Digital Reference in Slavic and East European Studies with an Examination of Practice at the University of Illinois and the Library of Congress

SUMMARY

This article presents a survey of digital reference trends in the United States with an emphasis on services for Slavic and East European studies. It is based on the author's experience as a Slavic reference librarian at the University of Illinois (Slavic Reference Service) and the Library of Congress (European Division). Topics include the conflict between print and digital resources, coping with electronic serials, full-text databases and websites, digital communication tools such as e-mail, chat, and web forms, the proliferation of websites from Eastern Europe and the NIS, and opportunities for bibliographic instruction via the web. The article concludes with suggestions for keeping current and ideas for possible reference collaboration among Slavic and East European studies librarians.     

On the Merit of Case Studies in Access Services

ABSTRACT

The creation of “Access Services” departments in academic libraries did not translate into the creation or offering of new services for patrons. Instead, it was typically just the combination of three already existing departments. Recent changes and trends in Access Services, including new NCIP and ISO standards, an increase in the use of electronic reserves, and the availability of items in various formats, now allow librarians to reconsider if this departmental arrangement is the best for today's library customers. This paper argues that the traditional configuration of Access Services needs to be dismantled if academic libraries are to provide excellent customer service to faculty and students.     

Implementing a Library Liaison Program

Abstract

A pilot library liaison program was initiated with the College of Liberal Arts at Southern Illinois University at Carbon-dale. The goals were to facilitate communication with academic faculties, enhance collection development, and improve services. A uniform training program was implemented. Budgets were allocated, and negotiations for new moneys were held in a group setting. Following training, meetings were held with academic department chairs, library liaisons, and the library's Director of Reference Services and Collection Management to activate the program. The pilot program was assessed and then expanded to all sixty teaching departments on campus, using guidelines that had evolved during the pilot program. The centrality of the library as a service unit is affirmed in increased understanding and cooperation between librarians and teaching faculty. The program is continually monitored in an effort to keep the program flexible and responsive to changing needs.     

Library Instruction in the Digital Age

ABSTRACT

Updating her 2003 article in Reference Services Review (“The Future of Reference: Get Real!” Reference Services Review 3(1), 2003, 39–42, DOI: 10.1108/00907320310460898), the author emphasizes the need to get a good sense of what one's users’ priorities are, concentrating efforts on successful tools researchers will actually use; responding to changes that have taken place in research and scholarship; devising instruction for use in actual environments, spaces, and timeframes; focusing on local user needs; and working to influence user-centered design of library online systems.

This article originally published in Journal of Library Administration, Vol. 51, Issue 3, pages 301–308, 2011. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2011.556948.     

The Half-Million-Square-Miles Campus

Abstract

A database that tracked information requests from University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) distance students using the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library's Off-Campus Services (OCS) indicated that, beginning in 2001, students became more self-reliant searchers. Reasons for this trend included: increased number of licensed online resources from which to choose; improved Internet connectivity for remote Alaskan communities; increased familiarity with e-mail and online searching; increased options for delivering material; and ongoing user education via the OCS office. As both UAF on-campus and distance students become more reliant on the library's online resources, services to both groups have begun to overlap and have become similar.     

The University of Texas at Arlington's Virtual Reference Service

Abstract

The University of Texas at Arlington's Library began using an online chat reference in 2002. The service, called Collaborative Digital Reference Service, later became “Ask a Librarian.” Slightly over one year later, the library joined the University of Texas System's “Ask a Librarian” service. Both services are powered by software suite called QuestionPoint. In May 2003 and May 2004, the library's reference staff shared their views towards this new reference tool by completing a questionnaire. Statistics and staff members' responses are analyzed in this study.     

Chapter 7 Survey of Area Studies Collections

Abstract

Library Distance Learning Services (LDLS) at Michigan State University was developed in 1993 as a result of the campus-wide adoption of a decentralized model for services to our off-campus population. With its “high-tech, high-touch” philosophy, LDLS has taken on increasing responsibilities in information delivery and triage through increased use of its 800 line, e-mail and Web technologies.     

