Evaluation of NCknows, a Statewide Collaborative Chat Reference Service: What Users and Others Told Us Charles R. McClure, Francis Eppes Professor, and Director, Information Institute School of Information Studies Florida State University

Background Evaluation: September 2003 – February 2005 NCknows launched: 16 February 2004 Funded by an LSTA grant, overseen by the SLNC Library Development Section 18 libraries during pilot phase Stakeholders: users, libraries, NCknows, SLNC Check it out:

Evaluation question Is collaborative virtual reference an effective way to meet the information needs of North Carolinians?

Secondary evaluation questions What is required of a library that wishes to offer virtual reference? What is the value added if different types of institutions work together? What is the impact on libraries that provide virtual reference service? Is virtual reference expandable to the whole state? How will this project increase our knowledge of effective organizational models?

Secondary evaluation questions How can the quality of the reference service provided be measured? Can staff from different types of libraries provide quality reference service to users from other types of libraries? How will the project further greater use of existing resources such as NC LIVE? What partnering or leveraging opportunities exist? Are users satisfied with the service?

Mixed-method evaluation 1.Service: statistical analysis 2.Chat sessions: peer review of transcripts 3.Patrons: exit surveys & follow-up phone interviews 4.Librarians: phone interviews

Results: patrons Satisfaction was high Question motivation: for a work or school task, personal curiosity, known-item search ( ⅓ each) Use of the info provided: personal, home, office, school, business, and more Discovered NCknows: recommended by teacher/professor (10%), search engine (20%), library materials (70%)

Results: transcript evaluation NCknows librarians perceived by users as providing better service than 24/7 staff NCknows librarians perceived equally to 24/7 in terms of knowledge of sources Public librarians answer questions, academic librarians provide resources Public librarians’ sessions got better evaluations

Results: librarian interviews Policies & procedures: scheduling, handling follow-ups, quality control Thoughts on chat: inferior to desk reference, but good for quick answers to well-defined questions

Additional research Cost/benefit analysis Sustainability Scalability to the entire state Situational and contextual factors unique to specific libraries that affect quality of chat reference MISs & databases to relate reference statistics to other library statistics Longitudinal data & the need for ongoing evaluation User logs Funding Models

Key evaluation issues Understanding the importance of evaluation, and the impacts and applications of evaluation Importance of a statewide initiative in digital reference Ongoing funding/support for the evaluation effort Ongoing evaluation & longitudinal data collection How will evaluation data be used? Quality of data: both the data reported here, and in other data collection activities

What Do We Think We Learned? Virtual reference, for some libraries, was somewhat of a hard sell; also for some users Older, more “professional” folks tend to be users Technology and software still have much to be desired Current funding models may not sustain current services and delivery approaches Need for Champions Lots of services competing against virtual reference Interactive real time video next step?

Next steps Initial Evaluation effort ended February 2005; Phase II will start in September 2005 Establishing a “culture of assessment” in NCknows Importance of meta-analysis across states & institution types More first-hand user-based information and assessment Alternative Funding models

Chuck’s Parting Shots Obtaining accurate user perspectives about digital reference is difficult for a host of reasons Assessing “Quality,” “Usefulness,” “Impact,” of and “need” for digital reference is complicated Users want an easy way to get answers, not clear if digital reference is perceived as “easy” Training… training… training To some degree for digital reference, “we have met the enemy and they are us!” The jury is still out on this one

Additional Information McClure, C. R. et. al. (2002). Statistics, Measures, and Quality Standards for Assessing Digital Reference Library Services: Guidelines and Procedures. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Information Institute. Available: Pomerantz, J. and McClure, C. R. (2004). Evaluation of a Statewide Collaborative Chat-based Reference Service: Approaches and Directions, in Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Medford, NJ: Information Today, pp Pomerantz, J., Luo, L., & McClure, C. R. Peer Review of Chat Reference Transcripts: Approaches and Strategies. Submitted to: Library & Information Science Research, vol. 27 (in press). Pomerantz, J., Luo, L, & McClure, C. R. (2005). Evaluation of the NC Knows, Statewide Virtual Reference Project: Final Report. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, School of Library and Information Science [for the North Carolina State Library).

Questions and Comments? Charles R. McClure, Francis Eppes Professor, and Director, Information Institute School of Information Studies Florida State University Acknowledgement: Jeff Pomerantz University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill