced Reference service hours
  • Search engines automated reference librarian
  • Need for large building and staff not clear
  • Anne Grodzins Lipow, Thinking out loud Who will
    give reference service in the digital
    environment? RQ 37(2) (Winter 1999), pp. 125-9.

4
(No Transcript)
5
2. Impact of the Internet
  • In 2002
  • 73 of college students said they use the
    Internet more than the library
  • Only 9 said they use the library more than the
    Internet for information searching.
  • The Pew Internet American Life Project.
    (September 15, 2002). http//www.usdla.org/html/jo
    urnal/OCT02_Issue/article03.html (accessed
    September 8, 2005)

6
INTERNET USAGE STATISTICS The Big Picture
Internet Usage Statistics, the big
picture. http//internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
accessed Aug 25, 2005
7
2. Impact of Internet
  • In the digital age, the biggest change is
    increased user expectations. Increasingly, user
    expect to be able to find everything online,
    full-text. (1998)
  • Now both reference staff and patrons believe
    that an answer to almost every question can be
    found if the right combination of resources and
    search strategies is chosen from the multitude of
    Web resources and online services accessible.
    (2002)
  • Carol Tenopir and Lisa Ennis

8
Impact of Internet
  • In 2001, Carol Tenopir surveyed 70 major
    American research librarians about how their
    reference services changed because of electronic
    resources
  • 70 put email above telephone and fax as a
    communication method for reference inquiries
  • 21 (30) offered some form of real time VR
  • 70 had real time VR in planning.
  • Reference librarians spend more time per
    transaction A single tally cannot capture the
    varying dimensions and growing complexities of
    reference services. Kyrillidou (2000)

9
3. What is Virtual Reference Service (VRS)?
  • Internet-based Reference Service
  • Asking a question online
  • Live online reference service
  • Virtual, digital, live, interactive, real time,
    web-based, synchronous
  • Using computer and communications technology to
    provide reference service to patrons anytime and
    anywhere
  • - OCLCs Question Point (QP)

10
U.S. Dept of Educations Virtual Reference Desk
Guidelines
  • Accessibility
  • Fast turn-around
  • Clear policies
  • Interactive
  • Instructive
  • Authority
  • Privacy
  • Review and evaluation
  • Publicize service
  • IFLA Digital Reference Guidelines
  • "Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining
    Virtual Reference Services. American Library
    Association. 2005.

11
Pros and Cons of VRS
  • Pros
  • Immediate assistance for remote users
  • Real time VRS is better than email for conducting
    reference interview
  • Remains anonymous
  • Awareness of the library among the user community
  • Cons
  • Additional staff
  • Less flexible schedule
  • Lack subject expertise
  • No visual or auditory cues
  • Less interactive
  • Typing is slow
  • Some logoff before you finish answering
  • Slow communications

12
Whos Doing VRS?
  • 1999
  • 150 academic libraries, 45 offered VRS
  • (Janes, Carter and Memmott 1999)
  • 122 ARL Libraries, 96 provided VRS
  • L. Goetsch (1999)
  • 2000
  • 140 academic libraries, 45 offered VRS.
  • Libraries with greater financial resources,
    larger staff, adopted more computer-based
    services, higher demand for current services
  • MD White (2000)
  • 2001
  • 121 ARL Libraries, 29 provided real time
    reference
  • Tenopir and Ennis (2001)

13
4. Developments in VRS
  • Asynchronous digital reference
  • Patron submits a question and the librarian
    responds at a later time
  • Example Email, Web Form.
  • Synchronous digital reference
  • Patron and librarian communicate in real time.
  • Example Chat, Voice over IP, Video Conferencing,
    SMS, IM.

14
More VRS Developments
  • Email Web Form
  • Reference Kiosks
  • Instant Messaging Short Message Service
  • Video Conferencing
  • Voice over IP
  • Online Chat
  • Collaborative Reference Services
  • Commercial Services

15
Reference Options of 121 ARL Libraries, 2001
Carol Tenopir and Lisa Ennis. A decade of
digital reference 1991-2001 Reference User
Services Quarterly. Spring 2002, 41(3), pp.
264-273
16
a. Email and Web Form
  • Describe the services offered
  • Types of questions it handles, or does not
    handle
  • Frequency the mailbox is checked
  • Response time
  • Confidentiality
  • Priorities
  • How statistics are kept and how service is
    evaluated

