Citation
Sloan, B. (2001), "Reference Service in the Digital Library: A Report on the Ready for Reference Project", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 18 No. 10. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2001.23918jaf.002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited
Reference Service in the Digital Library: A Report on the Ready for Reference Project
Reference Service in the Digital Library: A Report on the Ready for Reference Project
Bernie Sloan
Background
The Ready for Reference service is a collaborative 24x7 live reference service being piloted by eight academic libraries in the Alliance Library System in Illinois. The Illinois State Library, a division of the Office of Secretary of State, using federal LSTA funding, provided funding for this grant. The Ready for Reference project uses the eGain Web call center software, as modified and marketed by Library Systems and Services, Inc. (LSSI). Administrative staff for the project are: Mary Carol Lindbloom, Library Development Consultant, Alliance Library System (Project Director) and Bernie Sloan, University of Illinois (Project Evaluator).
Reference staff from the eight participating libraries provided the primary coverage for the service. The goal outlined in the service's guidelines called for each library to cover the service for a minimum of eight hours a week. Back-up reference personnel employed by LSSI covered time slots that could not be covered by library staff.
Four of the participating institutions are community colleges. Two of them are in a rural/small town setting (one with about 1,100 FTE students and one with about 700 FTE students), one is in a small city (with about 1300 FTE students), and the fourth is in a medium-sized city with a fair-sized industrial base, with about 2,100 FTE students. Many of the community colleges have quite a few adult students. Of the four-year colleges and universities, one is a state university with about 18,000 FTE students, one is a private university with about 5,000 FTE students, one is a private university with about 1,100 FTE students, and one is a small private college with about 500 FTE students.
Participating institutions are:
- 1.
Black Hawk College-East Campus (Kewanee, Illinois).
- 2.
Bradley University (Peoria, Illinois).
- 3.
Eureka College (Eureka, Illinois).
- 4.
Illinois Central College (East Peoria, Illinois).
- 5.
Illinois State University (Normal, IIllinois).
- 6.
John Wood Community College (Quincy, Illinois).
- 7.
Quincy University (Quincy, Illinois).
- 8.
Spoon River College (Canton, Illinois).
General findings
The Ready for Reference Service has been operational since late January 2001. An analysis of usage data yields some summary information that may be of interest. The data are based on 613 user-initiated reference sessions from January 31 through June 30. Of particular interest are points (6) through (8).
- 1.
It is interesting to note that less than half (43.4 percent) of all activity took place between the "typical" business hours of 8a.m. and 5p.m. Even more interestingly, there was more activity between 5p.m. and 1a.m. (43.7 percent of total) than between 8a.m. and 5p.m. Typical morning business hours (8a.m. to 12 noon) account for only 10.5 percent of the total. And the early hours of the morning (1a.m. to 6a.m.) do not generate much activity at all (only 18 sessions in 22 weeks, or less than 3 percent of total activity). This might suggest a re-evaluation of the goal to offer online reference services 24 hours a day.
- 2.
Sessions appear evenly distributed from Monday through Thursday. Wednesdays turned out to be the busiest day of all. There is a clear division between the "major" weekdays and the weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). Approximately 74 percent of all sessions occurred from Monday through Thursday, with only 26 percent occurring from Friday through Sunday. If only Saturday and Sunday are counted as weekend days, the weekend share drops considerably more, with only 14 percent of total sessions. This might suggest that staffing requirements are less on the weekends, and that the goal of offering a live online reference service seven days a week might be revisited.
- 3.
Approximately 42 percent of the sessions for the entire project occurred during the month of April, which is often the busiest month of the Spring term for academic libraries. The number of sessions grew over the course of the first 13 weeks of the project, with a subsequent decrease in the final nine weeks. This trend appears to parallel the use of academic libraries in general as a semester progresses, as well as the likely ebb and flow of information needs by non-library users in an academic setting. In other words, whether a student uses a library or not, they will most probably follow the same schedule as far as needing information is concerned.
- 4.
