Digging deeper into virtual reference transcripts

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to identify the information needs of patrons in a large Canadian academic library system by analyzing the types of questions asked through the Library's "Ask A Librarian" system. The results provide information on specific areas of competencies and training for staff providing virtual reference services. MethodologyThis article looks at virtual reference data collected between January and April 2012 from a large Canadian academic library and provides an analysis of the types of questions asked by library users. The researchers developed a detailed coding scheme for the analysis of question type and referrals made, and used the qualitative analysis software NVivo™ to code and analyze the data. FindingsThe results of this analysis found that patrons often tap into synchronous online library help when they encounter challenges with online library resources. Specific areas of patron training to be developed were also identified. Finally, areas for staff training were uncovered which will help the library provide a consistent level of service to patrons. OriginalityThis is the first study in the library community to conduct a detailed analysis of the virtual reference transcripts from a large Canadian university using the NVivo™ content analysis software. The study developed and employed more detailed coding categories then has been used in previous studies in order to provide more information about the questions that patrons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 IntroductionVirtual Reference (VR) also referred to as chat reference, is defined by the American Library Association as "…a reference service initiated electronically, often in real-time, where patrons employ computers or other Internet technology to communicate with reference staff, without being physically present. Communication channels used frequently in virtual reference include chat, videoconferencing, Voice over IP, co-browsing, e-mail, and instant messaging" (Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining Virtual Reference Services, 2004). The text transcripts of these reference interactions provide Library and Information Science (LIS) researchers with a wealth of data which can be analyzed in numerous ways to provide insight into patrons' use of the library and its resources.Libraries continue to struggle to provide more and better service to patrons while in the midst of ongoing budget reductions. The improvement and expansion of virtual services will be seen as a logical and economical solution to this ongoing challenge. One of the challenges of any reference service is providing a consistent level of service. Differences in staff competencies, subject knowledge, and experience will impact the success of each reference transaction and patron satisfaction. This is particularly true of institutions that have more than on...

Lifting the Veil: Analyzing Collaborative Virtual Reference Transcripts to Demonstrate Value and Make Recommendations for Practice

“…This stresses the point that the service, when compared to the considerable size of password is different from the main college password. 5 This was confirmed by our study.…”

Do You Want to Chat? Reevaluating Organization of Virtual Reference Service at an Academic Library

“…For example, Armann-Keown, Cooke, and Matheson report their top categories as being those related to library materials (42 percent) and library accounts and circulation services (31 percent). 9 Rawson et al concur, noting that although 48 percent were specific search questions (not known-item searches) such as students needing articles on a topic, they also report that there were a large number of policy-related questions. 10 This finding implies that librarians staffing the service must be familiar not only with research-related Table 1.…”

“…28 Two more recent studies, not discussed in the systematic review, show the percentage of referred questions to be in this range, at 13 percent 29 and 18 percent. 30 The percentage of referred questions is important to investigate since a high rate of referred questions could mean that the quality of the service is not as high as would be desired, and may suggest that the expertise of staff is not adequate for answering questions. High levels of referred questions could also adversely affect the quality of the service, as referred questions likely take longer to be answered than those answered by the staff member on duty.…”

“…17 Armann-Keown, Cooke, and Matheson highlight the importance of standardized staff competencies and ongoing training to ensure a consistent level of service. 18 A recent study by Maloney and Kemp on the level of complexity of question in a virtual reference environment provides a good discussion of different types of staffing models for virtual reference. They provide results of their study analyzing the complexity of virtual reference questions at one university library and conclude that the complexity of questions asked via chat is higher than those asked in person at a desk, and that many reference questions offer an opportunity to support the research process.…”

Librarians’ behavioral performance on chat reference service in academic libraries: Perceived importance vs actual practices

“…The evaluation of chat references services were conducted in several ways such as through assessment of the service quality (Armann-Keown, Cooke and Matheson 2015;Fuller and Dryden 2015;Radford and Connaway 2012), user satisfaction (Hill, Madarash-Hill and Allred 2007) and also by comparing the perceived importance and actual practices among users or the service providers (Jaarsma et al 2010;Al-Momani 2016) to identify the differences between measures, e.g. what is believed and the actual practices.…”