When Off-Campus Means Virtual Campus: The Academic Library in Second Life

ABSTRACT

This article discusses how a library's consistent policy of accessibility and foresight positioned itself to serve its students, faculty and staff in the virtual world of Second Life. Always ahead of the technological curve, this library has been the front-runner in providing services to distance learners via text messaging, “chat,” e-mail, and telephone services and via its laptop librarian project across the campus. It now is poised and ready to provide service in Second Life. Collaboration between the library and teaching faculty culminated in the creation, development, and furnishing of a library in Second Life, an environment that gives new meaning to “off-campus” learning. Without marketing, but as a visible presence, the Second Life library was able to attract both off-campus guests and affiliated students and faculty and even participated in campus-wide projects. This experiment has enjoyed the support of both the university and library administration.     

READ-ing Our Way to Success: Using the READ Scale to Successfully Train Reference Student Assistants in the Referral Model

The Reference Services Department at Radford University's McConnell Library has been developing a training program in the reference referral system for student assistants (SAs) over 3 academic years. The program's goal is to effectively instruct SAs in balancing high quality customer service with the importance of appropriately referring users to librarians and to assess the accuracy of their referrals and responses. The trainers have met these goals with the successful incorporation of a modified version of the Reference Effort Assessment Data (READ) scale, a reference transaction assessment tool developed by Bella Karr Gerlich, into the student training program.     

Same Questions,Different Venue

Abstract

This study applied traditional categories used for classifying questions presented at reference desks to online reference services. Questions presented at Penn State's subject libraries were classified as ‘Where Is,’ ‘Troubleshooting,’ ‘Policy and Service,’ and ‘Reference.’ Definitions and examples were provided to the librarians and staff covering thirteen reference desks. These categories were then applied to Penn State's e-mail and chat reference transactions for the Fall 2002 semester. Although the types of questions were similar across the three services, there were differences in the proportion of questions by categories. This suggests that services have similar, yet distinct, functions and that the type of questions submitted differ between in-person and online and also between e-mail and chat.     

Text Messaging the Reference Desk: Using Upside Wireless' SMS-to-Email to Extend Reference Service

The author discusses “Text a Librarian,” a short message service-to-email service provided via Upside Wireless, Inc., a Canadian telecommunications provider. Any user of the University of Virginia Library who has a cell phone and text messaging capability can send a text message to a local phone number provided by Upside Wireless. Upside's “virtual SMS channel,” which forwards the message to the Library's reference e-mail account. Librarians then respond to the query with an e-mail message that the user receives as a text message on his or her cell phone. This article describes the process by which a library developed the idea for the service and decided to contract with Upside, as well as staffing for the service and the challenges, successes, and possible new directions. A brief survey of the SMS reference landscape is included.     

The Omnipaedia Is Here,But Where Is It?

Summary

Electronic access to information is transforming both the vision of future libraries and the way in which librarians today deliver information services. In reference service, especially in academic libraries, the wide availability of electronic access to periodical indexes and full-text periodical databases has raised speculation about the possibility of relying on purely electronic reference collections. A field test indicates that this is not yet a viable option and points to the continued vital role of the reference librarian as guide, interpreter, and integrator of print and electronic information sources. In the tradition exemplified by Charles Bunge's “Potential and Reality at the Reference Desk: Reflections on a ‘Return to the Field,’” this article rests on field experience and testing, and is written in part in the first person.     

Implications of the Google Books Project Settlement for the Global Library Community

Column Editor's Notes

The “Digital Trends and the Global Library Community” column examines technological advances internal and external to libraries. The focus is on how technology is changing the way services are provided to users, the methodologies used in the provision of those services, and the resulting scope of responsibilities of libraries and parent institutions. Interested authors are invited to submit proposals and articles to the column editor at marta.deyrup@shu.edu. Please include “IILR Submission” in the subject line of the e-mail.     