17
Usage Surveys on Email Reference
  • A study of 485 Qs at State University of New York
    at Buffalo Libraries (1993-94)
  • 70 reference Qs, 30 circulation-related Qs
  • 90 of Qs were submitted during opening hours.
  • A study at the University of Central Arkansas
  • 67 of Qs were by faculty, 25 by non-affiliates,
    8 by staff and none by students
  • A study of 450 Qs at the California State
    University Chico Library (1997-99)
  • 21 of Qs were answered using standard reference
    resources. 15 were papers or projects, 12
    factual, 11 OPAC, 9 policies, 7 websites

18
b. Reference Kiosks
National Library Board, Singapore
  • Place Cybrarian Kiosks in the library so that
    users can ask librarians wherever they are in the
    library

19
c. Instant Messaging (IM)
  • Brief emails exchanged very fast in real time
  • Popular IM services
  • MSN Messenger
  • AOL Instant Messenger
  • Yahoo! Messenger
  • Google Talk,
  • .NET Messenger Service
  • ICQ
  • IM Clients supporting many protocols
  • Gaim
  • Trillian
  • Jabber

20
DukeRef
Temple University
21
c. Instant Messaging (IM)
  • 53 million adults send instant messages on a
    daily basis 1
  • Provides Just-in-time reference
  • Less formal, low tech end
  • How to Do It
  • Create a profile
  • Accept imperfection
  • Use abbreviations
  • Use online sources, load IM software on public
    PCs
  • Best practices for IM
  • Use a multi-network IM program, e.g. Trillian for
    Windows, Gaim
  • Send descriptive links instead of urls,
  • Employ away messages
  • 1. Sept 2004 Study How Americans Use IM by the
    Pew Internet American Life Project

22
IM Usage Survey
  • SUNY Buffalo
  • Offered IM reference assistance Monday-Friday
  • Used AOL's free IM software -AIM and Express
  • Staffed 75 hrs a week by 20 librarians 4
    library school students
  • Questionnaire results
  • 70 of users 18-25 of age,
  • 69 of users on campus (25 from Cybrary)
  • 79 satisfied with service
  • Type of questions
  • 26 questions are in information literacy
    category
  • 23 about using the catalog
  • 12 are about specific library information (e.g.
    hours)
  • 6 of questions are technical troubleshooting,
  • 5 web navigation
  • 4 electronic course reserves
  • 4 finding SUNY Buffalo information.
  • Many librarians did not receive a single question
    in their 1 hour shift.

23
c. Short Message Service (SMS)
  • A service available on most digital mobile phones
  • Permits people to send short messages between
  • Mobile phones
  • Other handheld devices
  • Landline telephones

24
Curtin Universitys SMS
25
Curtin Universitys SMS
  • Users
  • Curtin students and staff with a text-enabled
    mobile phone
  • Scope
  • 1 SMS equals 160 characters per hour
  • Cost
  • 25 cents (Aus) per message to Curtin Library
    service (standard rate for SMS sent to anyone)
  • Report on findings
  • 200 queries in 6 months
  • 87 received during library opening hours
  • 71 were explanatory type of reference questions
  • Patron feedback
  • Easy to use (4.2 out of 5)
  • 100 of clients did not have any problems
  • 92 claimed they would use it again.

26
d. Video Conferencing
  • UC Irvine Science Library (1997)
  • Provided the service to medical students who are
    working in a computer lab, one hour a day, mostly
    on Medline searching
  • Apple VideoPhone Kit (software, camera,
    microphone, color conferencing capability,
    Internet, Timbuktu Program)
  • Audio, video, chat window, whiteboard
  • Students comments
  • Excited about this high-tech
  • Wanted document delivery of full-text articles

27
(No Transcript)
28
Video Conferencing Software
  • A combination of chat software, audio and video
    applications
  • 2 kinds of software
  • Software for writing classes
  • Software for businesses to hold conferences
  • Examples
  • Daedalus
  • GroupWise
  • Web Publisher
  • Norton Connect Net
  • Microsoft NetShow
  • Microsoft NetMeeting
  • Reilly WebBoard

29
Microsoft NetMeeting
30
e. Voice over IP
  • Since 2003 IM services have voice components
  • MSN Messenger, AOL IM, Yahoo Messenger
  • Provides free or low-cost talk on internet
  • Negative - call other Internet users using the
    same software program
  • Positive - make calls to land and cellular-based
    phones for a modest fee
  • New programs
  • Skype, Google Talk

31
Skype
  • Allows people to talk and IM for free using
    PC-to-PC connections
  • Connections require someone else to have Skype
    software.
  • Users are identified through names instead of
    numbers
  • Skypers use headsets and microphones attached to
    the computers
  • Soon to offer video and other communication
    services