It was useful to know which institution handled most sessions. At a general level, LSSI back-up staff handled more than half (53.67 percent) of the total user-initiated sessions, while librarians affiliated with Ready for Reference institutions handled 46.33 percent. Of the 284 sessions handled solely by Ready for Reference staff, Bradley University staff handled 80 user-initiated sessions (28.17 percent of the total sessions handled by the libraries). ISU handled 60 sessions (21.13 percent of the sessions handled by libraries). Eureka College handled 34 (11.97 percent). Illinois Central handled 30 (10.56 percent). Quincy handled 26 sessions (9.15 percent). John Wood handled 18 (7.75 percent). Spoon River staff handled 15 (5.28 percent). Black Hawk staff handled 13 (4.58 percent), and ALS staff handled four (1.41 percent).
- 5.
Data were gathered on the number of sessions initiated by users, by the institution of the user. While this information is interesting, e.g. users from the two largest institutions (Bradley and ISU) accounted for two-thirds of the sessions), care should be taken when drawing conclusions from this information. User affiliation (based on e-mail address) could be readily determined for only 198 of the 613 transactions in the study. America Online, Hotmail, and Yahoo account for the bulk of the e-mail addresses for sessions that did not originate directly from a known domain name of one of the eight participating institutions. A cursory review of session transcripts seems to indicate that many of these users were students or faculty at the eight participating institutions. This apparent tendency to come to the Ready for Reference service from Internet service providers other than campus-based providers may be significant. More than two-thirds of the users came from non-campus providers. This suggests that problems with authentication (authenticating access to a reference service, directing users to licensed databases, etc.) will become more complex in a multiple-service-provider environment. Librarians planning for live reference services are advised to avoid making the assumption that the bulk of users will come to the service from a campus-based ISP. While the degree to which this might be an issue will vary by institution, everyone should consider how he or she would deal with legitimate users that come to the service from non-campus service providers.
- 6.
It was important to log the length of time users waited in a queue. The results were that 63 percent of users waited fewer than 30 seconds before being contacted by a librarian, and 73.5 percent were contacted in one minute or less. This indicates that, for the sample studied, librarians were very prompt in responding to patron queries.
- 7.
The duration of online reference sessions varied greatly for the sample studied, ranging from two minutes and four seconds (2:04) to 54 minutes and 26 seconds (54:26). The median session length was 13 minutes and 11 seconds (13:11). Only 12.2 percent of sessions lasted fewer than five minutes; 21.4 percent lasted from five to ten minutes; 25.5 percent lasted from ten to 15 minutes; 14.3 percent lasted from 15 to 20 minutes; and 26.5 percent lasted longer than 20 minutes.
- 8.
The Appendix is a question log. It lists 116 actual questions posed during the two busiest weeks of the pilot project, from April 2 through April 15. Any references to names and institutional affiliation that the user may have included in the text of the question have been deleted to ensure privacy (a number of users volunteered this information in the text of the question). Perhaps the most striking thing about the questions in the appendix is the remarkable diversity of questions asked. People working with digital reference projects often discuss the concept of creating logs of questions to use to automate part of the digital reference process. The general idea is that, after a user asks a question, the question is automatically matched against a list of previously asked questions to see if the question has already been asked and answered. If a match is found, that makes one less question a librarian will need to answer. In reviewing the questions in the appendix, one might be excused for thinking there are as many different questions as there are people asking them. There are some commonalities but they are minor. For example, almost 8 percent of the questions deal with gaining access to library subscription databases from outside of the library. A little more than 5 percent of the questions involve users who want to know how to cite resources using APA, MLA, etc. Ready for Reference practitioners should consider developing guides or pathfinders dealing with these two areas. Finally, there appear to be relatively few quick "ready reference" questions in the list. Some librarians in other digital reference projects have indicated that they would only accept "ready reference" type questions. Librarians planning digital reference services should look at the diverse nature of the questions in this list and see how many could be answered with a "quick" answer. Handling only questions of a "ready reference" nature might be a disservice to a sizeable portion of the potential population of digital reference users.
Appendix. Ready for Reference question log (April 2, 2001 through April 15, 2001)
Introduction
This log lists actual questions asked by Ready for Reference users during the busiest two-week period of the pilot project (April 2 through April 15).
