ALA Midwinter, January 2002 Knowledge Base: Archiving Q & A Collaborative Digital Reference Service Abigail Grotke, Library of Congress

Collaborative Digital Reference Service RequestingLibrary Patron Knowledge Base Knowledge Base AnsweringLibrary Librarian ILL, Document Delivery Delivery REQUESTMANAGER SEND QUESTION GET QUESTION AUTOMATIC or MANUAL KB SEARCH NOTIFICATION EDITED Q & A GET ANSWER SEND ANSWER Member Profile Member Profile Member Profile Traditional and Online Resources: Catalogs, Web Resources, Print Resources, Subject Specialists CDRS Process

Collaborative Digital Reference Service Why Create a KB? Cons: Concerns raised in a recent discussion on an e-ref listserv: Diversity of questions make reuse of answers unlikely Factual questions the exception, not the rule Patrons merit some human contact in the information-seeking process

Collaborative Digital Reference Service Why Create a KB? Pros: Why not give patrons vetted Q&A related to their subject and let them decide if the information is useful? Patrons not exactly sure what what they need or are asking for Enjoy thrill of accidental discovery Diminish “current events” frenzy of librarians answering the same question again and again

Collaborative Digital Reference Service The Work of Librarians Is Relevant If reference librarians treat the product of their work as dispensable and not worthy of archiving, how are others to find it valuable?

Collaborative Digital Reference Service Development Issues to Consider What records are included? What fields are included or omitted? How much gets edited? How do is information kept fresh? How much can be automated?

Collaborative Digital Reference Service Sources of KB Data Question and answer sets from CDRS Members' ready-reference files Databases of answered e-reference questions Potential arrangements with publishers

Collaborative Digital Reference Service Editorial Guidelines Knowledge Base Workflow CDRS or other source Inactive KB Records Volunteer Editor Q & A sets Active KB Records Deleted Records CDRS Members End Users

Collaborative Digital Reference Service Technical Specifications Custom-designed and built by OCLC based on CDRS requirements Back-end database: Sybase Keyword search applied to: Question and Answer fields Keyword fields

Collaborative Digital Reference Service

Developing an Editorial Process Ad-hoc editorial board: LC, OCLC, CDRS members Draft of guidelines Tested by volunteer editors Issues discussed by board, guidelines revised

Collaborative Digital Reference Service Refining the Editorial’s Role Level of editing required Style guide and preferences Importance of source citations Review dates Update field for additional information supplied by editors

Collaborative Digital Reference Service

Outstanding Issues Intellectual property Q & A ownership Language and cultural Dewey vs. LC Subject class Intellectual property Q & A ownership Language and cultural Dewey vs. LC Subject class

Collaborative Digital Reference Service