[WEB4LIB] RE: What's wrong with virtual reference?

[Thomas Dowling]

At 09:41 AM 12/6/2002, Oberg, Steve wrote:
>... it was clear that the authors were not arguing against virtual 
>reference as a whole but rather against the idea that virtual reference 
>can/should replace traditional in-person reference interaction....


That's a straw man argument.  I may be a little sheltered here, but I've 
never heard any responsible suggestion that virtual reference be considered 
as a relplacement for in-library, in-person, I'm-a-human-you're-a-human 
reference.  It replaces the interaction that has predominated online, which 
was typically no interaction at all (or askjeeves.com, et al.).  By that 
yardstick, it measures up pretty well.



Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu