Introduction

As a component of my learnings for SLAIS’s LIBR 500: Foundations of Information Technology course, I have created this blog in order to explore examples of how various libraries have applied the Web 2.0 tool of instant messaging in the context of virtual reference. Read more…

 

Preamble

Before I move on to my presentation of case studies of six libraries who are currently using IM for virtual reference (VR), I feel it would useful to take a moment to discuss this particular service on a more general level. The use of IM as a reference tool has frequently occurred as an augmentation or replacement of past reat-time VR application software such as QuestionPoint, which is currently being used in British Columbia’s AskAway service. Benefits of designated VR software programs include the ability to co-browse, push pages to users, and set up collaborative e-reference networks. Unfortunately, the software usually comes at a high cost (purchase plus licensing), not to mention the need for extensive staff training. While IM is generally less rich in features designed specifically for information staff, it is more accessible to a broader base of users, plus it encourages repeated use via buddy list, and is less costly to implement given the array of free software options and strong usability factor. If you’re interested in learning more about IM for virtual reference in libraries, Kate Davis’ AskNow Instant Messaging: Innovation in Virtual Reference is an excellent place to start.

 

Alexandrian Public Library

The Alexandrian Public Library, located in Posey County, Indiana, offers a virtual reference service that uses IM called AskAlexandrian. The library’s homepage features a refreshing, clean design and a highly visible link (both in text and as an image) to the AskAlexandrian service. The supported clients are AIM, Yahoo and MSN Messenger, and links are provided for the free web versions of the programs for those who don’t care to download IM software onto their computers. Of course, one of the benefits of having IM-based service is that many internet users already use IM software and thus have a level of familiarity and comfort that facilitates quality reference interactions. Yet, for those users who are new to IM, barriers to access may be present. For example, when I followed the link to the web-based MSN Messenger, I learned that my web browser was not supported, and that my pop-up blocking software would need to be switched off. The inclusion of multiple provider options is a wise choice, as although I hadn’t previously used Yahoo! Web Messenger, I found the process of initiating an IM session with AskAlexandrian to be quite straightforward using the program for the first time.

It seems to me AskAlexandrian is geared toward a specific audience: students. The library’s use of another Web 2.0 tool, a blog, encourages students to try out the IM service. In addition, the service is provided from Monday through Thursday between the prime after-school homework hours of 3pm to 7pm. Reference questions from adults are surely welcome as well, as this is after all a public library – however it is made clear on the AskAlexandrian page that the service is not meant for lengthy or complicated research questions. One thing that I find quite ironic is that according to the library’s internet policy, the use of chat rooms in the library is “considered unacceptable and may result in loss of computer resource privileges, library privileges, and/or prosecution by local, state, and federal authorities.”

If the Alexandrian Public Library were my local library, I would imagine I would make use of their IM reference service, given that I’ve been known to use a similar service provided by my local public library in the past. I would, however, hope that they would extend the hours of the service so as to make it more accessible.

 

American University Library

Washington DC’s American University Library provides an IM reference service called Ask A Librarian to currently enrolled students, faculty and staff of American University. The service is also available to individuals with information requests about resources unique to American University, which is how I learned that the library’s IM reference service has been active for just over a year.

I must admit, I particularly enjoyed my experience of IM with AskAULibrary, and consider it to be one of the better applications of IM for reference service of the libraries surveyed here. The friendly librarian I was chatting with certainly inspired the realization that the tool can ultimately only be as good as its operator, which in this case I’m pleased to say represents some of the best library service I’ve ever received.

It is easy to locate the service from the library’s homepage as the ‘Ask a Librarian’ link is present in the top menu bar. In addition to supporting clients such as AIM, MSN, Yahoo and Google Talk, the option to text message the service by cellphone is given. This is the only library of those discussed in this blog to offer this option. In addition, AU Library’s Ask a Librarian page features an innovative and highly usable IM tool called a ‘meebo me‘, which is an IM widget embedded right into the webpage. To get an idea of ease of use, check the sidebar of this blog, in which I’ve embedded an example of meebo me IM widget. There are few tools I can think of that are easier to use than this, which requires that the user click on the text entry box, type the question, and then press enter. The anonymity of the tool is an added benefit.

AU Library’s strong IM Reference service is complimented by options to contact a librarian using email and phone. I find the library’s website to be particularly well-designed, with a number of innovative tools that further enhance the user’s online experience. For example, although I’m not sure if it fits entirely into the Web 2.0 category, the library offers a virtual tour of their facilities that is fresh, well-executed, and informative. It gives online visitors a chance to understand the library’s physical presence, and I would imagine that in particular it would enhance the experience of distance education students visiting the site to use online resources and the virtual reference service.

If I were a patron of AU Library, I’m sure I would want to use this service. It compliments my information-seeking style, which is to work from home using online resources. I think the move toward virtual reference is particularly relevant to distance education students, who may not have the option of visiting the library in person. At this time, I can’t think of any suggestions for how this service might be improved aside from the extending of hours, which are admittedly pretty good already: The service is offered from 1-9pm Monday-Thursday, 1-5pm Friday and 8-9pm Sunday. A lot of the usual barriers to VR have already been addressed, as the service is easy to find from the library’s homepage, requirements of personal information are not asked for, and technical barriers are minimized with the use of the meebo me widget. At this point, I think the best thing AU Library can do is to continue to evaluate their service’s effectiveness and efficiency using the ALA recommended methods of analysis of user statistics, patron feedback, and the review of transcripts.

 

The College of Nursing Library

The College of Nursing is a professional body based in Australia that was established to represent, assist, educate and support nurses. An IM service for chatting with a librarian is available on the college’s library website.

This service is somewhat difficult to find from the library’s homepage, as it is within the Library Contacts menu option rather than Library Services, which I would have expected. It seems like it was slotted in under the usual contact page underneath email, postal address and street address as an afterthought. My general impression is that this service doesn’t represent a high priority for the library as a whole.

Other than links to the two IM services supported by the library (Hotmail and Yahoo), the only explanation of the service is “You can IM or chat live with a librarian,” which left me wondering about what kinds of questions the service was aiming to answer, who the service was meant for, and during which hours it was offered. It doesn’t really provide much context as to how the service is meant to compliment the other services provided by the library.

The Contacts page is a rather stark mixture of text and links, which draws attention to the meebo me IM widget which they refer to as their ‘Chat with Library facility,’ a new addition to their IM service. Much like Lawrence Coburn, the Sexy Widget blogger, I am a fan of the IM widget’s excellent usability and anonymous nature, and was pleased to see it offered here.

One thing I find interesting about the library’s IM service is the username provided. All of the other libraries I’ve looked at who provide this service have gone the route of setting up an account under a general name that references the library, such as ‘AskAULibrary‘ and ‘AskAlexandrian‘ discussed elsewhere in this blog. In this case, the username is ‘askkatiezepps’ which makes me think that this service is staffed by only one person who doesn’t mind sharing her first and last name with the world wide web! (Not that there’s anything wrong with that). I wonder how the notion of users knowing the name of the librarian helping them affects their impression of the service. It seems to me this could be quite beneficial, as it helps the user to feel more connected with the service, and could very well inspire repeated use over time.

This unique aspect of the service also inspired me to think about perceptions of gender in virtual reference. I realized that in my past experiences of using IM and chat to connect with librarians, I have always subconsciously imagined that I was chatting with a woman. I suppose this speaks to the gendered nature of the library field, which Amanda Bird has referred to as a ‘feminized’ profession.

Further to this point, some have turned the tables and studied how the librarians who are staffing virtual reference services are conceptualizing the identities of their users, calling into question notions of the world wide web as a virtual environment free of potentially discriminatory practices. See for example Schachaf and Horowitz’s 2006 study “Are Virtual Reference Services Color Blind?” which found that social cues may be relatively absent in virtual environments, which results in the need for librarians to maintain a high level of self-awareness in the effort to provide equitable virtual reference services to diverse user groups.

If the College of Nursing Library was interested in improving this service, they might choose to begin by setting up a separate, designated page for IM reference that was linked to from their homepage. A detailed explanation of the service, from hours provided to intended users and types of questions could further enhance the accessibility of the service. For libraries with limited staff and funding availability, the joining of collaborative virtual reference networks can be a good option for extending the service.

 

Gleeson Library / Geschke Center

The Gleeson Library / Geschke Center of the University of San Francisco offers an IM question service as an adjunct to its participation in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) virtual reference network called Live 24 / 7. For this library, IM is designated for simple / basic questions only. I’m a little unclear as to where the line is drawn between simple versus complex reference questions, but I’m guessing the former might apply to inquiries about this particular libraries basic operations, like open hours or help with accessing electronic resources from home.

In comparison with the other libraries reviewed in this blog, the IM service provided here, although limited to basic questions, is the leader when it comes to usability, accessibility, and the amount of options for using the service. It is easy to find the service from the library’s homepage, as it is in the sidebar menu under Ask A Librarian. Options for connection include AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Google, ICQ and Jabber, plus an IM widget called a Plugoo imbedded into the website. In addition, IM is available during the library’s regular open hours: Monday-Thursday 8am-9:30pm, Friday 8am-6pm, Saturday 10am-6pm and Sunday 12pm-8pm. The hours that the service is offered made me wonder if the librarian doing IM was the same librarian who was covering the physical reference desk. With the Plugoo widget right there and ready to use with literally the click of just one button, it sure was easy to find out!

