State of Virtual Reference January 2004
Libraries using VR Gerry McKiernan’s Registry of Virtual Reference: ( Joseph Janes’ global census of Virtual Reference ( Hundreds of libraries doing VR alone or in consortia. More VR software providers than ever. Other big trend: Patrons using IM.
Collaborations Almost 100 collabs on Bernie Sloans pages. ( QuestionPoint Night Owl (NCSU, UNC, Duke) State Services: (MASSanswers, AnswerZone, AnswerOnline, AskAway,KANanswer, Answerland), Regional, National (ASERL’s project, CDRS) International (Ask A Librarian- Finland, AskNow- Australia)
Organizations Virtual Reference Desk. ( They host the VRD conference. MARS Ad Hoc Committee on Virtual Reference: working on guidelines, policies and standards for librarian behavior and administration of Virtual Reference.
Other Virtual Services Ask a+ Locator- A network of expert-based services (for instance, ask an ornithologist) ( LSSI and 24/7- “rent a librarian” services. RIP AskERIC- Educator’s Reference Desk ( Why isn’t there an EbscoHost VR service??
Standards Interoperability between systems Interoperability with Librarian Performance guidelines Administration practices Major Players: RUSA- quality, behavior, administration NISO Netref community (hardware, software, metadata, organization schemes)- stems from work on WRC
Listservs DIG_REF Livereference