Virtual Reference: Alive & Well

The value of virtual reference services has been questioned in recent articles, including two by Steve Coffman and Linda Arret—both early adopters of the service. They wonder if virtual reference can ever be self-sustaining without being subsidized with LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) money and caution librarians to examine carefully the options before launching a virtual reference service. They cite grim statistics and scary costs. But that's hardly the whole picture.

Virtual reference at the statewide level is much more successful, and recent statistics show that here virtual reference is growing steadily—whereas most of the statistics cited by Coffman and Arret come from individual academic institutions or small groups of academic libraries. These statewide collaboratives are the product of multitype library cooperation and serve a much wider range of citizens than those targeted by academic institutions. These diverse groups are enthusiastically embracing the service. Shared infrastructure and marketing costs combined with a higher question volume created by targeting a wider audience add up to virtual reference that is more viable and affordable.

An individual institution, operating solo, is likely to find virtual reference service cost-ineffective. Even offering the service on a less than 24/7 basis can stretch reference staff to the breaking point, or involve prohibitively high expenditures.

But sharing costs on a statewide level translates into savings in management, training, and software licensing. While many statewide projects were started with LSTA grants, when the overhead fees are shared, options open up for a self-sustaining service not entirely dependent upon continued LSTA support.

For example, the first year of AskColorado, our statewide multitype collaborative service, was funded primarily through an LSTA grant plus contributions of cash and staff from participating libraries. During year two, the service expense was shared: institutions contributed the staffing and/or a modest cash contribution to cover the cost of software and the contracted backup service; a small amount of supplemental staffing was covered with state funds; and the coordinator's salary was paid with LSTA money. Marketing and travel was a combination of LSTA and state funds. During the coming year, private sponsorships are being sought from foundations and firms with related services, such as Internet service providers.

The result is that LSTA dollars account for less than half of the overall funding. No single library pays more than $3000 annually or contributes more than ten to 12 hours per week of staff time. This is a huge savings when compared with a library going it alone and paying $6000–$12,000 annually for software and backup service.

Other states have come up with creative ways to reduce costs and find alternative funding. New Jersey's QandANJ uses individual contractors rather than outsourcing all of its off-hours' service to vendors.

Many individual institutions cite abysmal use statistics. A statewide collaborative has an advantage because the target market is so much broader. Adults in urban, suburban, and rural areas are a target along with both K–12 and postsecondary students and educators.

Often ignored in articles about virtual reference, teens are an especially ripe market for chat reference services owing to their personal online habits. As the Pew Internet & American Life Project has documented numerous times, teenagers are well connected to the Internet. For example, a 2002 Pew study, The Digital Disconnect, showed that 60 percent of U.S. children use the Internet, including 78 percent of those between the ages of 12 and 17. Nearly every online teen (94 percent) has used the Internet for school research; 71 percent used the Internet as the major source for their most recent school project. A 2004 study by University of Southern California's Center for the Digital Future estimated that as many as 97.5 percent of children under 18 are now online.

Staff from Maryland's AskUsNow! conducted focus groups with first-year college students to learn more about their Internet use. These students indicated that they always start with the Internet when doing research and look for "credible" and expedient information. When introduced to the concept of virtual reference, they said they preferred live service over email.

The actual behavior of children and teen customers of virtual reference confirms this interest in and use of online services. The overall usage of AskColorado is consistently 50–53 percent from K–12 students. Other statewide cooperatives have similarly high usage patterns. QandANJ gets 50-60 percent of its usage from teens. Joe Thompson, from Maryland's AskUsNow!, estimates that 38 percent of its usage comes from teens. Ohio estimates that 50 percent or more usage comes from K–12.

While the actual number of teen users as a percentage of the total population in these states is not overwhelming, data from groups such as University of Southern California's Center for the Digital Future and Pew Internet & American Life Project indicate that as today's children mature, the trend will be toward increased use, with younger children added as new users. Statewide cooperatives set expectations among teens that they will carry with them into college and adulthood, so the full impact won't be seen for two to five years.

Even natural users like teens need to know virtual reference service exists. All collaborative services agree that effective marketing is essential. Targeted marketing, implemented in a planned, consistent, and creative manner through a single coordinated effort, can pump up the volume of questions. Collaboratives that focus on marketing and brand a single service with a single logo statewide have the opportunity for far more exposure than a service provided and marketed by a single institution [for more on branding, see "Target Your Brand," LJ 8/04, p. 32]. The placement of a service's logo on every library's web site, with coverage in the local media and newspapers, has a huge impact on the volume of usage.

These types of marketing efforts are so successful that the issue for collaborative services is not too little traffic but regulating the marketing to manage the growth in service and to scale up usage gradually so it does not go beyond the capacity to provide good service.

QandANJ has actively promoted its service from the beginning and received over 70,000 questions in 2004. Peter Bromberg, program development coordinator and webmaster, South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, said that when they launched a large-scale, coordinated marketing push in the press, it resulted in a 500 percent usage increase.

AskColorado has had similar results. The State Board of Education held a media conference to promote the service, which included coverage from TV and print media and press releases to over 370 outlets, including every school district. Libraries piggybacked on the event with local TV and radio interviews and articles in local papers. Immediately, usage jumped over 328 percent. Another spike—eight percent—occurred after a link was added to the front page of the state government web site. Libraries and schools regularly distribute thousands of materials provided by AskColorado—from temporary tattoos to refrigerator magnets, all with the URL and logo. This was all accomplished with a marketing budget of $16,000.

Tracy Strobel of Ohio's KnowItNow24X7 cites the same kind of success. Before moving from a regional (CLEVNet) to a statewide service, they created a marketing kit for libraries two months in advance. It included posters, a CD-ROM with reproducible marketing materials, sample press releases, and PowerPoint presentations. When the statewide service launched in September 2004, usage doubled during the first month over the same month the previous year.

Don't abandon other forms of reference service in favor of virtual reference. Continue to offer virtual reference and nurture it to its full potential. Do it to attract and retain the young people we want to involve as library users—both virtual and real—in the future. Do it to reach nonusers, wherever they may be. Do it because it's a service that people recognize as adding public value and feel is a good use of their tax dollars. Do it to recruit young people into the library profession by showing them an exciting service they could help provide.

Don't eliminate virtual reference on the grounds that usage is low and it's not cost-effective. Virtual reference can be affordable and, through collaboration, will grow only more so. Usage can be high and grow higher. Libraries can continue to fulfill their missions but in new ways.