Life as a Live Reference Librarian
seems to be much the same in both environments, at least from my experience. I think I was surprised by this at first. I would have assumed that communicating with the patron and giving a reference interview was more difficult in an online environment. But what I found was it really is about the same.
Now, what is a lot more difficult in live reference is, in those cases when you are experiencing a problem, determining why you might be having trouble communicating with a patron. Is the patron truly having difficulty expressing their information needs? Are they a native speaker of another language? Is the patron a slow typist? Is their computer, and therefore their ability to send you chat responses, slow? In this sense, it is more difficult to communicate with patrons in an online environment - the librarian doesn't have the additional cues available to them in the physical encounter. It is more difficult to diagnose problems when they arise.
In general, I would say that if 'communication' problems arise more often in the online live reference environment, more often than not they are actually a result of computer/hardware/software issues, rather than true communication issues with the patron and/or the reference interview process. This is a fine distinction, but I think an important one to make, for it really is the distinction between technology issues and communication issues. Obviously the two are inextricably tied together when we're talking about live reference - since the very process itself requires the use of technology. But my point is this -- I don't feel there are necessarily any extra communication problems inherent in the live virtual reference environment that aren't also there in the traditional, face-to-face environment. I think it's important to point out that I don't find the actual interaction process of the reference interview with the patron any more difficult than an in-person transaction.
Technology's effect on communication and the live reference transaction is a seperate issue, and will be discussed in next week's article.
Next week's article will address some of the types of questions I've experienced working in live reference, challenges in the live reference environment, and my overall impressions of doing live reference.
(I'm still in the UK on vacation, but if you have comments on this week's article please send them along and I'll respond as soon as I get back!)
Latest Articles