While there were 141 sessions initiated by users during this two-week period, I only list 116 questions. I do not list questions that did not result in a session between user and librarian (i.e. where the user abandons a session before a dialogue takes place). Anecdotal evidence suggests that the terminated sessions result when a user accidentally closes the session. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that some of these users initiate another session at some point in the future to ask their question, while others do not.
I also do not list "nuisance" questions asked by the project's one and only problem patron. This person would ask questions, and then proceed to chat generally with project staff.
I list questions only, and not the transcript of the remainder of the reference interviews. The questions are listed exactly as they were entered in the initial search screen of each session, with three exceptions:
- 1.
Parenthetical notes beginning with my initials (BGS) provide some additional context to a few of the questions.
- 2.
A number of users appended their names at the end of a question, even though this is not a requirement. I have deleted any user names.
- 3.
For privacy reasons, I have masked the names of any college or university that may have been mentioned in the question. I do this by inserting the word "institution" in parentheses, in place of the college or university name. By doing this, I ensure that there is not even the slightest link between a specific user and the particular question asked.
The questions follow:
- •
Do you know where I can find Chicago City Directories?
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I would like to find information on Trinidad and Tobago, don't want to use encyclopedia – any suggestions as to where to begin my search?
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Do you have journals online that I can use, and if so how do I get to them?
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Where can I find info about legislation concerning juvenile justice?
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I am doing a research project on problem-based learning sometimes called problem-based inquiry for a doctorate class. I want to be able to print full-length journal articles from education journals. Can I do this from home or do I have to be on campus? I am a doctoral student at (institution).
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I need to find some Web sites that have information on the social climate of Europe in the early 1800s.
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I need sources (that are not magazines) dealing with environmental racism.
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I am giving a talk for a Mother-Daughter Banquet. My theme is "Sharing the Love of Story Across the Generations". I would like to open with reading a children's picture book that depicts the joy and value of grandmothers sharing their stories of life with their daughters and granddaughters. Or I would be interested in knowing some poetry on that topic?
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I need info on early television reporters.
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Where can I find data about the national deer populations over the past few years?
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How do I gain access to the "research area?"
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I am having trouble with a class assignment. I need to print off a map of Europe after 1919 – post Treaty of Versailles. This is a History class and I must find it on the Internet! Can you give me a Web address that I can find such a map??? Thanks so much!
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I keep trying to login and it will not let me. I have a library card. What info. does it want for password and i.d.?
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I need to find Carl Web? (BGS Note: This is the Alliance Library System OPAC).
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Information on phentermine.
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Looking for information on journalism in Mexico.
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I have a question about online journals. I would like to know how to get to the online journals.
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I need to find Internet information regarding the sexual and social climates in Europe in the early 1800s and how this relates to the introduction of the waltz.
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The impact of the Middle Ages on literature in comparison to the Renaissance?
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I would like to know where I could find more articles based on gender roles.
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Need info on bostinterriors.
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Have the mating habitats of manitees changed within the past 20 years?
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When is the proper time to transplant asparagus? I am referring to actually moving established crowns from one place to another. Thanks.
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I need help finding information on sexual activities among teenagers and young adults.
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I am revising a research paper on the IRA and I need to find sources that say that the IRA is violent which opposes my stance that Britain is at fault for the troubles in Ireland. Can you help me please?
- •
I was on earlier today looking for information concerning race and economic status and its effect on party identification I wanted information that I could get my hands on I was given one site but I could not get through to it and I wanted to know if it was something else I can used besides that and lexis-nexis.
- •
Interested in full text journal articles on collaboration in special education. What would be the best database to search?
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How can I correctly cite a Web site in a paper?
- •
I have found some journal articles on the Eric Database I would like to see if they have a full text version of the articles . . . and quite frankly, I can't remember how to do it. Can you help me?
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How do you cite Internet sources?
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I would to know where I can get info on Mexican immigration and their experiences.
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Opposition of labor unions.
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I was wondering if there was somewhere I could go to to type in an eric document call number and be able to print it out from my home if it is full text?
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How do I find a literary criticism article in my library?
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I need to find information on school waivers. Where would I find information on school waivers that take fundings from one school and give it to another?
- •
Looking for Harvard Business Review articles on motivation.
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Is there any way I can find our what the bestsellers of the intermediate microeconomics textbooks are?
