Virtual Reference Virtual Reference Service: Service:

An OverviewAn Overview

Diana ChanDiana Chan

The Hong Kong University of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Science and Technology

LibraryLibrary

2005 Library Conference: Balancing the External and Traditional Libraries at Tamkang University, Taiwan

Online Information and Education Conference, ThailandLibrary and Online Resources Technologies – 2005 Xiamen

ConferenceAt Xiamen University, PRC

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ContentsContents1. Trends in Reference Service2. Impact of the Internet3. What is VRS?4. Developments in VRS5. Usage Studies on Real Time VRS

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1. Trends in Reference Service1. Trends in Reference Service

Anne Lipow- “Early signposts pointing the wrong way”

• Decreased circulation statistics• Fewer walk-in users• Staff can’t keep up• Reference desk eliminated• Outsourcing on the rise• Reduced Reference service hours• Search engines: automated reference librarian• Need for large building and staff not clear

Anne Grodzins Lipow, “Thinking out loud: Who will give reference service in the digital environment?” RQ 37(2) (Winter 1999), pp. 125-9.

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Service Trends in ARL Libraries, 1991-2004

Reference Transactions (-34%)

Initial Circulation** (-12%)

Total Staff (1%)

Total Students (18%)

Circulations Ratio: Initial to Total (27%)

Group Presentations (50%)

Participants in Group Presentations (82%)

Interlibrary Borrowing (148%)

-50%

-30%

-10%

10%

30%

50%

70%

90%

110%

130%

150%

% C

han

ge S

ince

199

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** Total Circulation includes Initial and Renewals but excludes Reserve Circulation

Source: ARL Statistics 2003-04, Association of Research Libraries, 2005

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2. Impact of the Internet2. Impact of the Internet

In 2002:

73% of college students said they use the Internet more than the library

Only 9% said they use the library more than the Internet for information searching.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project. (September 15, 2002). http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/OCT02_Issue/article03.html (accessed September 8, 2005)

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INTERNET USAGE STATISTICS INTERNET USAGE STATISTICS – The Big Picture– The Big Picture

Internet Usage Statistics, the big picture.http://internetworldstats.com/stats.htm accessed Aug 25, 2005

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2. Impact of Internet2. Impact of Internet “ In the digital age, the biggest change is

increased user expectations. Increasingly, user expect to be able to find everything online, full-text.” (1998)

“Now both reference staff and patrons believe that an answer to almost every question can be found if the right combination of resources and search strategies is chosen from the multitude of Web resources and online services accessible.” (2002)

Carol Tenopir and Lisa Ennis

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Impact of InternetImpact of InternetIn 2001, Carol Tenopir surveyed 70 major American

research librarians about how their reference services changed because of electronic resources:70 put email above telephone and fax as a

communication method for reference inquiries21 (30%) offered some form of real time VR70 had real time VR in planning.

Reference librarians spend more time per transaction… “A single tally cannot capture the varying dimensions and growing complexities of reference services”. Kyrillidou (2000)

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3. What is Virtual Reference 3. What is Virtual Reference Service (VRS)?Service (VRS)?

Internet-based Reference ServiceAsking a question onlineLive online reference serviceVirtual, digital, live, interactive, real time,

web-based, synchronous “Using computer and communications

technology to provide reference service to patrons anytime and anywhere” - OCLC’s Question Point (QP)

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U.S. Dept of Education’s U.S. Dept of Education’s Virtual Reference Desk Virtual Reference Desk

GuidelinesGuidelinesAccessibilityFast turn-aroundClear policies Interactive InstructiveAuthorityPrivacyReview and evaluationPublicize service

IFLA Digital Reference Guidelines"Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining Virtual Reference Services.“ American Library Association. 2005.

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Pros and Cons of VRSPros and Cons of VRSPros

Immediate assistance for remote users

Real time VRS is better than email for conducting reference interview

Remains anonymousAwareness of the library

among the user community

ConsAdditional staffLess flexible scheduleLack subject expertiseNo visual or auditory

cuesLess interactiveTyping is slowSome logoff before you

finish answeringSlow communications

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Who’s Doing VRS?Who’s Doing VRS?1999 150 academic libraries, 45% offered VRS

(Janes, Carter and Memmott 1999) 122 ARL Libraries, 96% provided VRS

L. Goetsch (1999)

2000 140 academic libraries, 45% offered VRS. Libraries with greater financial resources, larger

staff, adopted more computer-based services, higher demand for current services MD White (2000)

2001 121 ARL Libraries, 29% provided real time

referenceTenopir and Ennis (2001)

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4. Developments4. Developments in VRS in VRSAsynchronous digital reference

Patron submits a question and the librarian responds at a later time

Example: Email, Web Form.

