1. “Way Sweet” or “Just Wrong:”
Users and Librarians Reveal
Critical Factors for Virtual
Reference Service Excellence
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D.
Marie L. Radford, Ph.D.
Best Practices in Collaborative Virtual Reference
ALA 2009 Annual Conference
July 11, 2009

2. Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual
Reference Services from User, Non-User,
& Librarian Perspectives
IMLS, OCLC, & Rutgers University funded project
Four phases:
Focus group interviews
Analysis of 850 QuestionPoint live chat transcripts
Online surveys
137 VRS Users
Telephone interviews
76 VRS Users

3. Online Surveys &
Telephone Interviews
• Descriptive statistical analysis
– Demographics
– Multiple choice (surveys only)
– Likert-type (surveys only)
• Qualitative analysis
– Open-ended questions
– 2 critical incident (CI) questions

4. VRS Users: What’s Hot
Word of Mouth
Recommendation
Interviews N=76 (Adult N=55, Net Gen N=21)

5. VRS Users: What’s Hot
Give Me the Facts
–Answer the Question
–Accuracy
Survey N=129 (Adult N=71, Net Gen N=48);
Interviews N=64 (Adult N=42, Net Gen N=21)

6. VRS Users: What’s Hot
Be On Target
Be Quick
Be Convenient
Survey N=129 (Adult N=71, Net Gen N=48);
Interviews N=64 (Adult N=42, Net Gen N=21)

7. VRS Users: What’s Hot
Know Your Stuff
Survey N=68 (Adult N=38, Net Gen N=30);
Interviews N=34 (Adult N=26, Net Gen N=7)

8. VRS Users: What’s Hot
Be Personable
Be Friendly
Survey N=129 (Adult N=71, Net Gen N=48);
Interviews N=64 (Adult N=42, Net Gen N=21)

9. VRS Users: What’s Not
Negative Closure
Survey N=68 (Adult N=38, Net Gen N=30);
Interviews N=34 (Adult N=26, Net Gen N=7)

10. VRS Users: What’s Not
“Did you already
check the
catalog?”
Survey N=68 (Adult N=38, Net Gen N=30);
Interviews N=34 (Adult N=26, Net Gen N=7)

11. VRS Users: What’s Not
Grumpy Librarians
Survey N=68 (Adult N=38, Net Gen N=30);
Interviews N=34 (Adult N=26, Net Gen N=7)

12. VRS Librarians: What’s Hot
Leveraging Complex & Specialized
Knowledge
Survey N=143; Interviews N=86

13. VRS Librarians: What’s Hot
Information
Access to
Remote Users
Survey N=143; Interviews N=86

14. VRS Librarians: What’s Hot
Positive Feedback
Survey N=143; Interviews N=86

15. VRS Librarians: What’s Hot
Tell Me More…
Survey N=143; Interviews N=86

16. VRS Librarians: What’s Hot
Morphing Modes
Survey N=143; Interviews N=86

17. VRS Librarians: What’s Not
Convoluted or
Confusing Questions
Survey N=124; Interviews N=71

18. VRS Librarians: What’s Not
Imposed Queries
Survey N=124; Interviews N=71

19. VRS Librarians: What’s Not
Co-Browsing
&
Other Pesky Software
Survey N=124; Interviews N=71

20. VRS Librarians: What’s Not
Grumpy Users
Survey N=124; Interviews N=71

21. VRS Librarians: What’s Not
Unrealistic Expectations
Survey N=124; Interviews N=71

22. VRS Librarians: What’s Not
Disappearing Users
Survey N=124; Interviews N=71

23. What We Learned
VRS Users Want
– Access to electronic
information
• Convenient
• Accurate
• Timely
– Interact w/ friendly
librarians

24. What We Learned
VRS Librarians Want
– Clear questions
– Query clarification
• User feedback
– Positive User attitude
– Resolved software issues
– Ability to serve diverse users

25. What We Can Do
Provide
• Convenient,
authoritative, reliable
services
• Accurate information
• Positive attitude

26. End Notes
This is one of the outcomes from the project
Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services
from User, Non-User, and Librarian Perspectives
Funded by IMLS, Rutgers University, & OCLC
Slides available at project web site:
http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/synchronicity/
Special thanks to Patrick Confer, Jocelyn DeAngelis
Williams, Timothy J. Dickey, and Erin Hood

27. Questions & Comments
Lynn Silipigni Connaway
connawal@oclc.org
Marie L. Radford
mradford@scils.rutgers.edu