Contributed by Organizations or Campuses, E-mail and Messaging, and Digital Library Services

Chat Reference Service: An Analysis of One Semester's Data

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Title:Chat Reference Service: An Analysis of One Semester's Data (ID: CSD4501)
Author(s):JoAnn Sears (Auburn University)
Source:Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship
Origin:Contributed by Organizations or Campuses (2001)
Type:Articles, Papers, and Reports
Abstract:Four months of chat reference questions received at a centralized reference services desk of an ARL library are analyzed in this study. Types of questions and types of users (when identified) are investigated. This study examines whether the questions were localized to the specific library's resources/services as well as whether the person responding to the chat question gave any evidence of consulting resources during the course of the chat session.
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Remote Reference Services at the North Carolina State Universities

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Title:Remote Reference Services at the North Carolina State Universities (ID: CSD4500)
Author(s):Josh Boyer (North Carolina State University)
Source:Virtual Reference Desk Project
Origin:Contributed by Organizations or Campuses (2000)
Type:Articles, Papers, and Reports
Abstract:In order to provide equivalent services to patrons in and outside the library, North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries have implemented a service point within the main library for responding to requests from off-site patrons. During their shifts at the off-site services desk, staff members answer reference questions received via telephone, e-mail, and online chat. This paper discusses the benefits of implementing the service, staffing strategies, and some challenges encountered.
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Papa's Got A Brand New (Virtual) Bag: Real-Time Chat and Reference Discourse

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Title:Papa's Got A Brand New (Virtual) Bag: Real-Time Chat and Reference Discourse (ID: CSD3953)
Author(s):Darren Chase (Stony Brook University Hospital and Health Science Center)
Source:Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship
Origin:Contributed by Organizations or Campuses (2005)
Type:Articles, Papers, and Reports
Abstract:Many librarians agree that virtual reference has expanded the range of library reference services. Along with an expansion of reference service, virtual reference (especially real-time chat) has influenced reference discourse. Style characteristics of chat include its telegraphic brevity, its conversational and informal tone, and its tendency towards interview and exchange. A bedrock feature of traditional reference service is the reference interview-as this and other aspects of reference exchange are conversational, chat is exceptionally resonant within the continuum of reference services. The virtual reference librarian operates in a medium both familiar and leading-edge (a bridge between the traditional and the innovative), and through which reference services advance into territories governed by emerging technologies and unexpected models of discourse.
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