R U There?
Virtual reference in
academic libraries
The Virtual Enquiry Project 2008-09
Carolyn 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?
1 5
Average feedback:
Users 4.15
Library staff 3.77

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?

3. What stops institutions from
developing a service…?
„Technology - chat services are
blocked to stop students messing
around in class
and LRC.‟
(FE college)

„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

authentication
queuing
remote hosting
mac compliance
statistics
transcripts

libraryh3lp

Free popular
Free dedicated
Commercial

Free popular
Meebo Skype

Free dedicated

Commercial

Overview
User Impressions
Library Staff Impressions
Pricing
Technical Issues
Hosting Options
User Authentication/Anonymity
User Support
Multiple staff logins
Co-browsing
Additional Considerations
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