- •
Can I get the percentage of small business failure in an average year? Also is there any recent information on the failure of small businesses due in part to the recent high energy costs?
- •
I need information on four prescription drugs and don't have a PDR available. The drugs are as follows: Claritin-D; Lindane 1 percent lotion; Protussin; Desoximetasone 0.05 percent cream.
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How would I find listings about US immigration from a philosophy point of view. Morals, ethics, etc.?
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I am trying to find research done on race and economic status and its effect on party identification by using journals and I am having a hard time locating material I can get my hands on.
- •
I am working on a sociology paper that needs references for the immigration patterns of Welsh immigrants 1870s-1890s. Any suggestions?
- •
Do you have the following journals? Rehabilitation Psychology, Handbook of Health and Rehabilitation Psychology, or the Journal of Mental Health? Thanks.
- •
I have written a movie script and need some idea of the proper format for submission for publication. Where can I find a style guide or some model?
- •
Finding Information on the Mass Media Bureau.
- •
I am trying to access the following article, but my full-text subscription to APA only goes back to 1988. Can you get this article for me? Sarason, I.G., Johnson, J.H., & Siegel, J.M. (1978). "Assessing the impact of life changes: development of the life experiences survey", Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46.
- •
Looking for information on Native American families.
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Can you tell me where I can find information about street gangs.
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I need to find the July 23, 2000 article of the magazine Nature. It should contain an article about cloning of clones, or at least something along those lines. I could also use info. about cloning clones, or sequential cloning.
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I am looking for book reviews on anything Geoffrey Bullough wrote about Shakespeare.
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Who is author of Communist Manifesto? (BGS Note: Most probably someone testing the service).
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Who's author of McBeth (BGS Note: Most probably someone testing the service).
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How do you reference articles on the Internet?
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Information on Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong. Comparisons.
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I am trying to find information on television commercials and how they are bad for the community – any good suggestions, all I've found is unreliable sources.
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Info on epilsp.
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I am writing a paper and I found articles in the following journals, I was wondering if you have these journals in the library. They are: Rehabilitation Psychology, Psychology & Health, Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, Disability & Rehabilitation, and Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling.
- •
Could you help me find church hymnal publishers or vendors?
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I am doing an annotated bibliography on agribusiness and having a hard time finding book sources. I have found plenty of journal articles and my instructor is requiring five book sources for this. Any ideas for a keyword or where else I could look? I have tried proquest, carlweb and some of the other database/index sites and have come up with everything but actual books. Help!!
- •
1990 census data for the peoria-pekin metro area-number working. Also would be nice to get their working broken down by industry and by occupation.
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I was on with another reference person the other night and thought I had the information I needed, but can't seen to get what I need tonight. I am a doctoral student at (institution) and don't know how to log on to their databases from home. I can log on to (institution) library from home but I can't find where to get to First Search to obtain ERIC documents or material I need on problem based-learning. Help!
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I need information on TV violence and the v chip.
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I am writing a paper on the history of the waltz as it relates to the sexual climate of the early 1800s. I am having some trouble finding additional references about the time period and the waltz.
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When did the National Enquirer begin publication?
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What was the last state to enter the union before Alaska and Hawaii?
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Info on raoul, island its volcano.
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I need to know what databases I can get on at my house using my (institution) library card?
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I know that Paul Copu was in the Olympics in 1980. I need to know what event he was in. Can you help?
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How would I find a 10-K report on a company?
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I am having trouble locating information about Antigone. I need to find information arguing that Kreon is the protagonist, not Antigone.
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I'm a PhD student from (institution). I'm looking for the Ansi D16.1 and D20.1 standards for a lit review I'm writing. The NIOSH Library in Morgantown, WV said (institution) Library was the best source. Can you help me?
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I need information comparing Zeffirelli's movie version of Hamlet (with Mel Gibson) with the actual play.
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Info on Mail Order Brides. I am preparing a speech on the topic.
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Hi! I'm off campus now, and I'm having trouble getting into the OVID databases. Any idea about how long they will be down? I can get into everything else, so I assume its not the (institution) server.
