The viability of live online reference: An assessment

Portal

Volumn 5, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 239-258

  Horowitz, Lisa R ^a   Flanagan, Patricia A ^b   Helman, Deborah L ^a  

^a MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

^b WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 18744417241     PISSN: 15312542     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/pla.2005.0027     Document Type: Article

References (21)

1. Marc Meola and Sam Stormont, "Real-Time Reference Service for the Remote User: From the Telephone and Electronic Mail to Internet Chat, Instant Messaging, and Collaborative Software," The Reference Librarian 67/68 (2000): 29-40.
2. I b i d.
3. Joan Stahl and Diane Nester Kresh, "Online, Virtual, E-mail, Digital, Real Time: The Next Generation of Reference Services," Art Documentation 20, 1 (2001): 26-30.
4. Steve Coffman and Linda Arret, "To Chat or Not to Chat-Taking Another Look at Virtual Reference, Part 2," Searcher 12, 8 (2004), http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/sep04/ arret_coffman.shtml (accessed January 11, 2005).
5. Ann Bristow and Jian Liu, "Academic Reference Service in the Web Environment," Indiana University Bloomington Libraries, http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/reference/email/ 03.html (accessed January 11, 2005).
6. D. Scott Brandt, "E-Mail Makes the World Go 'Round," Computers in Libraries 20, 10 (December 2000), http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/nov00/ brandt.htm (accessed January 11, 2005).
7. Deborah L. Helman, "Bringing the Human Touch to Digital Library Services," Science & Technology Libraries 2, 2/3 (2001): 83-96.
8. MIT Libraries, "Reference Committee" (June 16, 2004), http://macfadden.mit.edu:9500/ refcomm/ (accessed January 11, 2005).
9. MIT Libraries, "Web Advisory Group," http://macfadden.mit.edu: 9500/webgroup/ (accessed January 11, 2005).
10. Fifty-eight chat transcripts were analyzed. On question 1 about subject area, only 50 transcripts qualified since the other eight were not subject-specific.
11. Zoomerang.com (2004), http://www.zoomerang.com/about/ (accessed January 11, 2005).
12. MIT Libraries, "Ask Us! - Live User Survey" (Fall 2002), http://macfadden.mit.edu/ refcomm/ask-live/AskUsLiveUserSurvey_2002.pdf (accessed January 11, 2005).
13. MIT Libraries, "MIT Libraries Research Help Survey, 2002, Results Summary" (2002), http://macfadden.mit.edu:9500/refcomm/RefVision/documents/ survey.pdf (accessed January 11, 2005).
14. Charles R. McClure, et al., Statistics, Measures, and Quality Standards for Assessing Digital Reference Library Services: Guidelines and Procedures (Syracuse, NY: Information Institute of Syracuse, Syracuse University/ Tallahassee, FL: Information Use Management and Policy Institute, Florida State University, n.d.).
15. Interestingly, in an article about users of Web sites, Ambrozek and Bundesen note, "Users of interactive online community features generate two-thirds of a site's sales despite accounting for only one-third of visitors. Visitors who contribute product reviews or post messages visit that site nine times as often as non-users do, remain twice as loyal, and buy almost twice as often" (introduction). Perhaps this, when applied to the library community, indicates a loyalty to libraries in general among users of chat services. It would be interesting to evaluate whether these repeat users are also loyal users of all of the libraries' services. Jenny Ambrozek and Lynn Bundesen, "R3: The Three Rs of Site Success," EContent 25, 9 (2002): 32-7.
16. Joan C. Durrance, "Factors that Influence Reference Success: What Makes Questioners Willing to Return?" The Reference Librarian 49/50 (1995): 243-65.
17. Nicole Hennig and the MIT Libraries' Web Advisory Group, "'Big Test' Usability Test," http://macfadden.mit.edu:9500/webgroup/usability2002/big- test/index.html (accessed January 11, 2005).
18. Personal e-mails with staff members at Columbia, December 2003.
19. Penn State University Libraries, "Penn State Virtual Reference Service: Annual Statistics Monthly Traffic Comparisons - Fall 2003/Spring 2004 Annual Summary," http:// www.de2.psu.edu/faculty/saw4/vrs/stats/default. html (accessed January 11, 2005).
20. Mark Robertson, e-mail to Dig_ref mailing list, message #8308, November 14, 2003, http:// groups.yahoo.com/group/dig_ref/message/8308 (accessed January 11, 2005).
21. Josh Boyer, "Reference Questions at NC State 2003," available via Internet Explorer, http:// www.lib.ncsu.edu/staff/jeboyer/reference-by- rnedium02_files/frame.htm (accessed January 11, 2005).