Synchronous digital referencePatron and librarian communicate in

real time. Example: Chat, Voice over IP, Video

Conferencing, SMS, IM.

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More VRS DevelopmentsMore VRS Developmentsa. Email & Web Formb. Reference Kiosksc. Instant Messaging & Short Message

Service d. Video Conferencinge. Voice over IP f. Online Chat g. Collaborative Reference Servicesh. Commercial Services

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Reference Drop In Appointment E-mail Telephone Real Time

Reference Options of 121 ARL Reference Options of 121 ARL Libraries, 2001Libraries, 2001

Carol Tenopir and Lisa Ennis. “A decade of digital reference 1991-2001” Reference & User Services Quarterly. Spring 2002, 41(3), pp. 264-273

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a. Email and Web Forma. Email and Web FormDescribe the services offeredTypes of questions it handles, or does not

handleFrequency the mailbox is checkedResponse timeConfidentialityPrioritiesHow statistics are kept and how service is

evaluated

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Usage Surveys on Email Usage Surveys on Email ReferenceReference

A study of 485 Qs at State University of New York at Buffalo Libraries (1993-94)70% reference Qs, 30% circulation-related Qs90% of Qs were submitted during opening hours.

A study at the University of Central Arkansas67% of Qs were by faculty, 25% by non-affiliates, 8% by

staff and none by students A study of 450 Qs at the California State

University Chico Library (1997-99)21% of Qs were answered using standard reference

resources. 15% were papers or projects, 12% factual, 11% OPAC, 9% policies, 7% websites…

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b. Reference Kiosksb. Reference Kiosks

Place Cybrarian Kiosks in the library so that users can ask librarians wherever they are in the library

National Library Board, Singapore

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c. Instant Messaging (IM)c. Instant Messaging (IM) Brief emails exchanged very fast in real time Popular IM services:

MSN MessengerAOL Instant MessengerYahoo! MessengerGoogle Talk, .NET Messenger ServiceICQ

IM Clients supporting many protocols: Gaim Trillian Jabber

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DukeRef

Temple University

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c. Instant Messaging (IM)c. Instant Messaging (IM) 53 million adults send instant messages on a

daily basis 1

Provides Just-in-time reference Less formal, low tech end

How to Do It Create a profile Accept imperfection Use abbreviations Use online sources, load IM software on public PCs

Best practices for IM Use a multi-network IM program, e.g. Trillian for

Windows, GaimSend descriptive links instead of urls, Employ away messages

1. Sept 2004 Study “How Americans Use IM” by the Pew Internet & American Life Project

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IM Usage SurveyIM Usage SurveySUNY Buffalo Offered IM reference assistance Monday-Friday Used AOL's free IM software -AIM and Express Staffed 75 hrs a week by 20 librarians + 4 library school

students Questionnaire results:

70% of users 18-25 of age, 69% of users on campus (25% from Cybrary) 79% satisfied with service Type of questions

26% questions are in information literacy category 23% about using the catalog 12% are about specific library information (e.g. hours) 6% of questions are technical troubleshooting, 5% web navigation 4% electronic course reserves 4% finding SUNY Buffalo information.

Many librarians did not receive a single question in their 1 hour shift.

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c. Short Message Service c. Short Message Service (SMS)(SMS)

A service available on most digital mobile phones

Permits people to send short messages between Mobile phonesOther handheld devices Landline telephones

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Curtin University’s SMSCurtin University’s SMS

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Curtin University’s SMSCurtin University’s SMSUsers

Curtin students and staff with a text-enabled mobile phone Scope

1 SMS equals 160 characters Cost

25 cents (Aus$) per message to Curtin Library service (standard rate for SMS sent to anyone)

Report on findings: 200+ queries in 6 months 87% received during library opening hours 71% were explanatory type of reference questions

Patron feedback: Easy to use (4.2 out of 5) 100% of clients did not have any problems 92% claimed they would use it again.

