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Web 2.0: Where will it take libraries Tips and Tricks: Check nearby libraries OCLC Labs: Link LCSH with DCMI with MeSH OCLC PICA: Cooperation, Partnering, Acquisition 
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Seeking Synchronicity:OCLC, Rutgers researchers explore virtual reference services by analyzing chat transcriptsBy Robert C. Bolander, Lynn Silipigni Connaway and Marie L. Radford Web-based library reference services have emerged as vital alternatives to the traditional face-to-face or telephone reference encounter. However, existing research on this relatively new type of library service is fragmented and limited in scope. Lynn Silipigni Connaway, OCLC Consulting Research Scientist, and Marie L. Radford, Associate Professor at the Rutgers University School of Communication, Information & Library Studies, are conducting a two-year, multiphase study of virtual reference services (VRS) from user, non-user and librarian perspectives. Supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in-kind contributions from OCLC and Rutgers, the study will investigate factors that influence the selection and use of synchronous (e.g., Internet chat-based) VRS and study user and staff perceptions of satisfaction. It also seeks to develop research-based recommendations for VRS staff to increase user satisfaction with the virtual reference experience. The project employs a combination of techniques for data collection, including an analysis of chat transcripts, focus-group and telephone interviews, and online surveys. Manual and computer-assisted qualitative and quantitative data-analysis techniques will be employed. This article reports on the analysis of 300 transcripts of virtual reference sessions from 24x7 Reference conducted between July 7, 2004 and June 27, 2005.
Researchers developed, refined, and applied schemas for analyzing transcripts, each of which was reviewed by multiple coders. This method reveals the complexity and richness of these interactions. Geography, library and question type, and subject Most of the transcripts studied were from the eastern or western United States. The remainder were from Australia, the Midwestern U.S., Canada and England. A variety of libraries was represented in the sample. Members of reference consortia made up the largest single group in the sample, followed by public, university, national, law, state, and K-12 libraries. The most frequently occurring type of reference transaction was a subject search, followed by ready reference, procedural, item availability and research inquiries. Interestingly, ready reference questions accounted for 30 percent of the questions. This is surprising given the popularity of Internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Ask.com. Researchers classified questions by subject, using the second summary of the Dewey Decimal Classification – the Hundred Divisions. The most frequently asked questions from VRS users were about library procedures, followed by law, biography and genealogy, North American history, education, social issues and economics. Forty other subjects also were represented. Interpersonal communication analysis A significant aspect of the researchers’ interest had to do with the interpersonal communication features of the reference chat sessions. They found that reference chat interactions include a variety of both relational facilitators—interpersonal aspects of the chat conversation that have a positive impact on the librarian-client interaction and that enhance communication—and relational barriers—interpersonal aspects of the conversation having a negative impact on the interaction.
Librarians and clients employed a variety of relational factors to manage virtual reference interactions. Librarians used techniques of rapport building (e.g., offering confirmation, approval or empathy), deference (using expressions of politeness, gratitude or apology), the use of unscripted greeting and/or closing rituals, and representation of nonverbal cues (e.g., “smileys”) to try to build a satisfying experience for the client. Clients also employed the same relational facilitators, although the two groups used specific facilitators to different degrees. Librarians tended to use rapport-building techniques as well as greeting and closing rituals more than clients, while clients tended to demonstrate deference more frequently than librarians. This analysis suggests that librarians tended to use representations of nonverbal cues much more than clients. Similarly, librarians and clients both exhibited relational barriers, but to differing degrees. Clients tended to manifest relational barriers more frequently than librarians. Clients tended to manifest negative closures or other closing problems more often than relational disconnects (e.g., failing to respond to an opportunity to build rapport). When librarians manifested relational barriers, they tended to employ negative closures or other closing problems in about the same proportions as relational disconnects. The study methodology has been designed to ensure that results will be generalizable. The large international sample and multiple approaches to data gathering indicate that this research will be immediately relevant and useful to the global LIS community. Results will be widely disseminated as each of the proposed research phases concludes. One thing seems clear even at this stage of the research. Although the researchers are studying VRS chat transcripts, much of what they have found has to do with interpersonal communication and providing good service to clients. As stated by Tenopir,1 this “analysis can help improve any interaction between librarian and patron.” Questions about this study may be directed to Lynn Silipigni
Connaway, Ph.D., OCLC Research. 1-Carol Tenopir, “What Chat Transcripts Reveal,” Library Journal, March 1, 2006. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6308689.html
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