Transcript Ian Smalley - Georgetown Digital Commons

Ian Smalley
CCTP-745: Communication Technology
and Organizations
April 23rd, 2009
Final Presentation
Communication
Technology Use in
Library Research and
Reference Assistance
The Decline of Face to Face
Interaction

Referencing desks have declined all over the
country for the last decade, by as much as ten to
twenty percent, per year, for the last ten years.
So that means that whereas in 1995 or so you
might have been answering 100,000 questions a
year, now we’re answering closer to 15,000 or
30,000. And there is a whole group of libraries,
called the Association for Research Libraries,
there is one hundred and thirteen of them that
are really big libraries, and they’ve been keeping
track of this for a really long time, and there has
been a steady decline by at least thirty to fifty
percent in every library in the last decade. - Will
Wheeler
Questions

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How are new communication technologies
changing reference and research in
libraries?
Are they replacing or complementing
traditional methods?
Will we see a switch to all online reference
help?
Is a combination of reference help
methods that are determined by the
situation hold the key to effective and
efficient help?
What does the future hold?
Interviews

Martha Smalley: Special Collections
librarian at the Yale Divinity School Library
Interviews

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Martha Smalley: Special Collections
librarian at the Yale Divinity School Library
Nicolette Sosulski: Reference librarian for
the Portage District Library and
QuestionPoint, an online 24/7 virtual
reference service
Interviews



Martha Smalley: Special Collections
librarian at the Yale Divinity School Library
Nicolette Sosulski: Reference librarian for
the Portage District Library and
QuestionPoint, an online 24/7 virtual
reference service
William Wheeler: Head of Research &
Instruction at Georgetown’s Lauinger
Library
Strengths and Weaknesses of Communication
Technologies
Communication Media
Strengths
Weaknesses
Face to face interaction
- Synchronous Interaction
- Physical Cues
- Rapid Feedback and Free Flowing
Idea Exchange
- Useful for Understanding Complex
Issues and Clarifying Problems
- Time Constraints
- Distance Constraints
Phone
- Synchronous Interaction
- Rapid Feedback
- Available Over Long Distances
- Lack of Visual Cues
- Inability to Show Visual Examples
or Explanations
Email
- Efficient Communication of Data
- Ability to Multi-Task
- Asynchronous Interaction
- Lack of Visual Cues
- Inability to Show Visual Examples
or Explanations
Live Chat Reference
- Synchronous Interaction
- Ability to Multi-task
- Patron Anonymity (for Patron)
- Efficient Communication of Data
- Useful for Short, Simple Questions
- Patron Anonymity (for Reference
Librarian)
- Comfort with Technology
-Skill with Technology
- Typing Skills
Online Downloadable Content
- Concise, Visually Rich Data
- No Interactivity
Face to Face vs. Mediated
Interaction

[I]n the Special Collections area,
where I work, I think we see more
face to face kind of people just
because of the type of reference
questions they are asking are a little
more complicated. They need to
know about the collections in a way
that requires more detail so they like
to make appointments to come talk.
– Martha Smalley
Confusion in Chat Messaging
Reference Help

If somebody gives you a… if you get this
grossly misspelled incoming message,
there are five possibilities: there is a
brilliant person who just can’t spell; this is
a person who is a lousy typist; this is a
person who is young and hasn’t learned
spelling yet or is unfamiliar with spelling
conventions; or it’s an ESL person. And
depending on whether you get that right,
the whole level of sources and
sophistication of research that you’re
dealing with… you can really miss the boat
if you get it wrong. – Nicolette Sosulski
Level of Comfort With the New
Communication Technology

We have had sporadic success with instant messaging
reference, but part of the deal is that a lot of librarians
are not thrilled with – because they’ve been doing
reference for years – they find reference in an instant
message or chat environment a little intimidating…. Part
of it I think is just less comfort with the technology. You
have the technologies, plus you have the speed
pressure, and the typing, and of course the time
stress…plus everything you do is recorded. So anything
you mess up there is a lasting record of…. Some of my
colleagues have been librarians for twenty-five, twentyeight, thirty-two years, so they’ve been using the other
modes of reference, and they don’t use chat or texting in
a social environment. So it ends up…it’s another
technology to learn, with its own time pressures and its
own challenges. – Nicolette Sosulski
Anonymity of Mediated Interaction

At NC State they would have… they started doing
this online reference question answering, and
they found that there would be people in the
library, in front of the reference desk, who would
rather type in a question than come up to the
desk…. And there was a while in the late 90s and
early 2000s where people thought, hey chat is
really going to catch on because people can be
anonymous, and one of the reasons they’re not
talking to people at the desk is because they’re
afraid of them, or approaching them and looking
stupid or something. - Will Wheeler
Anonymity of Mediated Interaction
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NS: [Y]ou know there are time where I’m like, ‘Oh my
gosh, I can’t believe they asked that question’. Of course
on the reference desk you have to have a poker face. But
people, when they think they’re completely anonymous will
ask things on chat that they would never ask a person on a
reference desk. Never, never, never. I get a lot of very
interesting how-to questions that I would not get on the
reference desk.
IS: Yeah, that no one would be able to ask with a straight
face when they’re standing in front of you?
NS: Um… I end up sending them to very interesting help
sites (laughter). Well, like for example if your personal
piercing gets infected…people are much more likely to ask
about that in an anonymity situation than they are on a
reference desk…. We get questions about personal
situations, you get sex questions… trying to stump the
librarian (laughter). We get people who aren’t sure if they
broke the law.
Theoretical Applications

Media Choice Theories: Media richness perception
is dynamic. Media appropriateness is best
determined based on the job context and
situational elements.
Theoretical Applications


Media Choice Theories: Media richness perception
is dynamic. Media appropriateness is best
determined based on the job context and
situational elements.
Channel Expansion Theory: As new communication
technologies are integrated into organizations
people are forced to adapt to them. They build
knowledge bases and eventually become more
comfortable with the communication channel and
types of messages it can send.
Theoretical Applications



Media Choice Theories: Media richness perception
is dynamic. Media appropriateness is best
determined based on the job context and
situational elements.
Channel Expansion Theory: As new communication
technologies are integrated into organizations
people are forced to adapt to them. They build
knowledge bases and eventually become more
comfortable with the communication channel and
types of messages it can send.
Adaptive Structuration: As the rules surrounding
these new technologies are adopted into the
organization and become norms they create a reemphasizing cycle. Use of the media maintains its
position in the structure.
The Future of Reference
Assistance in Libraries

People are becoming more and more
comfortable with new virtual reference
technologies.
The Future of Reference
Assistance in Libraries


People are becoming more and more
comfortable with new virtual reference
technologies.
Creating a network of communication
channels that can selected and utilized
based on the situational factors.
The Future of Reference
Assistance in Libraries



People are becoming more and more
comfortable with new virtual reference
technologies.
Creating a network of communication
channels that can selected and utilized
based on the situational factors.
An increase in participatory databases and
user contribution.
The Future of Reference
Assistance in Libraries




People are becoming more and more
comfortable with new virtual reference
technologies.
Creating a network of communication
channels that can selected and utilized
based on the situational factors.
An increase in participatory databases and
user contribution.
Teaching the patrons how to help
themselves more effectively.