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Exercise virtual reference

amberbaumbach's picture
Submitted by amberbaumbach on Sat, 10/25/2008 - 12:13pm

For the first question I used the AskNow service that was linked from my public library (San Diego).  It took the librarian three minutes to respond to the question, and at first I wasn't sure anyone was there.  After that she quickly found a resource for me that provided the correct information.

 

 

Chat Transcript: How many murders were there in CA in 2005?
[Librarian 12:38:29]: Librarian '(24/7 Librarian)' has joined the session.
[Librarian 12:38:43]: Hello Amber My name is , and I'm a reference librarian with the QuestionPoint chat service. Your librarians have asked our librarians to staff this service when they are unavailable. I'm reading your question right now to see how I can help you...
[Amber 12:39:17]: Great, thanks
[Librarian 12:39:28]: This should help. http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/cac
rime.htm
[Amber 12:40:52]: Hello?
[Librarian 12:41:51]: Did you get the last site I sent?
[Amber 12:42:23]: that does help, thank you!

[Amber 12:42:56]: Patron ended chat session.

 

For the second part of the assignment I used the embedded chat feature at a university. I tried to choose one that someone hadn't already used, but that didn't work out that way, as you'll see from the transcript.  However, this was the most useful experience.  I liked that the librarian didn't just send me a page, but told me specifically how to get to it.  They taught me a couple of ways of finding the information on my own.  On my way to finding the information, I was able to see so many other sources that could also possibly be relevant to my question.  I thought that this was the most beneficial as the librarian didn't just give me a fish and feed me for a day, but taught me how to fish so that I could feed myself...if you follow that saying (adage?).  They also responded to my question immediately, and I found the chat screen easy to use. The AskNow screen kept freezing on me and I couldn't tell if the librarian had responded or not.  I was so impressed with this librarian, and chat feature, that I ended up telling him/her about the actual assignment.
12:51 me Hi, I have a question I'm hoping you can answer
12:51 Librarian Hi!
12:51 me How many murders were there in CA in 2005?
12:51 Librarian Oh, yes...
12:51 Librarian were you able to check out some of the sources we sent you earlier..
12:51 Librarian Did you find anything..
12:52 me This is the first time I've asked this question, you may be referring to someone else that is also in my class...:)
12:52 Librarian Oh, I see..
12:52 Librarian Thanks for clarifying..
12:52 Librarian Yes...
12:52 Librarian you may want to go to our statistics guide..
12:53 Librarian from the library homepage..
12:53 Librarian I'll send you the link..
12:53 me great
12:53 Librarian Please go to where it says: Research
12:53 me Great, I'll check that out, thanks for your help!
12:53 Librarian Under the Research tab...
12:53 Librarian please click on where it says:
12:53 Librarian Research Guides..
12:53 Librarian When you click on that..
12:53 Librarian please click on where it says:
12:54 Librarian guides by special topics
12:54 Librarian and then you'll scroll down the list and find:Statistics
12:54 Librarian When you're on that page..
12:54 Librarian you'll see where it says: State and Local
12:54 Librarian This will bring up some possible resources.
12:54 Librarian Also for you to know..
12:55 Librarian you may want to do a general google search like this: site:.gov murders California 2005
12:55 Librarian or use some similar phrase..
12:55 Librarian but this will search for government websites that may also help you..
12:55 me Wow, thanks so much. I'll check out these sources. You've been very helpful.
12:55 Librarian As with any Web resource, however, please take the time to evaluate the information.
12:55 Librarian You're welcome..
12:56 Librarian Two more things I've learned..
12:56 Librarian You may want to search on the Web for the following:
12:56 Librarian Bureau of Criminial Justice Statistics
12:56 Librarian and
12:56 Librarian FBI Uniform Crime Reports..
12:56 Librarian Good luck..
12:56 Librarian I hope this helps you..
12:56 me Got it. It does help, thank you!!
12:56 Librarian You're very welcome...
12:57 me I have to tell you...
12:57 Librarian yes..
12:57 me This assignment is on evaluating different virtual reference sites, and yours is the best that I've seen
12:57 Librarian that's great..thank you..
12:57 me So, thank you 
12:58 Librarian Thank you so much..
12:58 Librarian You are very welcome..
12:58 Librarian Take care, and have a good day!
12:58 me You too, thanks.
12:58 Librarian Bye!:)
12:58 me bye

 

I learned from this experience that it's not necessarily the speed of the answer, but the way that the answer is delivered.  The first librarian quickly and accurately answered my question, but the second one taught me about the different resources that I could use to get to my answer.  If I was writing a paper, the second reference source would have been so much more helpful, as I would have been able to gather more facts along the way. I will definitely choose to use the University embedded chat reference again.

Hi Amber, That is funny.  

Shawn Iles's picture
Submitted by Shawn Iles on Sat, 10/25/2008 - 1:40pm.

Hi Amber,

That is funny.   From the time stamp, it looks like we both asked the same question, of the same reference librarian, only 27 minutes apart.  Small world!  

 

I agree that her style is more useful if you are doing research on a paper.  When approaching an academic librarian, I would prefer being shown how to find the resources and then hopefully that path would be useful in future research projects.  However, if I am just looking for a simple answer,  the AskNow interaction was much quicker and less complex.  I think that both librarians provided appropriate information for the type of library that they represent.

While the second transcript

meredithfarkas's picture
Submitted by meredithfarkas on Sun, 10/26/2008 - 5:53pm.

While the second transcript would be long for someone in a hurry, the first seemed a bit too abrupt. Instead of saying "this should help" it might have made more sense for the person to ask "does this help?" His or her vocabulary made it sound like they'd provided all the help they were going to and that they were sure this would meet your needs (which no reference librarian can really be sure of until the patron says it does). It just shows how a slightly different vocabulary can make a big difference in the transaction.

I see that you were referred

dianalopez's picture
Submitted by dianalopez on Mon, 10/27/2008 - 2:33pm.

I see that you were referred to disastercenter.com as well. I was referred to that site during my chat reference session. As I mentioned in my posting, that concerned me because I really questioned the reliability of the source. It had a lot of advertisements on it, and to be honest, I don't know that I would use it had I truly been looking for information for a research assignment. Maybe I'm just being overly cautious, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

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