Reference Services: Virtual, Digital and In-Library – A Report on a Teleconference

Citation

Riggs, C. (2003), "Reference Services: Virtual, Digital and In-Library – A Report on a Teleconference", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 20 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2003.23920dac.001

Reference Services: Virtual, Digital and In-Library – A Report on a Teleconference

Colby Riggs

The following is an update from the 2nd Annual National Teleconference on Virtual Reference Services sponsored by the College of DuPage Library. This is a summary of session one of the two-part series called Reference Services: Virtual, Digital, and In-Library – A New Model for Effective Delivery broadcast on February 7, 2003, which explored the continuing dramatic changes coming to library reference services.

The teleconference opened with an introduction by the host Richard Dougherty. He stated that in general the reference staff needs to be closer to their library patrons and we must do a better job of showing the value of the library services to our patrons.

Dougherty introduced the four panel members and asked each to contribute a quick general comment on virtual reference service:

1. 1.

   Jim Rettig, the University Librarian at the University of Richmond, stated, "We need to consider the values of our users."

2. 2.

   John Small, an Assistant Professor of Library Services and the Electronic Resources Librarian at Central Missouri State University, suggested, "Small libraries have the ability to do the things that large libraries can do."

3. 3.

   Barbara Fister, the coordinator of instruction at the Gustavus Adolphus College Library, encouraged "the continual inquiry into the curiosity about the perspectives of the patrons who use the Library."

4. 4.

   Susan McGlammery, the Reference Coordinator for the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System, indicated, "Virtual reference can provide opportunities for clients but can also provide other staffing opportunities for library staff."

To build on the concepts and discussion of the previous digital reference teleconferences, a "flashback" format was used. The flashbacks were video snippets from last year's teleconference speaker panel. A flashback from Steve Coffman was played about the reasons to get involved with digital reference. Coffman observed, "Patrons are seeking and finding information outside the library." He expressed, "Our patrons need help when going out on the Web and also need help when they do not know what they need." Another video "flashback" was played from Paul Constantine. He posed the question, "Why should we use it (virtual reference services) right away?" He explained, "The times they are a-changing and 24/7 services are available in many ways. For customers they are getting what they need when they want it and where they want it." These "flashbacks" set the tone of the next series of questions from Dougherty.

Dougherty asked the panel, "Will face-to-face reference service still exist or will reference as we know it disappear?"

The answer to the question led into the presentation by Jim Rettig, "Transforming reference from the desk to the users". Rettig opened with a discussion of various changes in reference service patrons such as the users are not coming into the library and their mindset and information-seeking habits and behaviors have changed. He suggested that, in view of these changes in our library patrons' behaviors, the traditional reference service might not be an effective system to meet the expectations and needs of our patrons.

Rettig further described the values of our users and how our traditional reference services fail to meet these basic values. He said our patrons value:

• •

  Immediacy. Our traditional reference service conflicts with this value because our service takes deliberation and time.

• •

  Interactivity. In order to communicate remotely with our patrons we will need to forgo standardization and learn the abbreviations and other non-standard reference communication methods to keep our patrons engaged online.

• •

  Personalization. Our patrons expect information to be packaged just for them and this is a challenge because our systems are designed to be mass communication systems.

• •

  Mobility. Our patrons desire access to information resources from wherever they are via the device of their choice.

John Small's presentation was introduced by a flashback from Diane Kresh. She stated, "No library is too small to collaborate because every library has a unique expertise." Small's presentation was from the small library perspective for providing virtual reference services. He discussed various staffing issues such as that the lack of availability of librarians to staff the newly developed service in addition to the traditional reference desk perhaps can be solved by using special project staffing to get the service started. He detailed some of the local issues to be considered including the political atmosphere, the general support for new initiatives, the expectations of the user population to the virtual reference service and the technical support to implement and maintain the virtual reference service. He described various software selection and funding options. These included full, low or no cost options. Small stressed it is important to know the abilities of the users and how comfortable they are with the type of technologies available. He concluded small libraries could benefit by discovering what sort of technology is available in the community and explore partnerships. He suggested small libraries start simple and then move to the high cost options.

Barbara Fisher's presentation provided an overview of the information-seeking behaviors of students. She described some misperceptions of student behaviors:

• •

  Students use nothing but Web sources for their research and they believe everything they find.

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  Students would rather use anything electronic than anything on paper.

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  Students would rather communicate through the Internet than in person and want information 24/7.

She quoted the results from two large-scale studies, an OCLC White Paper and a CLIR/DLF study, which said:

• •

  The students believe accuracy is an important quality in a source.

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  They prefer face-to-face help, that a majority of students still use print sources.

• •

  They trust information found in libraries more than free Web information and only 0.7 percent wanted 24/7 reference help.

Fisher personally interviewed students about their research processes in 1990 and 2002. She discovered the students recognized that developing a focused question takes time and wide reading and exploration – physical browsing – are an important part of the research process and students retain more of what they learn at the reference desk than in formal instruction sessions. She summarized that people do not always go to the reference desk for answers, they go to learn how to ask a good question. She closed by stating, "We need to find out what our patrons want, what they need and how they use information and we need to make clear what we can do for them."

Susan McGlammery talked about the staffing issues involved in virtual reference services. Although the traditional reference service and the virtual reference service are similar, the technical competencies of the staff and the workspace conditions are an important staffing consideration. She said the staff reference and technical competencies are:

• •

  a helpful, courteous, customer service-oriented attitude;

• •

  ability to identify the client's needs during the reference interview;

• •

  good critical thinking and evaluation abilities;

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  knowledge of available Web and online resources and library policies and procedures;

• •

  skill in using the software including troubleshooting skills and ability to provide good reference despite any technical difficulties;

• •

  comfort with multi-tasking in multiple windows;

• •

  ability to communicate effectively with the online client.

McGlammery described some of the benefits to the staff who provide service in a virtual reference desk such as the improvement of the librarian's reference skills and a mechanism for improved quality of service and identification of training needs through the evaluation of session transcripts.

The PowerPoint presentations for the teleconference are available at: www.cod.edu/teleconf/VIRTUAL/

Colby Riggs(cmriggs@uci.edu) is a Systems Librarian at the University of California, Irvine Libraries and co-editor of Library Hi Tech News.