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

[Steve Oberg]

That's a pretty heartwarming description:  "...a small band of 
dedicated librarian pioneers who have clawed their way to providing 
this service despite of, not because of, their professional milieu."  
Could be said of any number of initiatives.

Seriously, though, I've had plenty of experience with that 
anti-innovation professional milieu also.  I am not anti-innovation, in 
fact, I am one of those people in the environments in which I've worked 
who receive regular criticism and opposition for promoting new 
technologies and innovations.  My experience is mainly with academic 
libraries, and the extent of the anti-anything-new mentality in some of 
them is, I think, incredible.

That said, I stick by my point that moderation is a good thing when it 
comes to implementing new initiatives, whether it be virtual reference 
or outsourcing or whatever else.  Also, I think there is a need to be 
willing to re-think new initiatives once they're implemented, to 
re-evaluate them on an ongoing basis in order to ensure that users' 
needs are truly being served.

I wish that "small band of dedicated librarian pioneers" success in 
their ongoing effort.

Steve

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve Oberg
Electronic Resources Librarian
Taylor University
http://www.tayloru.edu/library/


On Saturday, December 7, 2002, at 03:10 AM, Karen G. Schneider wrote:

> :web based one that 98 percent of the patrons use.  Some of them
> :actually think there is information via telnet that isn't available in
> :a web interface.
>
> Or even better:
>
> * It's easier to use! (Translation: I know how to use it)
> * I would lose functionality in the Web version! (Translation: I don't
> know how to do this on our Web version)
> * Our patrons would miss it! They've told us so!  (Translation: the 
> last
> person to use the telnet version--by accident, because he doesn't know
> any better--received a personal call pleading with him to beg for this
> service)
>
> The virtual reference "bandwagon" is largely led by a small band of
> dedicated librarian pioneers who have clawed their way to providing 
> this
> service despite of, not because of, their professional milieu.  If some
> of them can be accused of boosterism, perhaps it is because they have
> learned compensatory skills for advocating anything new in a profession
> which can be overly influenced by the comfort zones of its own
> professionals.
>
> I'm sure there are a few people sinking big bucks into this service
> without completely understanding it or implementing it well.  That 
> would
> apply to far more library services than virtual reference...
>
> ----------------------------------------------
> Karen G. Schneider kgs at lii.org  http://lii.org
> Director,    Librarians' Index to the Internet
> lii.org  New This Week:     http://lii.org/ntw
>       lii.org: Information You Can Trust!
> ----------------------------------------------
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