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Service Report 3

Noemi Flores LIS 704 October 24, 2012

I chose a small, but energetic Illinois public library to learn about for Service Report 3, and the medium of virtual reference I experimented with was reference chat. I toyed with the idea of examining a more exotic library- specifically Alaska. However, of the four public libraries I looked at, none of them had reference chat as an option. The nearest thing was email. Also, it would have been difficult to access those materials because they are so far away and doubtful that they allow people not affiliated with their branch the use of their databases. Before I tested the reference chat, I tried reference text. Both of these are easily located on the library website. There is a reference page that shoots off from the homepage and is very clear and accessible to patrons (except for those that may not speak English, but the library serves such a small community that this may be considered a small weakness). It lists the various ways and means by which a patron may access reference services: in person, by phone, email, chat, and text. They have all possible methods except skype available. At 11:19 pm, I texted the number and asked when reference chat was available. I could have easily learned this from the website, but I wanted to see how quickly they responded to the text. They close at 9:00pm, so by 11:19, they would be gone. The next morning, five minutes before 9:00am, I received a text from the library reading, Hello, our chat-with-a-librarian option is available every hour the library is open, so you will have that option from 9am-9pm. They answered me before the library was even officially open. I found that commendable and encouraging for the rest of my dealings with them. I next tried reference chat. It is a cute little box with varying font colors. Every time the librarian entered something, there would be a popping noise (there was an option to turn it off). That was helpful because I could work on other things without having to keep checking to see if I had been answered. They do not offer you the option to have your transcript emailed to you, but

it is simple to just copy and paste it. I greeted the librarian and stated that I was looking for information either on the history of Alaska or the Chicago fire of the 1870s. It took just a couple minutes for her to answer. She then clarified the type of material I wanted i.e. print versus online sources. I told her both. That was a good question, and a good beginning to the reference interview. Then she proceeded to check the catalog. However, she did not ask what I needed the information for, what level I was looking for, nor if the topics were supposed to be intermingled. So I volunteered some more information. I only needed information for one of the topics, and that turned out to be the Chicago fire. Then she kindly offered to pull some books off the shelf and leave them at the Circulation desk for me. She also offered to find some articles from their databases and send them to me. She did not offer to teach me to use any resources at all. So, I asked if she could. Once I asked she was very helpful in this respect. She taught me how to use the online catalog, about the existence of SWAN, how to differentiate between YA books and Adult books, and how to use the databases. With some additional prompting, she also taught me how to use the search terms effectively. Because I knew the right questions to ask, she was able to inform me of all these things. Clearly, she was well versed in researching, but I doubt that a different patron would have garnered as much education from the librarian as one ought. As Dave Harmeyer wrote in, Blending the Reference Interview and Information Literacy, If librarians dont regularly teach information literacy, then who will?1 Then again perhaps people at this library typically just want the work done for them, and this is what the librarian is accustomed to. That could explain her lack of volunteering educational support.

Dave Harmeyer, Blending the Reference Interview and Information Literacy, The Reference Librarian vol 51 (2010): 359.

The article To Script or Not To Script, though not particularly concerned with reference chat brought up some important points that can be extrapolated and applied to all virtual reference. Speed, accuracy, consistency, and ease of use are all valued in a work place and especially in reference.2 I think this may have been what was happening in my reference experience. She did speedily, accurately, and helpfully procure the information for me. Though she did not volunteer how she acquired the information, she did satisfy the question as efficiently as possible. That begs the question, however, of whether or not the patron is being properly served, and also is the relationship between patron and librarian being properly accomplished? Having finished, I thanked her for her help and she parted with, Thanks for using our IM service, and remember if you ever need help we are always here if you need us. I would say that is a nice, pleasant way to end the reference interview, but it is middling as a follow up statement that is supposed to ensure that the patron already received what they needed. Of course, this is after I already indicated I was finished. There was nothing else close to being the follow-up question. What I would have liked to see was something akin to Harmeyers, Did that answer your question completely?3 That would have been ideal.

Samantha Thompson, To Script or Not To Script: Or, the Challenge of Being Both Efficient and Personal when Interacting with Virtual Reference Patrons, The Reference Librarian 2010: 364. 3 Harmeyer, 362.

Bibliography Dave Harmeyer. Blending the Reference Interview and Information Literacy. The Reference mmmmLibrarian. vol 51 (2010): 358-362. Thompson, Samantha. To Script or Not To Script: Or, the Challenge of Being Both Efficient mmmand Personal when Interacting with Virtual Reference Patrons. The Reference Librarian mmmvol. 51 (2010): 363-366.