Virtual Reference Desk 2004
| Published date | 01 January 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07419050510588241 |
| Pages | 18-19 |
| Date | 01 January 2005 |
| Author | J.B. Hill |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Virtual Reference Desk 2004
J.B. Hill
18 LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 1 2005, pp. 18-19, #Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/07419050510588241
The 6th Annual Virtual Reference
Desk Conference was held on
November 8-9, 2004 at the Hilton
Netherland Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Pre-conference and post-conference
sessions were also available on
November 7 and November 10
respectively.
The Virtual Reference Desk
Conference is a two-day meeting,
organized annually by the Information
Institute of Syracuse University, that
focuses on the latest reference trends.
This year's conference was sponsored
by Syracuse University's School of
Information Studies, the Online
Computer Library Center's Member
Services Division, and the American
Library Association's Reference and
User Services Association.
As has become customary, R. David
Lankes, Executive Director of the
Information Institute of Syracuse and
Assistant Professor at Syracuse
University's School of Information
Studies, opened and closed the
conference. This year, Lankes exhorted
conference attendees to take leadership
roles in a changing reference
environment. The conference's keynote
speaker, Eva Miller, Special Projects
Librarian, Multnomah County Library,
addressed the importance of flexibility
in a changing world in her keynote,
``The Improvisational Librarian.''
The conference was divided into the
following tracks:Management, General,
Evaluation/Standards, Technology,
Resources, Research/Policy and Vendor
Demonstrations. Generally there were
six simultaneous sessions. This report
will include sessions primarily from the
Management and Evaluation/Standards
tracks.
A number of the sessions in these
tracks focused on issues dealing with
virtual reference collaborations. In
``Usage Trends: How Customers are
Affecting Change in Virtual Reference
Programs,'' Josh Boyer, Tracy Strobel
and Sharon Moriss served as members
of a panel presentation on different
types of successful virtual reference
collaborations. The session, moderated
by Kay Henshall of Tutor.com, featured
public and academic library customers
of Tutor.com that had undertaken
ambitious collaborations. First, Boyer
discussed a successful small-scale
collaboration between North Carolina
State University, the University of
North Carolina and Duke University to
provide night virtual reference service
for the three universities. Strobel
discussed Know It Now 24 7, a state-
wide collaborative effort of Ohio public
libraries, featuring a combination of
librarians from 50 public libraries
throughout the state, as well as 60
contract librarians. Sharon Morris
detailed the AskColorado bilingual
collaborative virtual reference service
that features Colorado public and
academic librarians as well as
outsourced librarians from Tutor.com's
Librarians By Request.
In ``Managing a Full Scale 24/7
Reference Service Consortia with Full
Integration of Reference Specialists
from Both Public and Academic
Libraries,'' Morten Fogh, Vera
Daugaad and Ellen Nielsen provided an
international perspective on virtual
reference. Fogh, Daugaad and Nielsen
reported on the development and
maintenance of Biblioteksvagten.dk, a
Danish virtual reference consortium
with more than 250 public and
academic librarians who provide
answers to Danish citizens 24 hours a
day via chat and/or e-mail. The
speakers addressed to challenges of
providing a service with so many
librarians from the different library
sectors. The service has been a popular
success with the Danish people and
future plans include establishing
networks nationally and internationally,
especially with other Scandinavian
countries.
In ``Taking Plunge to 24 7: The
Ramifications of Extending VR Service
through Outsourcing,'' Jennifer
Duvernay and Mimmo Bonnani
reported on Arizona State University's
creation a 24/7 virtual reference
service, using local ASU librarians, as
well as outsourced librarians from
Tutor.com's Librarians By Request
(LBR). An examination of web site
visits by hour demonstrated the need for
a 24/7 ``Ask a Librarian'' service.
Student acceptance and use of the
service has been strong with use of the
service mirroring web site activity. An
examination of session transcripts and
post session surveys indicated that
outsourced librarians could do a good
job at answering most students'
questions. The challenge for the future
includes continuing to publicize the
service and work with the LBR
Librarians to provide them with better
local information.
In ``Moving Back to Campus:
Localizing a Statewide Virtual
Reference Service,'' Valery King, Jane
Nichols and Greg Padilla reported on
Oregon State University's decision to
provide a more localized virtual
reference service to supplement
Oregon's state-wide collaborative
service. The advantages gained by
providing a local service included a
more comprehensive reference service,
a stronger instruction focus of the
service, a greater participation by
Oregon State University librarians and
the availability of additional software
features (e.g. meeting rooms and
waiting rooms) that were not available
as part of the state service.
In ``Is Collaborative Virtual
Reference Cost Effective and If So, for
Whom?'' Neal Kaske of the University
of Maryland examined the cost
effectiveness of collaborating for
virtual reference. While he
demonstrated that collaboration
lowered the cost of providing virtual
To continue reading
Request your trial