Lowdown on Fee versus Free Virtual Collections for Virtual Reference

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Lowdown on Fee versus Free Virtual Collections
for Virtual Reference

• Laura Bowering Mullen
• Behavioral Sciences Librarian
• Martin Kesselman
• Life Sciences Librarian

2
The Rutgers Experience

• 50,000 FTE
• 3 Campuses, geographically dispersed
• 26 Libraries and Centers
• Extensive use of remote access and Ask a
  Librarian service

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Why examine the use of e-reference sources?

• Exponential growth of the market
• Collection development issues
• Placement on libraries website
• Value for use in digital reference

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Use of purchased e-reference sources by
librarians

• Lower use of print observed
• More reliance on Google
• Pressure to find answers quickly for digital
  reference

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Survey of 23 Rutgers Librarians

• Looked at whether librarians are purchasing
  e-reference sources
• Use of e-reference sources when performing
  reference service
• Promotion of e-reference sources in instruction
• Relationship between years of experience and use
  of e-reference
• For those librarians (8) who work in chat
  reference, what is their experience in using
  e-reference sources?

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Results of RUL Survey of Librarians

• 50 have purchased e-reference sources to add to
  subject collections
• 50 used purchased e-reference sources frequently
  
• 90 of frequent users are frequent promoters in
  classes
• . . . . . . .

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Results of RUL Chat Librarians

• In chat, two-thirds used Google first
• None said they went to e-reference sources first

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Outside survey of Chat Librarians

• Survey posted on Dig-Ref and Libref-L
• 91 responses received
• Respondents asked type of library, years of
  experience and chat reference location (in or out
  of library building)
• Chat librarians asked which they turned to FIRST-
• Google
• Internet Directory of fee-based e-ref tools
• Print

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Survey Respondents

• 58 Academic
• 30 Public
• 75 with 6 or more years of reference experience
• 89 did chat reference inside a library building

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Survey Results

• Which reference source did chat librarians turn
  to FIRST?
• 24 Google
• 15 Internet Directory, e.g., Librarians Index
  to the Internet, Infomine
• 52 a purchased e-ref source from their library
• 4 print

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Frequent Comments

• Many said it depends on question
• Academic librarians identified e-reference more
  as database questions
• 55 of public librarians said Internet first

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Google and Chat Reference

• Fast and cast a wide net
• One stop shopping
• More quality authoritative information is freely
  available
• Librarians can quickly discern authority,
  accuracy, currency

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Fee-Based E-Reference Works and Chat Reference

• Authority many are peer-reviewed
• For some questions, they are known as the place
  to go
• Developing a balanced e-reference collection
  helps
• Highlighting e-reference services so they are used

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Value-added Internet searching and Chat Reference

• Metasearch capabilities
• Limit to particular domains, e.g., searchgov.com
• Creating metadata to authoritative resources

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Library Virtual Ready Reference Collections

• Are we all doing the same thing?
• Some libraries building digital VRRCs for their
  chat services
• Useful for specialized local needs,example
  Common Knowledge Database (CKDB) at Rutgers
• Collaboration is better

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Portals to Authoritative Web Resources some
examples

• Librarians Index to the Internet
• Internet Public Library
• Infomine
• Statewide initiatives, e.g., MEL
• Subject-focused initiatives, e.g., AgNIC

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E-Reference Book Market History

• 1945 Vannevar Bush memex
• 1981 - No one envisions Google
• gold standard is one large on-line encyclopedia
• CD ROMs

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E-Reference Book Market Today

• Pricing models
• Impact on collection development
• Publisher specific aggregators
• Xrefer aggregator for many publishers

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E-Reference resources the possibilities

• Multimedia
• Hybrid e-reference sources
• Collaborative (Wikipedia)
• Smart Reference Works

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Questions

• Are all of the e-reference sources worth the
  money?
• Currency? Updates? Easy to use interface?
• Are free sources often good enough?
• How will we organize access to e-resources so
  that librarians can find them?
• What is the future for print reference works?
• What is best for virtual reference?

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Email

• Laura Bowering Mullen
• lbmullen_at_rci.rutgers.edu
• Martin Kesselman
• martyk_at_rci.rutgers.edu