AskNow & Meebo
This is the response I received from AskNow inquiring about murders in my state:
Hello, tonya kennon
Chat Transcript: How many people were murdered in our state (CA) in 2005?
ADMIN: Librarian 'ADMIN' has joined the session.
ADMIN: Hi Tonya. My name is <snip> I'll be happy to help you look for that information.
tonya kennon: Thank you
ADMIN: I think this chart will answer your question http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/tabl
e_20.html
ADMIN: Is that what you wanted to know?
tonya kennon: Yes, Awesome! Thank you
ADMIN: You're welcome. Is there anything else I can help you with?
Newest Message
tonya kennon: That was all. Thanks again.
Newest Message
ADMIN: Have a nice day.
Goodbye, tonya kennon
The current Chat session has ended. A transcript of this session has been sent to your e-mail address. Thank you for using the Ask a Librarian Chat service.
This is the answer I received to the same question using Meebo:
MEEBO
[14:43] meeboguest765894: Can I ask a research question here?
[14:43] librarianchat: hello.
[14:43] meeboguest765894: How many people were murdered in our state in 2005?
[14:46] librarianchat: i'll see if I can find that. perhaps there are come crime stats online at the web site for the state of California or the US Department of Justice.
[14:46] meeboguest765894: okay, can you help me find that?
[14:48] librarianchat: I'll check here first: http://www.usdoj.gov/
[14:50] librarianchat: as well as US Bureau of Justice Statistics http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/welcome.html
[14:51] meeboguest765894: i went to the usdoj.gov site, but have no idea how to find my answer
[14:54] librarianchat: i was able to find the number by doing the following.../
[14:54] librarianchat: go to http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/welcome.html
[14:55] meeboguest765894: i'm there
[14:56] meeboguest765894: what do I do next?
[14:56] librarianchat: on the right side of the page, click on 'Data Online'
[14:57] meeboguest765894: ok
[14:59] librarianchat: On the left side of the page click on Crime trends from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports
[14:59] librarianchat: you can select the state about which you can crime stats.
[15:00] librarianchat:
the Homicide trends and characteristics link will let you find Total number of homicides for specific years
[15:01] meeboguest765894: ok
[15:02] meeboguest765894: thank you
[15:02] librarianchat: does this answer your question?
[15:03] meeboguest765894: yes, thanks
[15:05] librarianchat: you're welcome.
[15:05] librarianchat: goodbye.
I found both services easy to use (I was a first-timer with both). In both instances I was immediately connected with someone. The only real difference seemed to be the librarian on the other end. With the AskNow librarian, I got the answer to my question in under a minute. With the meebo librarian it took much longer. I felt like the librarian was either too busy or would rather I find the answer myself (kinda like the librarians who point to a section instead of taking you to the stacks). Again, I believe these differences were due to the people, not the tool.
An important thing to do is make sure the question is clearly stated. Another thing is to be patient. Virtual reference doesn't necesarily mean faster reference. The librarian still has to research the question and serve patrons inside the library.