32
Google Talk
33
f. Online Chat
  • Web contact center software and web collaboration
    software
  • Page pushing
  • Co-browsing
  • Escorting to various sites
  • Question queuing and routing
  • Transcripts of each session
  • An archive of QAs

34
Chat Service Agents and Vendors
  • Multiple online agents
  • Cisco
  • Lucent
  • eGain
  • Netagent
  • LivePerson
  • HumanClick
  • WebAgent
  • Webline
  • Software vendors
  • 24/7 Reference
  • DOCUTEK Information Systems Inc.
  • Questionpoint
  • LivePerson
  • LSSI Library Systems Services

35
Prairie Area Library System
Librarian Live
Thomas Ford Memorial Library
36
Chat Debate - Pro
  • Reach out to patrons who
  • Cant get to the Reference desk
  • Never have been reached before
  • Good for
  • Those who need instant replies
  • Clarifying a question faster
  • Assisting users to learn effective ways to search
    through co-browsing and escorting
  • Of the 107 million people in USA using the
    Internet, 40-50 million use chat
  • - (NY Times 1998)

37
Chat Debate Pro
  • Usage Study of New Jerseys 24/7 Live Virtual
    Reference Service 1
  • 53.9 of the customers have used the service more
    than once
  • 89.9 would use the service again.
  • Nov. 2002 - Oct 2003 49,503 chat sessions
  • 1. These data result of 7,000 pop-up surveys.

38
Chat Debate - Pro
  • More Usage Studies
  • Carnegie Mellon University (2001)
  • 74 reported receiving full information
  • 88 would use Reference Chat again
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2001)
  • 90 reported the completeness of answers as very
    good or excellent
  • 85 would use it again
  • Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2001-02)
  • 82 said the answers were very helpful
  • 82 rated the service as a very good method of
    reference help

39
Chat Debate - Con
  • Some transactions never finished
  • System or browser crashes
  • Co-browsing proprietary db is difficult
  • Patrons disappear
  • Time-consuming
  • Librarians must multi-task
  • Concerns about quality
  • Shady reputation
  • Low acceptance on the web by commercial business
  • Only 12 offered a chat on websites (Benchmark
    Portal 2003)

40
Chat Debate - Con
  • Providers stopped using chat
  • Vandebilt U
  • MIT
  • Los Alamos National Labs
  • LCs 11 divisions using QP in June 2002 down to 3
    in April 2004

41
g. Collaborative Reference Service
  • Extend hours of coverage of participants to 24/7
  • Cooperation and collaboration, informal or
    network arrangement

42
Examples of Collaborative Reference Service
  • LC/OCLC QuestionPoint (QP)
  • Peoples Network
  • LSSI VRD
  • 24/7 Reference
  • Convey Systems
  • Docutek
  • Calis Distributed Collaborative Virtual Reference
    System (CVRS) - China

43
NCknows the State Library of North Carolina's
Virtual Reference project staffed by librarians
from throughout N Carolina
44
Example of a Transcript of an NCKnows Chat
Session
  • anonymous I mean the Silicon Valley are composed
    of high-tech companies. What arbout Resarch
    Triangle region. Are they also high tech or just
    research companies as its name applies?
  • 24/7 Librarian vw Apart from one being in NC, on
    the east coast, and one being in VA, on the west
    coast?
  • anonymous Is there any difference between
    Research Triangle and the Silicon Valley in CA?
  • 24/7 Librarian vw Try copying and pasting the
    address into a new browser window
  • anonymous I have this message pops up "Stack
    overflow at line 1"
  • 24/7 Librarian vw http//www.rtrp.org/
  • anonymous What is the url of this page.
  • 24/7 Librarian vw Does this answer your
    question?
  • anonymous Page sent - Site Selection
    Consultants
  • 24/7 Librarian vw Here is a website about the
    Research Triangle region.
  • 24/7 Librarian vw Page sent - Research Triangle
    Region
  • anonymous Hi! I'm out of the states. Can you
    tell me what is the Research Triangle in NC
  • 24/7 Librarian vw How may I help you?
  • 24/7 Librarian vw Hello, welcome to our NCknows
    Reference Service.
  • 24/7 Librarian vw - A librarian has joined the
    session.
  • A librarian will be with you shortly. Please
    remember that while our librarians can help you
    use your library, they may not be from your
    specific library system or branch

45
Busy Collaborative Services
  • AskUsNow in Maryland (2,900 in Oct 2003)
  • AskNow in Australia (3,196)
  • QandA in NJ (5,800)
  • KnowItNow in Cleveland (3,500 a month, 4 of
    total ref workload)

46
Number of Collaborative Reference Services
  • In North America
  • 1,730 libraries in 62 collaborative services (as
    of Jan 2004)
  • 3,000 - 4,000 libraries using chat software

