Digital Reference: What, Why, How LIS 521

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Digital ReferenceWhat, Why, How?LIS 521

• Joseph Janes
• Chair, Library and Information Science
• The Information School
• of the University of Washington
• jwj_at_u.washington.edu
• www.ischool.washington.edu/jwj/txla

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what is reference?

• readers in popular libraries need a great deal
  of assistancethis is particularly needed by
  persons unused to handling books or conducting
  investigations.
• Samuel Green Library Journal 1 (1876)

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what is reference?

• Reference work includes the direct, personal aid
  within a library to persons in search of
  information for whatever purpose, and also
  various library activities especially aimed at
  making information as easily available as
  possible.
• Margaret Hutchins Introduction to Reference Work
  (1944)

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where reference has been

• Green (1876) we do reference because theres
  too much stuff and its hard to find
• talks about database searching (really),
  evaluating resources, BI, consumer info, advice,
  SDI, readers advisory, medical/legal disclaimers
• be pleasant, mingle freely
• dont make readers dependent
• no point of view on politics, etc.

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how did reference evolve?

• Green 1876
• people dont know how to search
• improve people, make them independent
• Ryan 1996
• technological innovations as opportunity
• policy, limitations, structure (what not to do)
• communication with others

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what is digital reference?

• the use of digital technologies and resources to
  provide direct, professional assistance to people
  who are seeking information, wherever and
  whenever they need it

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how is digital reference different?

• time scale usually much longer (even with live
  services)
• different kind and level of contact
• greater accessibility
• different resources
• different users
• different questions, motivations, situations,
  expectations
• different interview
• ability to capture products of the transaction

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how is digital reference different?

• easier to evaluate
• possibility of different staffing models
• greater opportunity for collaboration
• and yetexactly the same

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why do digital reference?

• all those reasons
• people/outreach/access
• people using collections continuouslywhy no
  service?
• publicity
• support
• technology
• more digital resources, people need help with
  them
• maybe you shouldnt

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processes

• asynchronous
• question intake
• question handling
• The Interview (or lack thereof)

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question intake options

• email, simple form, detailed form
• tradeoffs?
• what questions do you want to ask?
• name, phone number, fax, email address, preferred
  response method, question, motivation, sources
  tried, grade/age/level/status, need-by date,
  answer format/characteristics
• authentication?
• password, PIN, library card , phone number

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question intake issues

• interactive? (multiple forms, live)
• what kinds of users, what kinds of questionsmay
  help determine nature of interaction
• people get it wrong

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question handling

• where does it go?
• personal email box, collective email box,
  bulletin board, other
• who handles it?
• 1 person, rotation by person, rotation by branch
• on/off desk
• forward, post, answer yourself

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interview

• or lack thereofmay be only a one-shot deal
• get as much as you can v. get the question and
  hope for the best
• less chance of dialogue implies better questions?
• how to help them to help you to help them

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technological options

• chat
• instant messaging
• video
• call center software
• Web/email

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chat

• advantages
• easy to use and understand (for patrons, esp.
  teens/young)
• commonplace
• creates a transcript
• disadvantages
• low bandwidth, loss of nonverbal cues
• requires typing, lag time, no scripts
• boredom
• might work well in a school, YA, community college

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instant messaging

• advantages
• commonplace (incl. in many organizations/corporati
  ons)
• easy to use and understand
• disadvantages
• low bandwidth, loss of nonverbal cues
• requires typing, lag time, no scripts
• boredom (tho perhaps less of a problem here)
• might work well in an organization widely using
  IM, etc.

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video

• advantages
• higher bandwidth, nonverbal cues (better
  interview?)
• no lag, typing
• more personalized feel
• disadvantages
• , equipment, accessibility
• no transcript (or at least not in text)
• people dont want to be on camera
• might work in a corporate, high-tech environment

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call center software

• advantages
• designed for this kind of interaction, eval
  modules, transcripts, scripts
• easy for user
• push web pages
• disadvantages
• training
• might work well in a cooperative environment

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Web/email

• advantages
• easy to use, understand
• commonplace, cheap
• document delivery, transcript
• extra time
• evaluation
• disadvantages
• lag, typing
• thin connection, interview

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what we want

• easy to use understand, commonplace
• transcript
• high bandwidth, quality of interview, make
  connection
• no lag
• push information (of all kinds, digital and
  otherwise)
• evaluation
• comfortable and affordable on both ends
• not there yetwhat would do this?