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d. Video Conferencingd. Video ConferencingUC Irvine Science Library (1997):

Provided the service to medical students who are working in a computer lab, one hour a day, mostly on Medline searching

Apple VideoPhone Kit (software, camera, microphone, color conferencing capability, Internet, Timbuktu Program)

Audio, video, chat window, whiteboard Students’ comments :

Excited about this high-techWanted document delivery of full-text articles

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Video Conferencing SoftwareVideo Conferencing SoftwareA combination of chat software, audio and video

applications2 kinds of software

Software for writing classesSoftware for businesses to hold conferences

Examples:DaedalusGroupWiseWeb PublisherNorton Connect NetMicrosoft NetShowMicrosoft NetMeetingReilly WebBoard

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Microsoft NetMeetingMicrosoft NetMeeting

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e. Voice over IPe. Voice over IPSince 2003 IM services have voice

components MSN Messenger, AOL IM, Yahoo Messenger

Provides free or low-cost talk on internet Negative - call other Internet users using the same software program

Positive - make calls to land and cellular-based phones for a modest fee

New programsSkype, Google Talk

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SkypeSkype• Allows people to talk and IM for

free using PC-to-PC connections

• Connections require someone else to have Skype software.

• Users are identified through names instead of numbers

• Skypers use headsets and microphones attached to the computers

• Soon to offer video and other communication services

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Google TalkGoogle Talk

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f. Online Chatf. Online ChatWeb contact center software and web collaboration

software:

Page pushing Co-browsing Escorting to various sites Question queuing and routing Transcripts of each session An archive of Q&As

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Chat Service Agents and Chat Service Agents and Vendors Vendors

Multiple online agents CiscoLucenteGainNetagentLivePersonHumanClickWebAgentWebline

Software vendors24/7 ReferenceDOCUTEK Information Systems Inc.QuestionpointLivePersonLSSI Library Systems & Services

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Prairie Area Prairie Area Library SystemLibrary System

Librarian LiveLibrarian Live

Thomas Ford Thomas Ford Memorial LibraryMemorial Library

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Chat Debate - ProChat Debate - ProReach out to patrons who Can’t get to the Reference desk Never have been reached before

Good for Those who need instant replies Clarifying a question faster Assisting users to learn effective ways to search

through co-browsing and escorting

Of the 107 million people in USA using the Internet, 40-50 million use chat- (NY Times 1998)

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Chat Debate – ProChat Debate – Pro Usage Study of New Jersey’s 24/7 Live Virtual

Reference Service 1

53.9% of the customers have used the service more than once

89.9% would use the service again.

Nov. 2002 - Oct 2003 49,503+ chat sessions

1. These data result of 7,000 pop-up surveys.

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Chat Debate - ProChat Debate - ProMore Usage Studies:

Carnegie Mellon University (2001)74% reported receiving full information 88% would use Reference Chat again

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2001)90% reported the completeness of answers as very good

or excellent85% would use it again

Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2001-02)82% said the answers were very helpful82% rated the service as a very good method of reference

help

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Chat Debate - ConChat Debate - Con Some transactions never finished System or browser crashes Co-browsing proprietary db is difficult Patrons disappear Time-consuming Librarians must multi-task Concerns about quality Shady reputation Low acceptance on the web by commercial

businessOnly 12% offered a chat on websites

(Benchmark Portal 2003)

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Chat Debate - ConChat Debate - ConProviders stopped using chatVandebilt UMITLos Alamos National Labs LC’s 11 divisions using QP in June

2002 down to 3 in April 2004

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g. Collaborative g. Collaborative Reference ServiceReference Service

Extend hours of coverage of participants to 24/7

Cooperation and collaboration, informal or network arrangement

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Examples of Collaborative Examples of Collaborative Reference ServiceReference Service

LC/OCLC QuestionPoint (QP)People’s NetworkLSSI VRD24/7 ReferenceConvey SystemsDocutekCalis

Distributed Collaborative Virtual Reference System (CVRS) - China

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NCknowsNCknows:: the State Library of North the State Library of North Carolina's Virtual Reference project staffed Carolina's Virtual Reference project staffed by by librarianslibrarians from throughout N Carolina from throughout N Carolina

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Example of a Transcript of Example of a Transcript of an NCKnows Chat Sessionan NCKnows Chat Session

anonymous: I mean the Silicon Valley are composed of high-tech companies. What arbout Resarch Triangle region. Are they also high tech or just research companies as its name applies?

24/7 Librarian vw: Apart from one being in NC, on the east coast, and one being in VA, on the west coast?

anonymous: Is there any difference between Research Triangle and the Silicon Valley in CA?

