Why Does Digital Reference Matter? Library of Congress Joseph Janes The Information School of the University of Washington

what we do examine the information needs of our communities and individuals survey and understand the tech & info environment devise, evaluate, plan, manage and refine the most efficient and effective ways of meeting those needs or else

expansion of our traditional strengths into a new technological domain service orientation determining needs & understanding context multiple modes of searching evaluation of resources when to stop education about the process tool-making

expansion to where it is arguably more important than ever more stuff, wider diversity of stuff easier to find something – not necessarily good stuff broader service capability -- but not mindlessly

test of things we took for granted interview quality, accuracy, satisfaction, evaluation traffic, volume, clientele

questions What is the current state of practice in electronic question negotiation, in both synchronous and asynchronous modes? Who is best served by digital reference services, and by which methods of interaction? What makes a reference interview successful? What is the role of non-verbal information? How important is it, in what situations? What parallels exist or can be created in , web form, and chat environments? Is there a relationship between the method of interaction and the success of that interaction?

demonstrate the multiplicity of ways in which we can serve in person by voice synchronous digital interaction whatever comes next the medium is only part of the message – it ain’t all about the chat

an opportunity for improvement of the quality of service training competencies transcripts

share opportunity to take advantage of the shared experience of lots of librarians on multiple levels (QP, WA VRS, etc) not without some potential issues (over)specialization/generalization equity questions re funding, quality, interoperability, standards

relevance part of the fight for it, for the very future of libraries no us, nobody else our continuing, ongoing relevance, importance, centrality in the information lives of our communities, which is under question now

why does DR matter? it won’t, if… we do it badly we do it alone we do it in only one way we do it in secret, in hiding we do it too slowly we do it from a position of fear

why does DR matter? it will, if…. we serve more people better and more efficiently than before because it isn’t “digital reference”; it’s “reference” (or something else), and that’s what matters

Why Does Digital Reference Matter? Library of Congress Joseph Janes The Information School of the University of Washington