[WEB4LIB] RE: The Necessity of Real-Time Reference?

[Jul,Erik]

Bill Drew said

> In answer to Bernie Sloan and Erik Jul, it [whether to use 
> synchronous or asynchronous reference modalities] must be the 
> user's decision, not the librarian's or some automatic 
> escalation.

I agree, but not completely.  Reserving to the user the ability for
self-directed, autonomous action may be desirable but it may not be
sufficient.  

As technology enables us to imagine and create an expanding range of
reference solutions, both asynchronous and synchronous, we are increasingly
able to think differently about the boundaries between various solutions and
a user's relative ability to invoke or move between and among a range of
options.

*That* the user is motivating the information-seeking behavior is a given,
but *how* that behavior is expressed in an increasingly complex environment
is likely always to be subject to a shifting interplay of systems,
standards, and practices.

--Erik