Virtual Reference Service in United States School of Law Libraries: Its Challenges and the Way Forward — Olugbenga Ademodi
Recommendation
Libraries need to let their patrons know what services are available to them. This may be done by advertising their reference and information services effectively on their home page. Diane Kresh pointed out that “many libraries have taken steps to publicize their new virtual reference services, by adding ‘Ask a Librarian’ buttons to their home pages, sending out mailers and getting coverage from the local press” [63].
NELLCO indicated that patrons may expect “the answer” rather than being taught the “research process” [64]. Some even expect to get legal advice instead of recommendations regarding legal research. Further, many feel disappointed when the transaction does not proceed as they expected. It is, therefore, advisable that libraries provide enough information on their Web site so that “virtual patrons can have a better idea of what to expect from a librarian” [65]. NELLCO also suggested that as soon as a librarian discovers that a patron’s question cannot be fully answered online, the librarian should recommend good resources and direct such a patron to a nearby library [66].
Notes
1. “Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining Virtual Reference Services.” Reference & User Services Quarterly 44, no. 1 (2004): 9.
2. Nicholas Joint. “Virtual Reference, Second Life and Traditional Library Enquiry Services.” Library Review 57, no. 6 (2008): 417.
3. K. Nilsen, and C. S. Rose. “Evaluating Virtual Reference from the Users’ Perspective.” The Reference Librarian 95/96 (2006): 54.
4. M. Kathleen Kern. Virtual Reference Best Practices: Tailoring Services to Your Library. (Chicago: ALA, 2009), 1–3.
5. Ibid., 4.
6. Ibid., 2–4.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid., chapters 1 & 2.
11. Ibid., 3.
12. L. Eakin, and J. Pomerantz. “Virtual Reference, Real Money: Modelling Costs in Virtual Reference Services.” Portal : Libraries and the Academy 9, no. 1 (2009): 134.
13. Kern, Virtual Reference Best Practices, 6.
14. Ibid., 7.
15. Ibid., 7–8.
16. G. Edward Evans and Margaret Z. Saponaro. Developing Library and Information Center Collections, 5th ed. (Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2005), 130.
17. R. Slater, and D. Johnson. “Choosing Virtual Reference Software.” in Handbook of Electronic and Digital Acquisitions, Thomas W. Leonhardt, editor. (New York: Haworth, 2006): 127.
18. Ibid., 127–28; Kern, Virtual Reference Best Practices, ch. 2.
19. Slater and Johnson, “Choosing Virtual Reference Software,” 127.
20. Kern, Virtual Reference Best Practices, 8.
21. Bernie Sloan. “Service Perspectives for the Digital Library Remote Reference Services.” Library Trends 47, no. 1 (1998): 117.
22. Diane Kresh. “Virtually Yours: Thoughts on Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going with Virtual Reference Services in Libraries.” The Reference Librarian 79/80 (2002/2003): 24.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Joint, “Virtual Reference,” 422.
26. Jo Kibbee, “Librarians without Borders? Virtual Reference Service to Unaffiliated Users.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 32, no. 5 (2006): 469.
27. Ibid., 469–70.
28. Samantha Thompson. “On Being a Virtual World Librarian: Experiences in Offering Live Reference Services in a Virtual World.” The Reference Librarian 50, no. 2 (2009): 222.
29. Scott Matheson. “Library LAWLINE: Collaborative Virtual Reference in a Special Library Consortium.” The Reference Librarian 85 (2004): 106.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid., 105.
32. Courtney Selby. “The Evolution of the Reference Interview.” Legal Reference Services Quarterly 26, no. 1/2 (2007): 42.
33. Ibid.
34. Kresh, “Virtually Yours,” 24.
35. Eric Zino, “Let’s Fix Virtual Reference.” Library Journal 134, no. 2 (February 1, 2009): 94.
36. Ibid.
37. Eakin and Pomerantz, “Virtual Reference, Real Money,” 137.
38. Ibid., 139–40.
39. Ibid.
40. Steve Coffman. “We’ll Take It From Here: Further Developments We’d Like to See in Virtual Reference Software.” Information Technology and Libraries (2001): 149.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid., 149–50.
44. Ibid.
45. Slater and Johnson, “Choosing Virtual Reference Software,” 127.
46. Ibid., 128.
47. Ibid., 128–29.
48. Ibid., 129.
49. Ibid., 128–30.
50. Ibid., 129–31.
51. Ibid., 131.
52. Ibid., 131–33.
53. Ibid., 128–37.
54. Selby, “The Evolution of the Reference Interview,” 39.
55. Ibid., 39–40.
56. Matheson, “Library LAWLINE,” 104.
57. Ibid.
58. Roy Balleste. “Implementing Virtual Reference: Hollywood Technology in Real Life.” Computers in Libraries 23, no. 4 (2003): 14–15.
59. Ibid., 15.
60. Ibid.
61. Ibid., 16, 18.
62. Ibid., 18.
63. Kresh, “Virtually Yours,” 26.
64. Matheson, “Library LAWLINE,” 109.
65. Ibid., 109–13.
66. Ibid., 111.