Colorado State Library Talks Virtual Reference

Edited By Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 9/15/2005

Virtual reference collaboratives quickly are gaining ground. The Colorado State Library (CSL) recently hosted a Denver symposium devoted to the subject, which revealed that steady growth in usage is the norm, with volume doubled in some states over last year. Brenda Bailey-Hainer, CSL director of networking and resource sharing and a 2002 LJ Mover & Shaker, provides details.

In 2002, CSL hosted a Collaborative Virtual Reference Symposium in Denver, designed to help state library agencies and other consortia launch their own services. A recent follow-up symposium drew 120 attendees from 25 states, Australia, Canada, and Kosovo who came to learn and share their experiences at the international, national, state, and consortial levels. A dynamic keynote by Stephen Abram, VP of innovation at SirsiDynix, set the tone for the meeting by challenging participants with a wide array of new technologies and future trends from beyond the library field. He exhorted libraries to move forward to serve customers at their point of need.

The 2002 symposium focused on software selection and strategies for launching a relatively new type of service. The 2005 gathering showed the maturity of collaborative reference through its focus on managing ongoing services, seeking continuous funding, serving Millennials, and handling the challenges of collaboration. An astounding trend has emerged that no one predicted: young adults and the K-12 student community are the heaviest users of virtual reference online chat services. Many statewide services, like AskColorado, Maryland's AskUsNow, and QandANJ, reported that 50–60 percent of their questions are generated by young adults.

No one was surprised, however, by the steady growth in usage. Several collaboratives reported they have quieted their marketing efforts while ramping up their capacity for more volume. Ohio has seen over 15,000 questions a month; New Jersey over 7000; and Maryland and Colorado each doubled their volume to 5000–6000 questions monthly.

Participants left with both practical ideas on improving collaboratives and an eye open to the future, envisioning merging online reference services with telephone, short message service (SMS), instant messaging, and other communication forms. It's clear that online reference service is no longer a novelty and should be fully integrated into overall library reference service. At the 2007 symposium, participants will wonder why it was ever any other way.

The symposium was sponsored by Docutek, OCLC, Tutor.com, and the Colorado Library Consortium and organized by CSL and AskColorado Information Service. Copies of the symposium presentations are available by clicking here.