[WEB4LIB] Virtual reference and "chat speak"?

[Jean Willis]

Many of the CA County Law Librarians are participating in the MCLS 24x7 chat ref
project (see our website, listed below), and we offer law library chat ref
mainly from 8 or 9 am to 5 or 6 pm Mon - Fri.  I do not personally provide the
Ref services, but I have assisted in setting up the program at our Library.  In
addition, I had training on how the system works.  From my limited exposure with
it, we do not use much "chat speak."

For one thing, it's hard to tell at whether the customer would understand that.
Our librarians try to keep it simple and clearly understandable.  I would advise
against the use of abbreviations and emoticons in most cases.  Bernie's rather
extensive research into this seems to bear this out.

We often hear that one should aim one's training classes at the 4th grade level
(we provide extensive public classes on how to use the law library).  As opposed
to academia (perhaps), many of our public law library customers have either a
limited educational level or a language barrier.  Especially with online Ref -
where you cannot see or hear the customer - one has to use care with replies and
responses to ensure that the message is understood.

I would advise others, even those who feel that their customers may be highly
educated, to use similar caution with "chat ref" responses.  I guess KISS
applies to many walks of life!!

Jean Willis

"Sloan, Bernie" wrote:

> I've heard a number of people say that librarians need to be familiar with
> "chat speak", since interactive virtual reference services generally use
> chat as a means of communication between librarian and user.
>
> This made me think: "Do chat reference users approach virtual reference as
> if they were in a chat room, or as if they were chatting with friends using
> an instant messenger"?
>
> My preliminary finding can be summed up as: "A little bit, but not much."
>
> I searched 444 Ready for Reference session transcripts for occurrences of 33
> chat abbreviations, and found just two transcripts that used chat
> abbreviations. In each case the chat abbreviation was "LOL" (in the context
> of these transcripts, "LOL" appeared to stand for "lots of luck", rather
> than the more commonly used "laugh out loud").
>
> Then I decided to look for emoticons. I searched all 877 session transcripts
> for occurrences of three commonly used emoticons: smiling, winking, and
> frowning. Combined, these emoticons occurred in just 43 of 877 transcripts.
>
> So, less than one half of one percent of 444 Ready for Reference transcripts
> contained chat abbreviations. Less than five percent of 877 transcripts
> contained emoticons.
>
> I would have to say that, at least in the case of Ready for Reference users,
> chat reference users don't seem to bring informal chat language structure
> with them into the chat reference transaction. But your mileage may vary.
>
> Bernie Sloan
> Senior Library Information Systems Consultant, ILCSO
> University of Illinois Office for Planning and Budgeting
> 616 E. Green Street, Suite 213
> Champaign, IL  61820
>
> Phone: (217) 333-4895
> Fax:   (217) 265-0454
> E-mail: bernies at uillinois.edu

______________________________
Jean L. Willis                          jwillis at sdcll.org
Assoc. Dir. for Information Systems     (619) 531-4443
San Diego County Public Law Library     (619) 238-7716 (fax)
1105 Front Street                       http://www.sdcll.org
San Diego, CA 92101-3904