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Do you know what person from American history – past or present – that this "resume" would fit? It is supposed to be a person that would have had potential to be a candidate for US President, however did not necessarily ever become nominated. Here are the clues: 1. Attended no college; 2. Religion – Protestant; 3. Was a soldier, investor, druggist and bookseller; 4. Married first time for five years – until spouse's death/second time one year; 5. Had three children; 6. Would have been about 38 years old at time of best likelihood to be Pres. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
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I work for the Department of Foreign Languages in (institution). We are currently working on the update of our video database. Can we get a printed list with all the foreign language videos that you have available? In the past we used to get a report every semester with the new additions to the catalogue but never the whole list. Thanks in advance.
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I need to do a persuasive speech, and I'd like to do either for or against listening to music while studying. I was wondering if there is information on this topic.
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I need articles on the short stories Gwendolyn by Elizabeth Bishop and Old Woman Magoun by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman.
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Please give me some information on how the Enlightenment affected the life and music of Johan Sebastian Bach.
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Where can I find how much information has been obtained by using carvivore and echelon? (BGS Note: These apparently are surveillance systems used by the Federal government?)
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I am looking for information pertaining to both Antigone and women in Ancient Greece.
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I want information on the economic struggles that led up to the need for supply-side economics (Reaganomics).
- •
Can you help me find information on the National Labor Relations Board?
- •
What search engine do you recommend?
- •
I am doing a paper on Nation Labor Relations Board and I would like to see if you could help me locate information about this. I looked on the Internet and all I can find are cases and I just need to find out about it and not their cases. I would really appreciate it. Thank you for your time. (BGS note: this question was repeated above because user claimed to not have received transcript from earlier session).
- •
I am looking for information on teenage violence and how the media overportrays it.
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Find reference.
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I need information regarding English usage.
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I need information about voting behavior that I can get my hands on besides lexis-nexis.
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Need the most current balance of trade deficit for China/USA. If possible, please cite the resource. Thank you.
- •
I'm a two year college librarian browsing sites like yours.
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I'm looking for an article in the latest edition of Harvard Business Update: The Crucible of Leadership. Can you help me. Thanks.
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Hi, my teacher told me to check out MLA ovid, or Mla silver platter. Mla silver platter is not working any more. What other places could I look at for MlA guidelines?
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How do you cite an Internet resource in a bibliography? Thanks!
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I am looking for books concerning welfare. I need information on how to obtain and receive welfare. Thank you.
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I need to find research so I can write a paper on Jane Adams, and I need help.
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I am on my home computer and can not get into ebscohost or firstsearch without the password information. Do you know that to tell me so I can get in to do some research. Thank you.
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I need info on the Kennedy-Nixon debate.
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I need to find books on changing education, or anything on education.
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I have an elderly relative living in Illinois who is having trouble paying her heating bills. Is there help available for her?
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I'm looking for information about Shakespeare and pregnancy.
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What would be the best way to get access to full-text articles in foreign newspapers, specifically Irish papers.
- •
What is my patron ID? I am trying to use ERIC from home, but the system won't let me in.
- •
Of the following countries, which are in Russia: Lithuania, Slovakia, Georgia, Slovenia, Moldova, Hungary, and Czech Republic.
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Can you tell me who said "I have perceived that to be with those I like is enough, To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough, To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing flesh is enough".
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APA citations.
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Just testing virtual reference.
- •
Can you access the New York Times.
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We are librarians at (institution), and we have a test question for you. Where was Wyatt Earp born?
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I would like to know if I can become an elementary education teacher with a business degree.
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My son needs some information on Paul Lawrence Dunbar for a Junior Research Paper.
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How can I find the book Tyranny of the Bottom Lime.
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I need to locate the dates that a number of events happened. Examples include: The year of the building of the very first computer, the year of the manufacture or sale of the first PC, the year television became available to the public (i.e. first sold), etc. Thanks for any ideas you can provide.
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I need to find sources on athletes as role models from an academic journal.
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I need to find an article in an Orange County newspaper.
- •
Does the face on Mars really exist? If so what exactly is it and what is the explanation?
Acknowledgement
For an earlier version of this report, see: http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~b-sloan/ready4ref.htm
Bernie Sloan(b-sloan@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu) is a Graduate at the School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA.