Online, Virtual, , Digital, Real Time: The Next Generation of Reference Services

Transcription

1 F E A T U R E Online, Virtual, , Digital, Real Time: The Next Generation of Reference Services by Joan Stahl, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Diane Nester Kresh, Library of Congress Rapid developments in technology have set in motion a revolution in the way in which librarians deliver reference services. The remarkable growth of Web resources (combined with greater and easier access to the Internet by citizens throughout the world) has resulted in decreasing reference statistics (walkin, telephone, and mail) for most libraries throughout the country and a prediction, prevalent in the professional literature, that the profession of librarianship is obsolete. Yet, as the Internet expands and grows more complex, librarians are in a unique position to use their expertise and training, and assist users in identifying and locating information they seek. A review of some statistics demonstrates how prevalent is the use of the Internet and how broad-based are its users: * The number of users of the Internet is expected to grow by 25% each year. * Personal use of the Internet averaged 27 hours per year in It is expected to climb to 192 hours a year in * The Web has more than 3.6 million sites and the average life of a Web site is seventy days. * 30% of Internet users have personalized Web pages. * Teenagers and children constitute the fastest growing population of Internet users. * Any 2 WWW pages are only 19 clicks from each other. * The total search engine coverage of the Internet is 42% with no single search engine indexing more than about 16-18% of the Internet. * By 2003, non-english language material will account for over half the content. * is emerging as the communications tool of choice; more than 300 million s are sent each day in the United States alone.' Recent investigations of the Internet and its use have focused increasingly on the "invisible" or "deep" Internet and reveal that significant portions of the Internet are hidden to most users. One recent study by BrightPlanet, an Internet Content Company, concluded: * More than half of the deep Web content resides in topic specific databases. * The deep Web is the largest growing category of new information on the Internet. * Public information on the deep Web is currently 400 to 550 times larger than the commonly defined World Wide Web. 2 The emergence of technology has significantly affected the core mission of a library and at the same time created many new opportunities for librarians, information managers, researchers and library patrons of all kind. Because today's researchers need to find quickly information that is usable, relevant, authoritative and verifiable, libraries and librarians must adapt traditional strengths of acquiring, describing, and serving information to the virtual library that is not bound by time or physical place. So how do we take the reference desk to cyberspace? 3 Pioneers in the Delivery of Online Reference The challenge of taking the library reference desk to cyberspace was first embraced by entrepreneurial spirits, who were quick to recognize the potential of the Internet for the delivery of information. From the library community, the University of Maryland Health Services Library in Baltimore led the way, when they launched Electronic Access to Reference Services (EARS) in But initial -based digital reference efforts received little attention from patrons. 4 Six years later, in 1992, the U. S. Department of Education began to explore the potential of online reference with the creation of AskERIC, a personalized Internet-based service providing education information to teachers, librarians, counselors, administrators, parents, and others throughout the United States and the world. AskERIC has three components: a) AskERIC Q&A Service: Anyone needing information on the theory or practice of education can send a message to the AskERIC Q&A Service, and information specialists, drawing on the vast resources and expertise of the ERIC System, will respond. b) AskERIC Virtual Library: Selected education resources: topical guides, lesson plans, etc. c) AskERIC Research and Development: To investigate educational use of high technology and high-performance networking. 5 The success of AskERIC was complemented by the creation of additional related projects under the auspices of the U. S. Department of Education, including: 26 Ar/ Documentation * Volume 20, Number I * 2001

2 a) KidsConnect: An AskERIC-type program for K-12 (now a project of the American Association of School Librarians, American Library Association) [ b) Virtual Reference Desk Project (VRD): Begun in 1997, with support from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, VRD identifies existing digital reference services and their processes. In 1998, VRD introduced "The Dig_Ref Listserv" [ Ref/dig ref.htmll which continues to be the primary discussion group on the subjects of online reference services. Between 1993 and 1995 other question and answer services appeared, the majority from outside the library community. Known as "Ask-an-Expert" (or AskA, for short) and qualifying their services as "online," "virtual," and " " reference, the following list, while not exhaustive, serves to highlight a range of the earliest experts, presentations, and resources: Ask Shamu (Sea World/Bush Gardens experts) shamu/asintro.html Ask Dr. Math (Math Forum, Swarthmore College) Mad Scientist Network (Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis) Joan of Art (aka Smithsonian American Art Museum Reference Desk) Ask Dr. Universe (Washington State University) Perhaps the most widely known service today is the Internet Public Library (IPL), created in IPL was the brainchild of Joe Janes, an assistant professor at the School of Information Studies at the University of Michigan (now teaching at the University of Washington), and its creation was the dass project for "Information Technology, Impacts and Implications," a graduate-level survey course. Janes wanted to [further] explore the merger of networking and libraries by planning, building, and running a digital library on the Internet based on the public-library model. His idea was that he could do more than just replicate the functions and processes of a real public library, or add to the long lists of digital resources that were then available on the Internet-resources that had little intellectual control or input from the library community. He wanted to create a hybrid that combined the strengths of both public libraries and the lists of links that attempted to categorize Internet resources...6 The IPL has grown by leaps and bounds and is a premier site. In the recent past, interest in digital reference in the library community has greatly increased as evidenced by a few milestones. For example, in 1998, VRD held its first stakeholders' meetings with approximately thirty attendees, representing AskA services and technical advisers. The first annual conference sponsored by this group took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1999 and attracted approximately 200 attenr, omwrcal &A Servie 5Akeee - -;a i-7 2 wwwask*,ees ; ;,:>g co,0rn,7- ai ri0 MF ^ama. X, htt /fvrww7k sa a corn!/, e >; out -;' ; http //wwabout.com' abuzz'ht /w izo'1-~ Pantnsuconsesrenca,n xert ' tle a,,-http. / a iw n 0kani teracom ore ibsrye of onres,nde-he i//retiaskmn odi/ere and dena crn' o z h Ah f- - stit beexpertce,eebange i wv.h irary Associatio g cfidwnei cor!: des,slitxpertsnweescon Braci t Citp Canaa, ndtrkey. Ask servicsan p //w ahper rsfactciedasleti'o ba rijes.the scon -of InfoXcket ' m '; oioclt.c:or '~ 4z=- Keen an lirrin were in 08 ht 0 ;;00tp5s> /wwqkencom/wba - < th Majority. Alo in June 198 th.e- hnwpotf htt //wwa0ii0i c n5wp.com/ :t: i "itlo ibrrianat s "e-m,,fc X http: //wne" okasmad. "commerial/ Meetin,i on peth~e XWe sbet, in Jaur Refrec ti';0; of tayer. Serv/ice htt; sip //www The inpa intue Di >Webp.clm italage dre (whm/ 't prfs.0 ;S. had,,,..i._ dees, split between AskA s,ervces and libraries. The second annual conference, in Seattle, Washington in 2000, attracted more than 500 information professionals from the United States, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Hong Kong, and Japan and librarians were in the majority. Also, in June, 1998, illstrt*,7 LithePteprs ed, tht E the fsson. percept lion hatipats o Library of Congress, under the p direction okx~ileof"igitalcollcin, of Diane Kresh and 1i f "iita re.ference" ar ;ied.grea 0tly Linda Arret, organized the first national library-based institute on the subject, "Reference Service in a Digital Age" (which had been preceded by an American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, in January of that year). The institute drew 130 professionals, representing twenty-five states, the District of Columbia, Brazil, Canada, and Turkey. The papers presented, (a selection of which appear in Reference and User Services Quarterly 38, no. 1) illustrated that perceptions of "digital reference" varied greatly within the profession. Participants spoke of "digital collections," "digital librarians," " reference," "AskAs" and "commercial vs. library services," without sharing common understanding of the terminology. While Ask-an-Expert sites were logging impressive statistics-in 1999, AskERIC Q&A was getting 1000 queries/ week-the library community was still hesitant to commit. In a widely read article, David A. Tyckoson, head of reference at the Henry Madden Library at California State University, Fresno, pronounced reference a failure: "In practice, reference service is far from adequate. Despite all of our publicity and promotion, patrons simply do not use it."7 Challenges of Delivery Tyckoson's -remarks reflected a widespread opinion. Traditional reference does not translate seamlessly into "digital reference" and librarians confront many challenges. The dominant challenges are: a) software; b) 24/7 service; and c) resource Volume 20, Number I * Art Documentation 27

3 sharing. In regard to software, since none exists that is specifically designed for digital reference or can successfully replicate the processes of a reference interview, reference search, and response that take place daily at a reference desk, those information providers that became involved were left to their own creative devices. With organizational support, some invested in off-the-shelf software that could be adapted to this purpose, while others designed proprietary software. For those institutions with limited financial and technical resources, software options were confusing and few in number. With increased usage of the Internet, library patrons began to develop different expectations. Access to the Internet was not limited by physical place or time, so it was no surprise that Internet users expected to locate information quickly at any time of the day (what is called 24/7). How can libraries that are staffed only when the library is open for business begin to compete with a myriad of commercial and non-commercial information providers who provide information around-theclock? Does the creation of digital library collections begin to address the problem? Are different staffing patterns warranted and can they be supported? Concerning resource-sharing, several pioneers in digital reference have pointed out that while libraries have complex networks for sharing bibliographic resources, such as interlibrary loan and shared cataloging, nothing comparable exists for sharing reference searches. Librarians throughout the country daily answer the same or similar questions, but we have no system in place that begins to address the duplication of effort that is taking place. How best can we capture, catalog, and share the reference work that goes on in libraries throughout the world? Early discussions of the subject have focused on the need to build a "Knowledgebase" and the need to classify questions and answers so they can be retrievable. But these wide-ranging discussions are in their infancy. Commerdal Services In Fall 1999, entrepreneurs in the commercial world awakened to the adage with which librarians have been familiar for some time, "Information is Power." Information providers supply a desired commodity, such as perceived expertise or quick turn-around time, that adds value to the information provided. Therein lay a marketing opportunity that quickly was exploited. Almost overnight, a number of commercial question-andanswer services came into being. Each follows a slightly different model with three dominant scenarios: 1. The user submits a question that is automatically "matched" to a Knowledgebase; a sampling of appropriate and related questions and answers is returned to the user. 2. A user submits a question to an expert on the subject and the user and expert negotiate the cost of the search and delivery of information. 3. Users post questions to a public bulletin board and members/self-identified experts respond or not. To a large extent, these commercial concerns are trying to replicate what happens at library reference desks. According to a recent New York Times article, "Suddenly Everybody's an Expert" (February 3,2000), "an expert, it seems, is now an ordinary person sitting at home, beaming advice over the Internet to anyone who wants help." The founders of these sites argue that they are providing the missing link to millions of pages of information. What Internet users need, they say, is human intervention to locate answers that are fast, personalized, easy to find, and free, at least for the time being. Of course, what they are describing sounds a lot like what happens in a library. 8 Providers are attempting to repackage and format the processes of reference interviews, searches, and answers by taking advantage of all technology can offer and marketing their service as personal and fun. Articles and listserv discussions have debated the quality of answers provided, and questioned whether patrons are satisfied with the responses. Much of the discussion has been based on anecdotal evidence, but research is currently being done on the accuracy and effectiveness of these "expert" services, and the findings, reflecting mixed reviews for the most part, are being published in library literature. The Library of Congress and the University of Washington have undertaken their own study of AskA Services and the findings will be made available in the next several months. Regardless of the analysis, most librarians will agree that these services have been quite effective in their marketing efforts. Many people are more familiar with Ask Jeeves, for example, than with their local library. Library reference statistics are meager, in comparison with the statistics of both commercial services and non-profit AskAs. Ask Jeeves reports receiving twenty million questions per day and to date has provided more than 150 million answers. 9 It remains to be seen if these commercial services are financially viable on the Internet. The latest reports indicate that one "dot.com" Web site fails each day and several have come into and out of existence within the past year. It also remains to be seen if these services are direct competition for library reference services or complementary enterprises that will bring users back to libraries and serve as the basis for more public-private partnerships. For now, librarians can learn by investigating the variety of Question and Answer services. Collaborative Projects To some degree, information professionals are actively working on each of the challenges to delivery that were cited here. Innovative projects, designed to resolve problems in the delivery of digital reference services, are promising. The largest and most ambitious effort, launched by the Library of Congress and more than forty partners representing public, academic, national, and special libraries around the world, is the Collaborative Digital Reference Service (CDRS). By linking libraries together for reference services, the CDRS aims to combine the strengths of local collections and staff with the diversity and availability of libraries and librarians everywhere, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. A librarian will be available to provide to users located anywhere trained assistance in providing access to collections and resources both analog and digital.10 CDRS builds upon the groundbreaking work of the Library of Congress American Memory Project (1990) and National Digital Library (1995). Both initiatives supply content in the form of digital collections of unique materials. CDRS extends the concept by examining ways in which the content becomes usable and searchable. 28 Art Documentation * Volume 20, Number I * 2001

4 Although the goal is to reach any researcher anywhere, CDRS has begun with librarians talking to other librarians on behalf of end users. The parameters of the service then can be defined and participants can work to determine what works and what does not work, thereby creating a service that is scalable and maximally responsive to user needs: As envisioned, CDRS includes three component parts: set-up, submidssion of question and answer, and follow-up and archiving of the answer for future use. The workflow will look like this: An end user will request information through a CDRS member institution. The member institution will send the query to the online Request Manager softwvare for processing and routing. The Request Manager will then search a database of CDRS Member institution profiles looking for the member institution best suited to answer the question. Matches wil be made on the basis of such data elements as hours of service, including time zones, subject strengths, scope of collections, types of patrons served, etc. The "match making" wil happen in milliseconds. Once a mnatch on an institution has been made, the query will be sent to that institution for answering. Once the query has been answered, it is routed back to the original CDRS requesting library via the Request Manager to allow for closing out the case and completing other administrative tasks. Again, all post-answering processing by the Request Manager should take no more than mere milliseconds.' 1 The Virtual Reference Desk, described earlier in this article, has made several significant collaborative efforts. In 1998, the VRD Consortium was established. Consortium members from libraries and AskAs are developing criteria that can be used by the entire digital reference community. Facets of Quality for Digital Reference Services' 2 sets forth standards and outlines characteristics and features for building a digital reference service. The Virtual Reference Desk Network, launched in January 2000, provides support to digital reference services by accepting out-of-scope and overflow questions: This new service will provide support to Ask-an-Expert (or AskA) services such as yours by accepting out-of-scope and overflow questions and routing them to more appropriate services. Based on our experience and research, we understand that AskA services can be easily overwhelmed by the ever-increasing number of questions and the often limidted set of resources. VRD seeks to promote the valuable work of high quallty AskA services such as yours and to support them through this type of collaboration as well as other resources and services.13 More generally, the Virtual Reference Desk has served to focus and consolidate interest and research in digital reference, with The Dig-Ref listserv being an excellent example. VRD staff also is working on the development of digital reference software for members with limidted resources. Their "incubator" software under development was introduced at their Fall 2000 conference and will soon enter beta testing. Acting as a catalyst to further discussion, VRD disseminates information and encourages research through its seminal publications: AskA Starter Kit: How to Build and Maintain Digital Reference Services by R. David Lankes and Abby S. Kasowitz (Syracuse, NY. ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Tedmnology, 1998) and Building and Maintaining Art, Lihkaridwi~: CDRS, WaMsyu:. Claoati'e Digita 'Rern rvc(ce)&pocf c d-ordinad bv the~`libra-ry ftovs,admhdn a ~ naionl lbray ietwork- ox. th slarng, adecaneo ',rfer~cequ~ti6nh.1.iidnm er.poti.ixd,2 uso"1ai5e' test~evioidiyasw edq fies) da&t6t&focus oixtmc&- anin&frthrouinganddelvey o questions ani angw&s'. -n Pilotf3/Libraraians ~jfi be' bmiiing4'reua" 4iie tins ~Att Thsstgof de~veio,pni4nt CDRS ~tv1.sel&s't eninnce ieinei r~oure~'i. th area o specib lib6de ~ MOSt ~p4r!clr,at A:h6ndfulof:iA'1brtTrie1Prii mng,; Jp6tludin~g:. -Sithsni'n mrcnatmslm or contat -Lindarre 'Voice: ' Errfail: Iarldo Joa,, Stah Sn1itsonandAme6 cn Msu Internet Information Services: K-12 Digital Reference Services by R. David Lankes (Syracuse, NY: ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology, 1999). The VRD Learning Center, a new addition to the many achievements of the organization, is aimed at parents, teachers, and students; it provides them with a classified list of experts, as well as access to an archive of frequently asked questions. Librarians who provide digital reference via and Web-based forms quickly understand that this mode of communication restricts the reference interview. On the one hand, patrons often feel more free to ask questions when they do not see or speak with a librarian, but on the other hand, the librarian often has difficulty understanding the request when he/she is unable to converse with the patron and ask follow-up questions. In addition, the medium makes it more difficult to teach the interested patrons to locate information on the Intemnet on their own because they are not present, in real-time, to follow the librarian's search strategy. With that in mind, many librarians have been experimenting with "real-time reference." They have taken a cue from call centers and help desks and are adapting the software for the function of reference work. TIhe most noteworthy collaborative project in this area is the "24/7 Reference Project". It is a project of the Metropolitan Volume 20, Number I * * Art Documentat ion 29

5 Cooperative Library System, supported by Federal LSTA funding, and administered by the California State Library. The goal of this project is to provide libraries with the tools they need to do live reference on the Web, including "live chat," "collaborative browsing," "Voice Over IP," and "click to call me," among others, and to prove the feasibility of the concept. The software is designed to improve the efficiency and quality of question handling on the Web. The 24/7 Reference Project hopes to demonstrate the feasibility of this concept as applied to reference work and round-the-clock service that is available to patrons, wherever they may be. Four public libraries and two university libraries in Los Angeles and Orange Counties are currently testing the 24/7 software. In July 2000, at least one of these libraries will use the software to provide reference assistance to remote users.1 4 The concept of real-time/live reference has caught the imagination of many and prompted the creation of "LiveRef," a registry of real-time, digital reference services, as well as a discussion group.' 5 The Future Digital reference represents a major change in the way reference librarians do business. The pilot projects that are underway are generating enthusiasm by participants, patrons, and other information professionals, because they are each taking a fresh look at reference and the possibilities that technology offers to customize, personalize, and improve the delivery of the service. Our libraries and reference services will be revitalized if we can take advantage of the opportunities that are available. V.= - > -.- fmox' rit '- >Z ~ -' Q 1 'j :~o U!.. l -i': -viw'rnt : to [Searn: more ;about diitui Cifefe nce?' 7 h '-oeewf,thesttepftiar,., Notes 1. Diane Nester Kresh, "Offering High Quality Reference Service on the Web: The Collaborative Digital Reference Service,(CDRS)," D-Lib Magazine 6, no. 6 (June 2000). [ 2. Michael K. Bergman, The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value. [White Paper] (Sioux Falls, SD: BrightPlanet, 2000). [http: // index.asp]. 3. Kresh, "Offering High Quality Reference..." 4. Joann M. Wasik, "Building and Maintaining Digital Reference Services," ERIC Digest (March 1999): 1 (EDO-IR-99-04). 5. "AboutAskERIC" [ 6. Lorrie Lejeune, "The Internet Public Library," The Journal of Electronic Publishing 3 (December 1997). [http: // 7. David A. Tyckoson, "What's Right with Reference," American Libraries 30 (May 1999): Kresh, "Offering High Quality Reference..." 9. Ibid. 10. Ibid. 11. Ibid LiveRef.htm#livereference -h/.w/w d.&r:0:-i-jii i.. tse,aollaboratieodigiitailefenceservi'ce-se C f- V!S24VJReeenrj StT' i. 30 Art Documentotion * Volume 20, Number i * 2001

6 COPYRIGHT INFORMATION TITLE: Online, Virtual, , Digital, Real Time: The Next Generation of Reference Services SOURCE: Art Doc 20 no1 Spr 2001 WN: The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it is reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article in violation of the copyright is prohibited. To contact the publisher: Copyright The H.W. Wilson Company. All rights reserved.