The world’s libraries. Connected. Social Q&A Meets Virtual Reference Services Convergence and Synergy: ASIS&T, 75 TH Annual Meeting 30 October Chirag Shah Assistant Professor Rutgers University Marie Radford Associate Professor Rutgers University Lynn Silipigni Connaway Senior Research Scientist OCLC

The world’s libraries. Connected. Where We Are Now VRS SQ A

The world’s libraries. Connected. Current Model of VRS Question 20 years Funding cuts Monolithic Hard to combine or extend services Underutilized Information requests ill-suited to service In-depth answers Answer

The world’s libraries. Connected.SQA What are SQA services? Answer Question ANSWERS(1) Community-based Collaboration Publicly available Yahoo!Answers, WikiAnswers, AnswerBag Low cost Quick turnaround due to large community participation Easy build-up of social capital No guarantee of quality of answers

The world’s libraries. Connected. Convergence of VRS & SQA Similar components Previous efforts Slam the Boards Enquire Rated best answer 79% of time

The world’s libraries. Connected. The Study Cyber Synergy: Seeking Sustainability through Collaboration between virtual Reference and Social Q&A Sites

The world’s libraries. Connected. Cyber Synergy Partners IMLS (funding body) OCLC Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D. Rutgers University Marie Radford, Associate Professor Chirag Shah, Assistant Professor 2 year project

The world’s libraries. Connected. Why Cyber Synergy Project? Enables Virtual Reference Services (VRS) to remain viable despite today's environment of reduced resources Provide empirical data to assess effectiveness of VRS The reduction of library budgets increases the need to determine opportunities to share resources and generate revenue through collaboration. SQA services provide such an opportunity.

The world’s libraries. Connected. Research Questions What is the effectiveness of various VRS and SQA services, quality of content provided, and their relative merits and shortcomings? How does accuracy compare between VRS and SQA sites? What lessons can be learned from SQA sites that could be applied to VRS and vice-versa? How can VRS become more collaborative, within and between libraries, and tap more effectively into librarian’s subject expertise? How can we design systems and services within and between VRS and SQA for better quality and sustainability?

The world’s libraries. Connected. Project Phases Phase IPhase II Phase III Transcript analysisTelephone InterviewsConstructing Design Specifications

The world’s libraries. Connected. Cyber Synergy Project : VRS Transcript Analysis 560 transcripts 350 live chat 210 Qwidget (IM) 11 coding schemes

The world’s libraries. Connected. Telephone Interviews 50 users of QP live chat and QW 50 users and expert users of SQA services 50 VRS librarians

The world’s libraries. Connected. Telephone Interview Demographics Librarians 15 academic, 19 other VRS/SQA Users 56 have used both 12 SQA only 5 VRS only VRS/ SQA user geographic distribution

The world’s libraries. Connected. SQA Analysis Interviews Preliminary interviews Quality of answers Synergy of SQA & VRS Exploratory interviews Use & experiences in physical & digital libraries & SQAs

The world’s libraries. Connected. SQA Interview Demographics 10 faculty 36 SQA users 24 undergraduate 12 graduate

The world’s libraries. Connected. Preliminary Results VRS

The world’s libraries. Connected. Transcript Analysis Results Dewey Decimal Classification Broad range of subjects Predominantly social sciences & technology Type of Question Procedural & Ready Reference are largest question types Accuracy Accuracy was high 90% accurate for Ready Reference 75% correct with citation included 90 %

The world’s libraries. Connected. Librarian Interview Results 34 interviews conducted thus far Major themes Draft coding scheme developed

The world’s libraries. Connected. Preliminary Results SQA

The world’s libraries. Connected. Interviews: Librarians Librarians Important Attaining sustained user satisfaction Teaching search strategies Better via electronic media Cite sources Students Important Topicality Length Visibility Timeliness Clarity Availability Verifiability Relevance, quality, and satisfaction on equal planes

The world’s libraries. Connected. The Takeaway

The world’s libraries. Connected. Conclusions Improve underutilized services Understand how to leverage librarian subject expertise through virtual collaborations Develop guidelines for practice and recommendations for evaluation of VRS & SQA Inform systems design Connect potential users and information seekers with SQA services, VRS, & social media sites

The world’s libraries. Connected. Coming Soon

The world’s libraries. Connected. Next Steps Analysis of SQA questions Subject Question Type Reasons why some questions fail to obtain any answers Interviews VRS & SQA users Continue librarian interviews Design sessions with experts Specifications for system design

The world’s libraries. Connected. Questions? Lynn Silipigni Connaway: Marie Radford: Chirag Shah: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?