Transcript VIRTUAL REFERENCE - Seattle Public Library

VIRTUAL REFERENCE
A Work in Progress
A Transformation in
Reference…
• New technologies
• Increased networking
• Bringing information to
the user whenever and
wherever it is needed.
What is virtual
reference?
Virtual reference = library
information services delivered
via the Internet, including:
•
•
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•
•
E-mail
Web-based forms
Simple chat
Web site “pushing”
Web site “co-browsing”
Broadband
Connections
• Audio and video
conferencing
• Voice over IP
(VoIP)
Asynchronous delivery
• E-mail
• Web-based forms
• Delayed reference
interview
• User must wait for the
answer
Synchronous delivery
• Chat
• Web site pushing or
co-browsing
• Transforms library
services from buildingbased to point-of-need.
A brief history of real-time
online reference
• IPL starts using a MOO in November,
1995.
• First chat reference service at SUNY
Morrisville, 1996.
• First Web-based chat service at
Temple University, 1998.
• Santa Monica PL uses Web contact
center software in July, 2000.
Since 2000, a
phenomenal
increase in real-time
online reference
services!
Look at the two directories
maintained by Gerry McKiernan
and Stephen Francoeur.
Web contact
center software
• Used by e-retailers like Land’s
End and L.L. Bean.
• Pioneered by Susan McGlamery
and Steve Coffman for use in
libraries.
• Now used by most libraries
providing real-time reference.
Three innovative efforts to
network reference services:
• 24/7 Reference Project
• Tutor.com’s Virtual
Reference Toolkit
• Question Point,
collaboration of OCLC
and the Library of
Congress
What’s in the
future for virtual
reference?
• Broadband! Richer audio
and visual environments
• Services in other languages
• NISO standards
Future?
• Analysis of data from
transcripts
• “Marketplace for reference
services”
• Changing staffing patterns
in libraries
Real-time online
reference
• An exciting work in
progress!
• A vision of point-of-need
information
• Revitalizes the role of the
library
Terms you will hear:
• AskA Services
• Co-browsing, escorting,
pushing
• Knowledge base (local and
global)
• Metadata
• Reference Front Ends