Internet column

Citation

O'Beirne, R. (2006), "Internet column", Reference Reviews, Vol. 20 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/rr.2006.09920bag.001

Internet column

Recently, the UK Government sponsored People’s Network launched its online virtual reference service across public libraries in England. People’s Network services started in the late 1990s with the building of a network of computers in public libraries giving high-speed access to the web for everyone. It is estimated that the network is switched on across all public libraries for over 60 million hours of computer use every year. The access is well used by the public and serves as an important factor in sustaining visitor figures to a public library system that is competing with many other leisure and education providers.

Having put in place the infrastructure for users to gain access to information by physically coming to the library, the next logical step was to provide for those who find a trip to the library impossible or inconvenient. Set against a backdrop of increasing home use of the internet, the People’s Network attempts to provide a localised service with a global reach. In marketing terms this is a clever idea that capitalises on the trustworthiness and high-customer service ethos of the local library brand while at the same time exploiting the technology to provide a worldwide, real-time, service that gives the user that “its a small world” feeling. One of the most impressive aspects so far is the enthusiasm with which UK public library authorities have embraced both the concept and the technology; the national brand, distributed by the Museums Libraries and Archives Council, has recruited almost 100 library services.

The virtual reference service is known as “Enquire” and it sits alongside two other services “Discover” and “Read”. Enquire provides a real-time chat-like service where librarians are timetabled against a rota. The software used is called QuestionPoint from a project of the same name and is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and OCLC (see www.questionpoint.org).

While the USA has for some years blazed a trail with the use of virtual reference this is the first large-scale deployment in the UK. On using the service I was struck by the simplicity of the technology; using a Mozilla Firefox browser and pointing to the service at www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk there was no need to download any files or alter any settings. One aspect I found slightly off-putting was that some of the initial comments from the “Librarian” to the “Patron” seem to me to be too obviously generated by an automated script. Remember, in marketing terms, the service is aiming at local users who might expect to engage with that friendly library person.

A new service like this presents some interesting questions for UK public libraries and I look forward to an evaluation of the service. Of particular interest would be the profile of users and of the patterns of use; with the potential to offer this service 24/7, the levels of demand would be interesting. Of course, there will be high interest in any statistical analysis that might be provided concerning the types of enquiry, together with response times. My use of the service – which posed a question about the gender balance within the UK police force, was answered within 15 minutes. Somehow there will need to be a way of managing the expectations of users, who may regard a wait of this duration as too long.

An important question that presents itself is what impact will such services have on the purchase of reference sources within public libraries? Also, how will virtual reference services impact on publishers and the way in which they provide licences – will it soon be possible to answer enquiries based on the knowledge that the library in a neighbouring county has subscribed to a particular publication thus removing any need for one’s own library to purchase? A wider aspect to this debate might be a model that sees the future of reference work sitting more closely with research and learning where the use of the librarian is to support a longer session with either a learning aim or a research or consultancy goal.

Ronan O’BeirneInternet Editor, Reference Reviews and Principal Libraries Officer: Information, Libraries, Archives and Information Service, Bradford, UK