virtual enquiry project presentation

R U There?Virtual reference in academic libraries

The Virtual Enquiry Project 2008-09Carolyn Groom, Eithne Barry and Laurence Patterson

Overview

1. The Project– What is virtual reference? Background to the

project– Carolyn

2. The Survey– Virtual reference survey – Eithne

3. The Software– Virtual reference software products -

Laurence

1.The Project

Virtual reference

What is it?

Virtual Enquiry Project

• 1 year project

• Funded by Scottish Library and

Information Council (SLIC)

• Project partners• Edinburgh Napier University

• Carnegie College

Terminology

• Virtual reference

• Virtual enquiry

• Digital reference

Virtual reference

“Using instant messaging or chat

software to allow users to interact

with Library staff in real time”

Why offer a VR service?

• Another way of communicating with

the library users

• Reach distance and part time

students

• Support users at point of need

Examples

• Open University

• Librarians on Call

• http://library.open.ac.uk/

• LivePerson software

Examples

• University of Wolverhampton

• http://www2.wlv.ac.uk/lib/qp/chatinput.html

• ASSIST Service

Virtual enquiry project

2 research strands:

1. Evaluating current practice

– Survey

– Follow-up interviews

Virtual enquiry project

2. To provide guidance for libraries

implementing a virtual reference

service

– Road map

– Case studies

– Software matrix

Project website: www.virtualenquiry.net

2.The Survey

Our questions

1. How many academic libraries have

virtual reference services?

2. What do they think of the software

products?

3. What stops institutions from having a

service?

Methodology

• Email survey in Aug - Oct 2008

• Sent to eleven UK email discussion

lists related to academic libraries and

advertised online.

• Prizes - iPod Touch and Amazon

vouchers

Response

• 190 responses from 130 institutions

– 82 from Higher Education (HE)

institutions

– 42 from Further Education (FE)

institutions

– 6 „other‟

Representative?

• Half of Higher Education institutions

in the UK*

• One tenth of Further Education

institutions in the UK*

Survey bias? Or lack of interest from

FE?

*Department for Children, Schools and Families, (2008). Education and

Training Statistics for the United Kingdom

1. How many institutions have virtual

reference services?

How do those with services

rate feedback about the service?

Average feedback:

Users 4.15

Library staff 3.77

51

2. What do they think of the

software?

• Which products are libraries using?

• How satisfied were they with the

software they chose?

Small number of responses listing

which software had been used

Which products are

libraries using?

How satisfied were you

with the software you chose?

Comparison software charts in

090316 copy only?

„Technology - chat services are blocked to stop students messing

around in class

and LRC.‟

(FE college)

3. What stops institutions from

developing a service…?

„It's not just a case of no staff time, but

rather staff not being available at the

time that our users would most need

the service. 99% of our students are

part-time, and taught in the evenings

and at weekends, when our staffing

levels currently don't allow for

additions to services offered.‟

Reasons why institutions

haven’t offered a service

What are the future plans for

your library's service?

Most institutions were either planning to

continue the service or expand.

• Those still in trial were often looking to evaluate the service before rolling out more widely.

• No respondents were planning to remove or cut services.

Advice for others

„Get your staff on board with a

description of the benefits to them,

and to the users. Don't promise too

much at the beginning - better to offer

fewer hours that you know you can

fully staff, rather than more hours

where the service becomes

unreliable because of lack of staff.‟

„Go for it. It's been a fantastic service and opens up lots of new ways of helping

students and opportunities for collaboration between librarians and

between institutions. It's great for getting alongside students who don't

come into libraries very often - distance learners, placement students, carers

etc. Good for deaf students too!

Summary

• A quarter of institutions currently have a service.

• Most with services (77%) had offered a service for less than two years.

• Over half had never offered a service but said that they are considering doing so.

Still new to many libraries, and a lot of libraries considering this for the future.

3.The Software

queuing

remote hosting

statistics

mac compliance

transcripts

authentication

libraryh3lp

Free popular

Free dedicated

Commercial

Free popular

Meebo Skype

Free dedicated

Commercial

OverviewUser Impressions

Library Staff Impressions

Pricing

Technical Issues

User Support

Additional Considerations

Hosting Options

User Authentication/Anonymity

Multiple staff logins

Co-browsing

Multi-platform/browsers

Video/Audio

Transcripts

Meebo

Free doesn‟t always

mean bad…

…commercial doesn‟t

always mean good.

Most services require you

to install something…

Some features sound

great…

…but don’t always

work in a library world.

Software support is

forthcoming…

…either through the developer

or through the community.

4.Moving Forward

www.virtualenquiry.net

Matrix

Roadmap

Case Studies

Final report

Questions, Comments, Suggestions