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evaluation

• yes

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evaluation

• how?
• derives from why youre doing it
• what dimensions do you care about?
• accuracy, of questions recd/answered,
  satisfaction, time to respond, kind of questions,
  kind of users, repeat users, new users, different
  from traditional users, , training needs
• targets standards
• may well be easier here
• (how different from other ref approachesif at
  all)

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other considerations

• staff, training
• design
• publicity

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staff training

• who is to do it?
• best person, person whose idea it was, people who
  are great on the desk/phone, people who are not
  great on the desk/phone, newest grad, tech geek,
  etc.
• where/when?
• on desk/off desk, 24 hrs, allocation of staff
• training
• on technology, on resources, on searching, on
  answering, on environment

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design

• attractive
• easy to use, understand
• sensible, consistent name

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publicity

• yes
• things to think about
• where, how much, to whom, why
• within organization, and most effective ways
• dont hideOK to ramp up but dont stay at the
  bottom of the ramp
• plan for success

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policies

• on kinds of users
• on kinds of questions
• on time to answer
• on other matters

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policies on users

• resident
• member of academic community
• card holder
• local phone
• part of network
• about community/institution/collection/area/unique
  resources

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type of question

• brief fact v. sources/research
• about area
• genealogy is different
• holdings
• question you might ask at the reference desk of
  any public library
• questions we can answer without further input
  from you

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type of question

• medical/legal/tax/advice
• fee for service
• no trivial question
• up to 20 minutes of work
• what type of question is really best for your
  environment, resources, service, etc.?
• examples

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time to answer

• often fuzzy (goal, strive)
• range from 24 hrs or less to 3-5 days
• call us for quicker service, also give phone
• be realistic but not wishy-washy, take into
  consideration what the service is for, patrons
  being served, kind of questions, environment,
  etc.

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other policies to think about

• confidentiality/privacy what happens to
  question, answer, personal/contact information
• fees for mail, fax, licensed databases (or we
  dont do this)
• type of resources will or wont use
• hours/days of service (if appl.)
• form must be completely filled out

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resources

• staffing training
• how many staff?
• what kind?
• when?
• training on technology, process, resources,
  answering, users, interviewing

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resources

• information
• restrictions?
• emphases? (digital, local, licensed)?
• new?
• document delivery
• the role of licensed content how to get it to
  people
• FAQs why not? very low occurrence, mainly
  policy/proceduralcould use FAQ, FARQ,
  pathfinders
• examples

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resources

• budget for it
• staff, training, hardware, software, information,
  publicity, evaluation
• time
• to develop, to maintain, to evaluate, to train
• referral
• to phone, desk, consultation, etc.

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resources

• resources questions best answered when you know
  what kinds of users, questions you are intending
  to serve
• doesnt have to be for every persons every
  question
• decide these first design service accordingly

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is practice changing?

• The Reference Interview, its role, and how its
  changing
• answering questions parking people
• time to answer (the double-edged sword)
• recording answers, reviewing and searching them
• different people may be good at this
• evaluation easier (do we want to know?)
• more questions from more peoplewill have broad
  impact

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trends issues for the near future

• synchronous/asynchronous
• collaboration (QP, etc.) specialization
• tracking status of questions
• reference as ongoing process
• innovation (services for palms, PCS devices,
  etc.)
• acceptance by public, by profession
• and
• its not digital reference, its just
  reference

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what is digital reference?

• the use of digital technologies and resources to
  provide direct, professional assistance to people
  who are seeking information, wherever and
  whenever they need it

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what is reference?

• the provision of direct, professional assistance
  to people who are seeking information, at the
  time and point of need