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The Evolution of Reference Service
- Librarians go Virtual
The shift in academic libraries from print to
electronic has brought with it many exciting opportunities
as well as challenges. Worlds of information have opened up
and have allowed students and researchers an unprecedented
degree of freedom and convenience. At the same time, our users
are changing and so are their habits. The "Google generation"
is accustomed to quick access from the desktop, and often
a generic Internet search engine is the first (and sometimes
the last) line of approach for many students. Because so many
students prefer to use electronic resources, they often access
their information off-site - from home, computer labs, or
workplaces. And this means that when they need help, some
of them are turning to commercial online services like "Ask
Jeeves" for live assistance because library services
like reference don't seem to be where they need them.
Well, if you think reference services aren't
there for students and researchers on the home computer, in
the computer lab or office - think again! Reference services
continue to evolve to meet these changing needs.
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A year and
a half ago, York Libraries launched an online reference
service called Ask A Librarian Chat Reference.
The button for this service can be found on our
Library homepage (http://www.library.yorku.ca).
During the fall and winter terms the service is
open 46 hrs/week (Mon-Thurs. 11:00 am - 9:00 pm;
Friday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm). |
Ask A Librarian Chat Reference allows
users to chat online live with a librarian, and work together
with patrons by sharing a web page. Our users can watch us
as we navigate web sites and electronic resources, and we
can also let our users show us where they are encountering
difficulties. And afterwards, users receive a transcript of
the chat session by email so that they can keep a record of
all the advice and links. It's a great way to get quick help
from wherever you are.
The service has proved to be quite popular.
Over the 2002/03 fall and winter semesters we helped people
with over 2300 questions, and we expect the demand to continue
climbing in the coming academic year as more people discover
the service. What began as a pilot project has become a fixture
of the Libraries. In fact, "Ask a Librarian" could
in some ways be considered a new virtual branch of the York
University library system.
Of course, the launch of any substantial new
service point inevitably presents resource challenges. The
Reference Department of the Scott Library has been able to
introduce this new service largely because we participate
in the Ontario Collaborative Virtual Reference Project (OCVRP)
with Ryerson University and the University of Guelph. This
innovative project allows us to share staffing of the service
across the three universities such that calls are picked up
by library staff at Guelph, Ryerson or York. The collaborative
infrastructure is invisible to our patrons; users access the
service from their own institution's library home page, and
receive assistance in using their own library's resources.
This collaboration has allowed our institutions to expand
our hours of digital reference services and increase our capacity
for chat interactions while sharing resources and saving costs.
The collaborative project has received a great
deal of attention from other academic libraries because it
is one of the few virtual reference collaborations in Canada.
In June, one of our reference staff was also recognized for
excellence in virtual reference service. Irene Tencinger from
the Scott Library Reference Department was awarded the Samuel
Swett Green Award for the Best Virtual Reference Transcript
at the American Libraries Association Conference. This international
award attests to the quality and success of the service.
If you would like to try out the Ask A Librarian
Chat Reference service, look for the button on the Library
homepage.
For more about the OCVRP, see: http://alpha.lib.uoguelph.ca/reference/OCUL/about.html
For more about Irene Tencinger being awarded the Green Award,
see:
http://www.vrtoolkit.net/press_release/PR_06212003.htm
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