Reflections on Youth:

Originally written as the introduction to The Reference Librarian No. 10, 1984, "Library Instruction and Reference Services," Ruth Ann Fraley's "Overview" is as pertinent now, in 1995, as it was more than ten years ago, in 1984.     

Children's in-library use of computers in an urban public library

This article describes children's use of networked technology in three branches of an urban public library. Direct observations of their use of computers and data gathered from brief interviews with them were recorded using personal digital assistants (PDAs). Findings suggest that (1) the largest proportion of children's use of computers is for access to games, (2) use of computers for communication purposes (e.g., chat, e-mail, and word processing) is minimal, and (3) repeat use of the computers varies by branch. Grade level analysis reveals that middle school students access games less than elementary students do at two branches and that middle school students use the computers more than elementary students do for communication purposes. Overall, girls and boys use games, chat, and e-mail in comparable proportions. In other categories of use, there are gender differences but no consistent pattern emerges across branches. This investigation provides a first view of children's unmediated use of technology in the public library, their reasons for using library computers, and provides baseline data for assessing the outcomes of technology programs and services developed by the library to serve the needs of this user group.     

Orienting Neighborhood Youth to an Academic Library

Summary

Early in 1997, full Web access was added to Babson Library's public workstations. In a few short months, library computers became a mecca for neighborhood youth. The library's “open door” philosophy and Springfield College's strategic vision to strengthen campus/community ties brought the library to the forefront of actively developing services for community youth. An outreach program for community youth was designed to address the issue of computer access. The development of the program involved the entire library and provided an opportunity for collaborative interaction among the library, related campus programs, and community agencies. Its impact on the library brought to the forefront the debate between “academic service” and “community service.”     

The use of electronic mail at the reference desk: impact of a computer-mediated communication technology on librarian-client interactions

Commonly recognized computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools include virtual environments, bibliographic databases, listservers, newsgroups, group teleconferencing, interactive messaging systems and electronic mail. The use of these technologies in libraries has grown exponentially over the past decade. Electronic mail has emerged as an especially popular communication tool for librarians, and their colleagues and patrons. This paper explores the use of a reference department electronic mail service and its impact on reference services and librarian-client interactions. Several issues related to the implementation of CMC technologies are presented, including the maintenance and monitoring of reference electronic mail systems, the types of questions that are typically posted, and potential barriers to the implementation and use of reference e-mail.     

The Librarian as Bricoleur: Meeting the Needs of Distance Learners

Summary

Like bricoleurs, instructional librarians, especially those who provide instruction to distant learners, use a “tool-box” of materials and means to address the needs of adult learners. They also need to be adaptable and resourceful, staying abreast of current research and technologies in order to create an instructional repertoire (bricolage), to deliver services comparable to those that on-campus students receive. This article describes adult learners' needs and the variety of tools used to reach students in one university's instructional program.     

Promoting education for information resources management in the federal government

The recent initiatives from the Clinton administration and Congress to “reinvent government,” to “develop electronic information services,” to “better manage information technology” (IT), and to “improve access to electronic government information,” certainly is welcome. But policymakers need to go beyond the proposals and develop specific program initiatives and implementation strategies if such goals are to be realized. The realization of these goals will require a range of new educational program initiatives to retrain and retool government officials, especially those engaged in information resources management (IRM).If these initiatives to reinvent government are to occur successfully, the administration and Congress must create a major program initiative—with adequate financial support—to revamp the educational programs that support IRM. Simply put, the changes occurring in both information technology and in managing that technology are outpacing many government officials' ability to respond in a planned and coherent fashion. Moreover, the existing infrastructure to develop Federal IRM education and training is fragmented and poorly supported, lacks clear policy direction, and desperately needs updating and reconceptualization.