Starting and Operating Live Virtual Reference Services: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians

The minds behind Temple University’s real-time virtual reference desk walk you through six key steps to starting and operating a virtual reference service:

* Preparation and planning
* Selecting software
* Deciding on staffing patterns
* Training reference personnel
* Marketing your live virtual reference desk
* Evaluating effectiveness

The authors identify five service models: Basic, Homegrown, Advanced, Collaborative, and Corporate, providing strategies and tips for each. Loaded with graphics, checklists and examples, this how-to manual combines cutting-edge theory with the best examples of practical applications.

An essential planning guide for all types of libraries.

In 1998, Meola, a humanities librarian at the College of New Jersey, and Stormont, the digital reference services coordinator and communications subject specialist at Temple University, Philadelphia, jointly created one of the first live virtual reference services in the country. Limiting the scope of their book to "real-time" chat reference services, Meola and Stormont contend that live virtual service is more than a fad and is used by many online merchants and an increasing number of libraries. Offering key steps for starting and running such an operation, the authors have divided their guide into three main sections: defining and introducing the essentials; preparing and planning; and, finally, implementing and incorporating live virtual reference. To help libraries find the right service for their needs, the authors offer five models: basic, homegrown, advanced, collaborative, and corporate. Supplementing the text are graphics, checklists, and examples from the authors' own service at Temple and other institutions. While a section on software evaluates features included in relevant products that range in price from free to expensive, this is not strictly a how-to technical manual. It is more importantly a guide for directing and facilitating the human resources needed to plan and run successfully a virtual reference service staffed by real librarians. It is the human contact aspects that attract many to the reference field, and it is this aspect, albeit with a degree of separation, that is the centerpiece of live virtual reference. The preparing and planning stage that the authors describe is intended to bring even the most reluctant reference librarian into the process. In the end it is up to the individual librarians to determine which level of this service is right for them and their clientele. The authors cite Anne Lipow speaking at a conference, which galvanizes the issues: "It is we who are remote from our users . We need to change how we do business in such a way as to get us back together." This book is highly recommended for all those who wish to start the process. For a broader treatment of such online reference services as e-mail or web forms, see Digital Reference for the New Millennium, edited by R. David Lankes (Professional Media, LJ 1/01).-Robert L. Battenfeld, Long Island Univ.
Southampton Coll. Lib., NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Offering a "practical manual" on live virtual reference, this book seeks to inform libraries considering such a service and to assist those that already provide it. Although there is discussion and analysis of several virtual reference software packages, this is not a technical manual. Rather, the focus is on process, from understanding what live virtual reference is to implementing the service, including planning, staffing, training, marketing, and evaluation. Recognizing that libraries vary in size, technical ability, and financial commitment, the authors explore the utility and application of five different live virtual reference models. Concepts are clarified with checklists, screen shots, and numerous examples from both public and academic libraries. The final chapter also provides useful criteria for evaluating an existing live virtual reference service. A helpful overview for any librarian or manager thinking about implementing live virtual reference. RBB
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