47
Index of Collaborative Reference Service
  • Collaborative Live Reference Services, by Bernie
    Sloan
  • Index of Chat Reference Services, by Stephen
    Francoeur
  • 500 VR Services (Feb 2004)
  • LiveRef(sm) A Registry of Real-Time Digital
    Reference Services, by Gerry McKiernan
  • 132

48
OCLCs QP
  • Started in 2002 by LC and OCLC
  • Used by over 1,000 libraries in 20 countries
  • Over 7,000 QandA Knowledge base
  • Subscription of 2,000/yr
  • Questions received - Use best-matching routing to
    library profiles
  • Web-based chat, co-browse and cooperative
    reference tools
  • A management tool for reference transactions
  • Respond, assign, refer, route

49
Example of a Question from OCLCs QP
50
Usage Study - QandANJ
  • Statistics
  • 25,000 customer questions in 2002,
  • 50,000 questions in 2003,
  • Nearly 60,000 questions in 2004,
  • During a busy hour, may handle 25-30 questions. 
  • In the busiest month (March 2004), more than
    7,400 Qs
  • Pop-up customer feedback form on 8,745 customers,
    Jan 2002-Oct 2003
  • 53.9 of the respondents used more than once
  • 89.8 of the respondents said they will use again
  • 60 said they have their questions completely
    answered
  • 80.2 were satisfied or very satisfied with the
    service

51
Doubts about VRS - Steve Coffman
  • Joe Janes Global Census of Digital Reference
  • Less than 6 Qs a day in Nov 2003
  • Only 29 of ARL libraries offer VRS (36 out of
    124)
  • LSSI - Oct 2003 declined over Oct 2002

52
h. Commercial Service
  • Information Please
  • KnowPost
  • Experts Exchange
  • Inforstry
  • Webhelp.com
  • Questia
  • Ask.yahoo.com/ask/most
  • LCs Ask a Librarian
  • Virtual Reference Desk
  • Search engine
  • AskJeeves
  • Ask yahoo
  • Expert systems
  • Allexperts.com
  • Abuzz
  • Google answers
  • AskMeNow

53
Google Answer
  • Beta version, Apr 2002
  • 500 freelance researchers
  • Costs US0.5 to list a Q
  • 2-200 for an answer
  • 1 day turnaround
  • User may rate the answer
  • User may reject the answer and request a full
    refund
  • 25 of the fee to Google
  • The service provides an FAQ, a database of QA.

54
  • AskMeNow
  • A commercial VRS
  • 100 answer agents
  • Free for basic Qs,
  • US0.49 for AskAnything
  • Beta test with 10,000 users
  • Sign-up with cell phone (N. American wireless
    carrier)
  • Call AskMeNow phone number with the cell phone
  • Ask the Q
  • Answer is text-messaged to your cell phone
    within minutes

55
Cornells Study (2002/03)
  • 24 Questions from 3 sources (Maryland, Cornell
    and Google)
  • 2 librarians and 1 assistant prepared answers and
    noted the time spent
  • 1 librarian registered with Google Answers as a
    user, submitted the questions and obtained
    answers
  • Conclusion
  • Quality Cornell reference librarians were rated
    about the same as the Google researchers
  • Cost Cornell reference librarians were much more
    expensive

56
Cornell Study Average Price by Difficulty of
Question
Average Price
Difficulty Level
57
5. Usage Studies on Real Time VRS1
  • When
  • 70-80 took place from Mon.-Thurs.
  • Tuesday and Wednesday are the busiest
  • How
  • 50-70 of respondents learned about the service
    through library homepage
  • Where
  • 30 of respondents were within library
  • 40 on campus, 30 off campus (Broughton)
  • Why
  • Convenience and anonymity (Foley and Ruppel
    et.al.)
  • Satisfaction
  • 80-90 satisfied
  • 1. Kelly Broughtons paper summaries 7 studies

58
Quote about VRS
  • Digital reference matters but it will not if we
  • do it badly
  • do it alone
  • do it only one way
  • do it in secret
  • do it too slowly
  • or from a position of fear
  • - Joe Janes

59
Quote about VRS
  • Be brave, be bold, be thoughtful and if you
    build it, they will come.
  • - Diane Kresh, Library of Congress