24/7 Librarian vw: Try copying and pasting the address into a new browser windowanonymous: I have this message pops up "Stack overflow at line 1"24/7 Librarian vw: http://www.rtrp.org/anonymous: What is the url of this page. 24/7 Librarian vw: Does this answer your question?anonymous: [Page sent - Site Selection Consultants]24/7 Librarian vw: Here is a website about the Research Triangle region.24/7 Librarian vw: [Page sent - Research Triangle Region]anonymous: Hi! I'm out of the states. Can you tell me what is the Research Triangle in NC24/7 Librarian vw: How may I help you?24/7 Librarian vw: Hello, welcome to our NCknows Reference Service. [24/7 Librarian vw - A librarian has joined the session.]A librarian will be with you shortly. Please remember that while our librarians can help you

use your library, they may not be from your specific library system or branch

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Busy Collaborative ServicesBusy Collaborative ServicesAskUsNow in

Maryland (2,900 in Oct 2003)

AskNow in Australia (3,196)

QandA in NJ (5,800)

KnowItNow in Cleveland (3,500 a month, 4% of total ref workload)

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Number of Collaborative Number of Collaborative Reference ServicesReference Services

In North America:

1,730 libraries in 62 collaborative services (as of Jan 2004)

3,000 - 4,000 libraries using chat software

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Index of Collaborative Index of Collaborative Reference ServiceReference Service

Collaborative Live Reference Services, by Bernie Sloan

Index of Chat Reference Services, by Stephen Francoeur500 VR Services (Feb 2004)

LiveRef(sm): A Registry of Real-Time Digital Reference Services, by Gerry McKiernan132

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OCLC’s QPOCLC’s QPStarted in 2002 by LC and OCLCUsed by over 1,000 libraries in 20 countriesOver 7,000 QandA Knowledge baseSubscription of $2,000/yrQuestions received - Use best-matching

routing to library profiles Web-based chat, co-browse and

cooperative reference tools A management tool for reference

transactions Respond, assign, refer, route

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Example of a Question from Example of a Question from OCLC’s QPOCLC’s QP

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Usage Study - QandANJUsage Study - QandANJ Statistics:

25,000 customer questions in 2002,50,000 questions in 2003, Nearly 60,000 questions in 2004, During a busy hour, may handle 25-30 questions.  In the busiest month (March 2004), more than 7,400 Qs

Pop-up customer feedback form on 8,745 customers, Jan 2002-Oct 200353.9% of the respondents used more than once 89.8% of the respondents said they will use again 60% said they have their questions completely

answered 80.2% were satisfied or very satisfied with the service

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Doubts about VRSDoubts about VRS - Steve Coffman - Steve Coffman

Joe Janes – Global Census of Digital Reference Less than 6 Qs a day in Nov 2003

Only 29% of ARL libraries offer VRS (36 out of 124)

LSSI - Oct 2003 declined over Oct 2002

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h. Commercial Serviceh. Commercial Service Search engine

AskJeeves Ask yahoo

Expert systems:Allexperts.comGoogle answersAskMeNow

Information Please

Know’Post

Experts Exchange

Inforstry

Webhelp.com

Questia

Ask.yahoo.com/ask/most

LC’s Ask a Librarian

Virtual Reference Desk

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Google AnswerGoogle Answer• Beta version, Apr 2002• 500 freelance researchers• Costs US$0.5 to list a Q• $2-200 for an answer• 1 day turnaround• User may rate the answer• User may reject the answer and request a full refund• 25% of the fee to Google• The service provides an FAQ, a database of Q&A.

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AskMeNow• A commercial VRS• 100 answer agents• Free for basic Qs, • US$0.49 for AskAnything• Beta test with 10,000 users• Sign-up with cell phone (N. American wireless carrier)• Call AskMeNow phone number with the cell phone• Ask the Q • Answer is text-messaged to your cell phone within minutes

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Cornell’s Study (2002/03)Cornell’s Study (2002/03) 24 Questions from 3 sources (Maryland, Cornell

and Google) 2 librarians and 1 assistant prepared answers and

noted the time spent 1 librarian registered with Google Answers as a

user, submitted the questions and obtained answers

ConclusionQuality: Cornell reference librarians were rated

about the same as the Google researchersCost: Cornell reference librarians were much

more expensive

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Cornell Study: Cornell Study: Average Price by Difficulty of QuestionAverage Price by Difficulty of Question

$0.00$5.00

$10.00$15.00$20.00$25.00$30.00$35.00$40.00$45.00

1 2 3

CornellGoogle

Avera

ge P

rice

Difficulty Level

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5. Usage Studies on5. Usage Studies on Real Time VRS Real Time VRS11

When 70-80% took place from Mon.-Thurs. Tuesday and Wednesday are the busiestHow 50-70% of respondents learned about the service through

library homepageWhere 30% of respondents were within library 40% on campus, 30% off campus (Broughton)Why Convenience and anonymity (Foley and Ruppel et.al.)

Satisfaction 80-90% satisfied

1. Kelly Broughton’s paper summaries 7 studies

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Quote about VRSQuote about VRS

Digital reference matters but it will not if we: do it badlydo it alonedo it only one waydo it in secretdo it too slowlyor from a position of fear

- Joe Janes

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Quote about VRSQuote about VRS

“ Be brave, be bold, be thoughtful and if you build it, they will come.”