Me: Hi, I am a library school student interested in virtual reference and I was wondering if this IM reference is staffed by the librarian on the reference desk?
Ask A Librarian: Yes and to show what it’s like, I’ve got a student in front of me and one on the phone
Me: Wow. I see why you say it’s for simple/basic questions. Thank you very much! Bye.

I think the Gleeson Library / Geschke Center has found a excellent way to balance the provision of virtual reference in order to provide a wide range of service. When The Strange Librarian blogger weighed in on the great debate of IM verus Chat: What’s Better for Customer Service, she contrasted the collaborative efficiency of chat-based virtual reference networks with the specific to local library expertise of IM reference. She found that the use of both tools (such as is currently occurring in the Gleeson / Geschke library) ultimately provides the best range of service:

Perhaps the way to make sure folks are getting the best service possible is to have IM as our internet point of contact (w/ in-site widgets for those who don’t have an IM client already DLed), along with email for local librarians and have a national VR service without any local brands for that 24/7 access to research help.

This makes a lot of sense to me, and I would consider this library to be a leader in the provision of virtual reference given its ability to offer both library specific help during the library’s open hours and in-depth reference services 24 hours of the day, 7 days per week.

 

Lucy Scribner Library

Skidmore College’s Lucy Scribner Library offers students and faculty the option to IM with a reference librarian. From the library’s homepage, the link to this service is quite easy to locate underneath the News & Notices section. The design of the IM information page is quite sleek and features an effective use of tables in the presentation of the services supported (AIM, MSN and Yahoo!) and their corresponding screen names plus links to the web versions of the clients. Nevertheless, if someone had never before used IM with these service providers, there would be a fair bit of set-up required in order to access this reference service, especially if the user didn’t currently have an active account with one of the three web clients. Throughout my explorations of IM for reference service, I’ve learned that I’m far more likely to use the service if an embedded IM widget such as meebo me or Plugoo is present. The convenience is unparalleled, plus the anonymity is so appealing.

Lucy Scriber Library’s IM service is presented as an alternative contact method to phoning the reference desk during library open hours. They don’t view either method as a medium in which to conduct in-depth service, stating that any complex or urgent questions should be addressed in-person at the reference desk. If I was a student at Skidmore, I would probably use the IM reference service instead of calling the library with questions during the day because my cellphone costs money by the minute during daytime hours. On evenings and weekends when my phone is free it’s a toss-up – I suppose it would depend which was closer, my phone or my computer. It’s nice to have both options, and given that providing IM reference comes at low cost to the library, why not offer it? Having said that, though, I could imagine that on a busy day at the library, a librarian could potentially be overwhelmed with having to juggle keeping up with IM along with the usual phone and in-person reference requests.

 

NAIT’s McNally Library

The NAIT Libraries website operates in support of the various campuses of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. Ask Us is the name for their information research support service, which includes the option to get research help using IM from NAIT’s McNally Library. A link to the service is pretty hard to miss given its central placement on the library’s homepage and catchy graphic of a large question mark surrounded by the words Phone, Email, IM and In-person. On the Ask Us page, IM is listed first, which gives the impression that it’s a service they’re prioritizing. Plenty of support is provided for those who may be new to IM, including a link to an extensive FAQ style Instant Messaging Information page. Topics discussed include how to use the tool, who the service is available for, the types of questions that will and will not be answered, and the library’s privacy policy. External links to more information on IM are provided as well, including ehow.com’s article on How to Practice Instant Message Etiquette and the AIM Acronym Dictionary of IM Chat. I find it odd that in addition to the supported clients MSN, Yahoo!, AIM and ICQ, the library provides a link to meebo me’s website as an alternative client, and yet chose not to embed a meebo me widget into their own webpage.

The library compliments their IM reference service with a link to the email-based Ask A Question service, which is a cooperative venture among Alberta’s libraries. One thing I like about this service is the option to read through the archives of past questions and answers, browsing by topic and by when the question was asked. It could be quite useful for users who wish to obtain help outside of the library’s IM service hours, and is quite interesting to browse through as well.

Web 2.0 is all about connecting and collaborating. In the library world, this has inspired a lot of fresh thinking and even some innovative uses of Web 2.0 tools in order to reach new users and extend the scope of traditional service. A Web 2.0 tool like IM can really enhance library services, especially when effectively promoted and executed. And one of the most exciting things about this tool is that it can even be used along with other Web 2.0 tools to connect librarians from all over the world with each other, enabling them to share experiences and determine new directions. One example of this is the Librarians who IM – Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki, and I would recommend that NAIT’s McNally Library as well as all of the other libraries discussed in this blog join this network to benefit from the sharing of ideas and information.