60
References
  • 1. Academic Library Statistics (2004).
    Association of College and Research Libraries,
    available at httpwww.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/stat
    icticssummaries/2004abcde/B17.pdf (accessed
    September 1, 2005.)
  • 2. ARL Statistics 2003-04. (2005). Association of
    Research Libraries, available at
    http//www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/graphs/2004/pubse
    r04.pdf (accessed August 25, 2005.)
  • 3. Broughton. Kelly M. (2002/03) Usage and user
    analysis of a real-time digital reference
    service. The Reference Librarian, No.79/80, pp.
    183-200
  • 4. Coffman, Steve. (2004) To chat or not to chat
    taking yet another look at virtual reference,
    Part 1. Infotoday, Vol. 12 No. 7, July/August,
    available at http//www.infotoday.com/searcher/jul
    04/arret_coffman.shml (accessed June 17, 2004)
  • 5. Coffman, Steve. (2004) To chat or not to chat
    taking yet another look at virtual reference,
    Part 2 . Infotoday, Vol. 12 No. 8, September,
    available at http//www.infotoday.com/searcher/se
    p04/arret_coffman.shml (accessed June 17, 2004)
  • 6. Foley, Marianne. (2002) Instant messaging
    reference in an academic library a case study
    College Research Libraries, pp.36-45.
  • 7. Giles, Nicola and Grey-Smith, Sue. (2005)
    TXTing librarians _at_ Curtin Information Online
    2005, available at http//conferences.alia.org.au/
    online2005/papers/a12.pdf (accessed September 2,
    2005.)
  • 8. Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining
    Virtual Reference Services. (2005). American
    Library Association, available athttp//www.ala.o
    rg/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/referenceguide/virtrefgui
    delines.htm (Accessed September 2, 2005)
  • 9. Hyman, Karen and Brombert, Peter. (2003) "I'm
    just ecstatic about the whole darn thing!
    Customer feedback and lessons learned at Qand A
    NJ, New Jersey's 24/7 Live Virtual Reference
    Service. available at http//www.vrd2003.org/pro
    ceedings/index.cfmEvaluation (accessed
    September 10, 2005.)

61
References
  • 10. Internet Usage statistics, the big picture.
    (2005) Miniwatts International, Ltd., available
    at http//internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
    (accessed August 25, 2005.)
  • 11. Katz, Bill. (2002/03) Digital Reference an
    overview The Reference Librarian, No.79/80, pp.
    1-17
  • 12. Kennney, Anne R. et.al. (2003) "Google meets
    eBay what academic librarians can learn from
    alternative information providers" D-Lib Magazine
    June Vol.9 No.6 pp.1-16
  • 13. Kresh, Diane. (2002/03) "Virtually yours
    thoughts on where we have been and where we are
    going with virtual reference services in
    libraries" The Reference Librarian No.79/80,
    pp.19-34.
  • 14. Kyrillidou, Martha. (2000) Research Library
    Trends ARL Statistics Journal of Academic
    Librarianship Vol. 26, November pp. 427-36
  • 15. Lessick, Susan. Kjaer, Kathryn and Clancy,
    Steve. (1997) Interactive Reference Service at
    UC Irvine expanding reference service beyond the
    reference desk availabe at httpwww.ala.org/acrlb
    ucket/nashville1997pap/lessickkjaer.htm (accessed
    September 2, 2005.)
  • 16. Lipow, Ann G.(1999) Thinking out loud Who
    will give reference service in the digital
    environment? RQ Vol. 37 No.2 Winter, pp. 125-9.
  • 17. Meola, Marc and Stormont, Sam.
    (1999)"Real-time reference service for the remote
    user" The Reference Librarian, No. 67/78,
    pp.29-40
  • 18. Moeller, Sherry E. (2003) Ask-a-librarian
    an analysis of an email reference service at a
    large academic library Internet Reference
    Services Quarterly Vol. 8 No.3, pp. 47-61

62
References
  • 19. Schmidt, Aaron and Stephens, Aaron. (2005)
    "IM me" Library Journal April 1, pp.34-35
  • 20. Stephens, Brad. (2004) Is the voice over IP
    finally ready to be the next big thing? Library
    Administrators Digest. September, Vol. 39 No. 7,
    p. 51.
  • 21. Stoffel, Bruce and Tucher, Toni. (2004)Email
    and chat reference assessing patron
    satisfaction Reference Services Review Vol.32
    No.2, pp. 120-140
  • 22. Tenopir, Carol. and Ennis, Lisa. (2002). A
    decade of digital reference 1991-2001 Reference
    User Services Quartely. September Vol. 41
    No.3, pp. 264-273
  • 23. White, Marilyn D (2001). Diffusion of an
    innovation digital reference service in Carnegie
    Foundation Masters Academic Institution
    Libraries. The Journal of Academic
    Librariahship, Vol. 27 No. 3, May, pp. 173-187
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