Reference queries through the web

[Nettie Lagace]

We at the Internet Public Library have been offering email reference
queries since we opened in March 1995.  The experience on the whole has
been really, really positive.  I see it as a way to extend library
services in a new way to people who already use their local libraries, and
to promote the capabilities and expertise of librarians to people who
*should* support their local libraries. :-) Librarians from around the
Internet log into our bulletin-board system, QRC, to answer approximately
10-15 new questions a day from schoolchildren, college students,
businesspeople, home improvers, other librarians -- you name it -- they'll
send it on email!  (We receive about 20-30 questions total per day; some
can be answered pretty quickly because they are "FARQ"s --
frequently-asked ones; some we must turn down for quota -- we have reached
our limit -- or because they require extended research.)

Giving precise, complete answers to questions (and figuring out what the
question was in the first place) is not always easily done over email,
however.  In our experience, email is often a really cumbersome way to
negotiate individual user needs.  We developed our original question form,
at http://www.ipl.org/ref/QUE/RefFormQRC.html, to try to coax as much 
information out of the questioner on the "first run" -- I'm about to 
bring up a new question form this week that's a bit longer, but on the 
other hand, I don't want to scare people away from asking their questions!

Since more and more libraries are coming online with homepages where they
advertise the availability of local services, it's gotten a lot easier for
IPL to point out local resources to our patrons.  Of course we process 
queries from anywhere; we wouldn't be an Internet Public Library if we 
didn't. ;-)

Nettie

 Nettie Lagace, Coordinator of User Services         [/|\]
 the Internet Public Library * http://www.ipl.org/   |-+-|
 lagace at umich.edu  *  "The Day Begins At Midnight"   [\|/]



On Sun, 13 Jul 1997, Robert J Tiess wrote:

> Does any library on this list currently use its web site to
> accept patron reference queries?
> 
> I have a few other questions as well:
> 
> - If you are doing this, what has the experience been like?
>   (Positive, bothersome, unnecessarily complicated?)
> - How many queries do you receive a day/week?
> - Is the information sought easily conveyed via e-mail
>    responses, or do you find yourself calling patrons back
>    physically with the information they requested?
> - Have there been any negative experiences in offering
>    such a service?
> - Has it substantially increased librarian workloads?
> - Would you recommend other libraries to accept queries
>    through this channel?
> - Do you limit your service to only local patrons, or do
>    you/would you process queries from anywhere?
> 
> Thank you in advance.
> 
> 			Robert
> 			rjtiess at juno.com
> 
>