- Diane Kresh, Library of Congress

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ReferencesReferences1. Academic Library Statistics (2004). Association of College and Research Libraries, available

at http:www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/staticticssummaries/2004abcde/B17.pdf (accessed September 1, 2005.)

2. ARL Statistics 2003-04. (2005). Association of Research Libraries, available at http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/graphs/2004/pubser04.pdf (accessed August 25, 2005.)

3. Broughton. Kelly M. (2002/03) “Usage and user analysis of a real-time digital reference service.” The Reference Librarian, No.79/80, pp. 183-200

4. Coffman, Steve. (2004) “To chat or not to chat – taking yet another look at virtual reference, Part 1. Infotoday, Vol. 12 No. 7, July/August, available at http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jul04/arret_coffman.shml (accessed June 17, 2004)

5. Coffman, Steve. (2004) “To chat or not to chat – taking yet another look at virtual reference, Part 2 . Infotoday, Vol. 12 No. 8, September, available at http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/sep04/arret_coffman.shml (accessed June 17, 2004)

6. Foley, Marianne. (2002) “Instant messaging reference in an academic library: a case study” College & Research Libraries, pp.36-45.

7. Giles, Nicola and Grey-Smith, Sue. (2005) “TXTing librarians @ Curtin” Information Online 2005, available at http://conferences.alia.org.au/online2005/papers/a12.pdf (accessed September 2, 2005.)

8. Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining Virtual Reference Services. (2005). American Library Association, available athttp://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/referenceguide/virtrefguidelines.htm (accessed September 2, 2005)

9. Hyman, Karen and Brombert, Peter. (2003) "I'm just ecstatic about the whole darn thing!: Customer feedback and lessons learned at QandA NJ, New Jersey's 24/7 Live Virtual Reference Service.“ available at http://www.vrd2003.org/proceedings/index.cfm#Evaluation (accessed September 10, 2005.)

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ReferencesReferences10. Internet Usage statistics, the big picture. (2005) Miniwatts International, Ltd., available

at http://internetworldstats.com/stats.htm (accessed August 25, 2005.)11. Katz, Bill. (2002/03) “Digital Reference: an overview” The Reference Librarian,

No.79/80, pp. 1-1712. Kennney, Anne R. et.al. (2003) "Google meets eBay: what academic librarians can

learn from alternative information providers" D-Lib Magazine June Vol.9 No.6 pp.1-16

13. Kresh, Diane. (2002/03) "Virtually yours: thoughts on where we have been and where we are going with virtual reference services in libraries" The Reference Librarian No.79/80, pp.19-34.

14. Kyrillidou, Martha. (2000) “Research Library Trends: ARL Statistics” Journal of Academic Librarianship Vol. 26, November pp. 427-36

15. Lessick, Susan. Kjaer, Kathryn and Clancy, Steve. (1997) “Interactive Reference Service at UC Irvine: expanding reference service beyond the reference desk” available at http:www.ala.org/acrlbucket/nashville1997pap/lessickkjaer.htm (accessed September 2, 2005.)

16. Lipow, Ann G.(1999) “Thinking out loud: Who will give reference service in the digital environment?” RQ Vol. 37 No.2 Winter, pp. 125-9.

17. Meola, Marc and Stormont, Sam. (1999)"Real-time reference service for the remote user" The Reference Librarian, No. 67/78, pp.29-40

18. Moeller, Sherry E. (2003) “Ask-a-librarian: an analysis of an email reference service at a large academic library” Internet Reference Services Quarterly Vol. 8 No.3, pp. 47-61

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ReferencesReferences19. Schmidt, Aaron and Stephens, Aaron. (2005) "IM me" Library Journal April 1, pp.34-

3520. Stephens, Brad. (2004) “Is the voice over IP finally ready to be the next big thing?”

Library Administrator’s Digest. September, Vol. 39 No. 7, p. 51.21. Stoffel, Bruce and Tucher, Toni. (2004)“Email and chat reference: assessing patron

satisfaction” Reference Services Review Vol.32 No.2, pp. 120-14022. Tenopir, Carol. and Ennis, Lisa. (2002). “A decade of digital reference 1991-2001”

Reference & User Services Quarterly. September Vol. 41 No.3, pp. 264-27323. White, Marilyn D (2001). “Diffusion of an innovation: digital reference service in

Carnegie Foundation Master’s Academic Institution Libraries.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Vol. 27 No. 3, May, pp. 173-187