On-Line Reference Services

[Sally Patrick]

Colleagues-
Thanks to all who responded to my message several weeks ago 
regarding the experience of those doin on-line (e-mail) reference 
off their web pages.  As promised I'd like to summarize for all 
interested in providing such a service to their patrons.

Libraries providing the service:  More academic than public 
libraries seem to provide such a service.  For academics it is 
part of student support off the web page.  For public libraries, 
they provide the service to registered borrowers and while the 
service is on the web page, none advertise beyond this.

How Queries are Distributed:  This seems to depend on how the 
original question is addressed.  Some libraries send queries to a  
central account whereby a librarian distributes the question 
depending on the subject area.  One library send questions to 
central reference where almost half can be handled as a short 
answer.  Only the longer queries are sent to subject departments.

Good Form on the Front End:  Several colleagues cautioned that it 
is critical to have a good query form right on the web page and 
to get as much information not only about the question but about 
the patron as possible in order to best answer the question and 
interact with the patron.  Some said more time was wasted in 
correspondence with the patron because information was unclear up 
front.  (Sounds like a good mantra for a "virtual" reference 
interview too!)

Enthusiastic Support:  Of those who responded all librarians have 
been supportive and even enthusiastic about offering such a 
responsive service to their patrons.  Most do limit such a 
service to their constituent base and none advertise which 
probably speaks to not yet feeling overwhelmed by provision of 
the service.

Thanks again to my gentle colleagues who responded and good luck 
to those of you who will be providing on-line reference to your 
patrons in the future.  These are indeed exciting times to be 
able to use such good tools for our public!

Sincerely,

Sally 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sally M. Patrick, Training Coordinator
Salt Lake City Public Library
(801) 524-8273
spatrick at slcpl.slcpl.lib.ut.us