Next Generation Virtual Reference: Playing with it Now

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Next Generation Virtual Reference Playing with
it Now

• Steven Frye
• UW-Madison
• WAAL 2008

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IM/Chat Assistance at UW-Madison

• Virtual Reference in Context
• Reference Services Task Force
• Reference and Virtual Reference Vision
• Reference Management Team

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IM/Chat Assistance at UW-Madison

• Began chat service in 2002 Began blended
  service in 2006
• 6000 calls in 06/07 8000 calls in 07/08
• Service staffed at College and Memorial Libraries
  on behalf of all 40 campus libraries

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IM/Chat Assistance at UW-Madison

• Service staffed both on and off desk
• Hours 8am-12midnight most days
• 30 staff involved including UW-Madison
  librarians, paraprofessionals, SLIS students

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IM/Chat Assistance at UW-Madison
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IM/Chat Assistance at UW-Madison
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IM/Chat Assistance at UW-Madison
Velaro
Meebo
Patron Interface
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IM/Chat Assistance at UW-Madison
Velaro
Trillian
Library Staff Interface
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Action Shots
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Action Shots
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Action Shots
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IM/Chat Assistance at UW-Madison

• Useful Web Sites for Choosing Software
• IM http//www.bigblueball.com/
• Commercial Chat http//live-chat-support-softwar
  e-review.toptenreviews.com/
• and
• http//www.livechatdir.com/

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Where are we going?

• Adding staff and adjusting where we staff the
  service as needed
• Adding chat now button where patrons might need
  assistance
• Virtual Information Commons Collaboration with
  other campus partners

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IM/Chat JING(show examples)
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• Points to Take Away

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• (1) Virtual reference isnt the point!

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(No Transcript)
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Telephonic Reference
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• (2) What is it we do?

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What is it that we do?

• We instruct patrons on how to use the library,
  answer their questions, and help them select
  resources
• - paraphrased from Samuel Greene (1876)

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What is it that we do?

• We instruct patrons on how to use the library,
  answer their questions, and help them select
  resources where patrons work and interact.
• - paraphrased from Samuel Greene (1876)

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• (3) What do we call what we do?

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TAIGA Forum

• In 2006, a community of Library Directors
• published the
• Taiga Forum Provocative Statements
• The following statements are taken from this
  document and are prefaced by Within the next
  five years

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TAIGA Forum

• Reference librarians as we know them today will
  no longer exist.
• Public services will have merged into a new group
  called consulting something.
• Public services and instructional technology,
  wherever it exists, will have merged or will no
  longer exist.

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TAIGA Forum

• The majority of reference questions will be
  answered through Google Answer or something like
  it.
• There will no longer be reference desks or
  reference offices in the library. Instead public
  services staff offices will be located outside
  the physical library.
• Metasearching will render reference librarians
  obsolete.

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TAIGA Forum

• All information discovery will begin at Google,
  including discovery of library resources.
• There will be no more librarians as we know them.

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TAIGA Forum

• The library role is to project specialized
  services into research and learning workflows.
• The library will be a partner in the Learning and
  Research Support Services Infrastructure.
• Research support services will become routine.

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Last Slide

• Future of the Reference Desk?
• Future of Reference Services?
• Future of providing support to students and
  faculty doing research?