1. In the beginning . . . Virtual Reference in Washington State
Nancy Huling
University of Washington Libraries
Oregon/Washington Library Associations Annual Conference
18 April 2008

2. First Steps
In 2001, Jan Walsh called together interested librarians to discuss virtual reference in the state
Gauged interest in pursuing statewide virtual reference collaboration
Decided to allocate LSTA funds to virtual reference project
Buff Hirko hired as coordinator early in 2001
First WA Virtual Reference Steering Committee meeting held on 6/28/2001
Jan Walsh – now State Librarian – was at that time the Assistant State Librarian for Customer Services

3. WAVRS Project Goals
to provide all Washingtonians access to a range of electronic reference services to address their informational and educational needs
to provide Washington libraries significant cost savings by cooperating together for Virtual Reference Service (VRS) development and testing of best practices
to focus on developing best practices, methods, and standards for virtual reference using LSTA funds

4. Collaboration rare in the state of Washington, so the idea was to encourage cooperation from the ground up, rather than initiating a statewide virtual reference service from the top and then trying to get libraries to join.
Overarching Goal
to foster collaboration among Washington libraries in order to enhance the delivery of information services to Washingtonians.

5. Next Steps
Inventory of WA libraries indicated readiness and need for VR
Steering Committee identified priorities for grants, established criteria, and issued a call
Grants sub-committee handled the application process
Eight $30,000 grants available the first year
Application favored cooperative projects
Again, idea was to encourage cooperative growth from the ground up
Rather than proceed with selecting software and implementing a statewide service which libraries could join, it was decided to offer small grants to libraries – encouraging cooperative projects – to model cooperation, especially given the state’s inexperience with cooperation. A grants program would allow groups of libraries to explore areas of cooperation in all aspects of virtual reference

6. Grants - 2002 Marketing Guidelines: UW & KCLS
Chat service: WSU-V & Clark College
Chat service: SFCC, SCC, Pend Oreille, Stevens,Whitman
Chat service: Skagit Valley & Grays Harbor CCs
Shared SPL, KCLL, UW Health
Reference delivery for distance courses: Tacoma & Highline CCs
Marketing plan & materials: Whitman, Pend Oreille, Stevens Counties

7. Grants 2003
Shared WSLL & UW Hort Library joined SPL, KCLL, UW Health
Shared chat: five high school libraries joined Skagit & Grays Harbor CCs
Shared chat: Neill Public, Asotin, North Central joined the SFCC, et.al. service
Cooperative marketing: Whitman, Neill Public, Asotin
Service to distance students: WSU
Shared North Olympic, Jefferson, Port Townsend, Peninsula CC

8. Other WAVRS Activities
Training
Assessment
LII Index for Washington State (WaLII)
Beta tested QuestionPoint (March 2002)
Unanticipated opportunity arose with the creation of QuestionPoint: some libraries tested both the & the chat (KCLL, SPL), while others (UW) implemented the /webform & stuck with 24/7ref. for chat.
QuestionPoint became an integral part of our VRS project, and libraries testing the software met regularly to discuss experiences and to provide feedback on the software.

9. Products
Anytime, Anywhere Answers curriculum -- Virtual Reference Adventure
Going Virtual Workshop
Virtual Reference 101 Workshop
Virtual Reference Services: Marketing Guidelines
VET: Virtual Evaluation Toolkit
Anytime, Anywhere Answers was developed by Mary Ross, along with Daria Cal and grad student Emily Keller. Designed as a one-day overview workshop, followed by 5 weeks of online activities and discussion. Program has been redesigned. Now lives on the RUSA website and is coordinated by the RUSA Virtual Reference Committee. Self-paced – I’ve used pieces of it when I teach the principles of information services course in the iSchool at the UW. (
Going Virtual: an overview for decision-makers thinking about offering virtual services
Virtual Ref 101: aimed at staff members at libraries not currently offering a live service
These two workshops were given in several venues – Eastern WA as well as in Puerto Rico!
VET: involved peer transcript reviews and other activities – toolkit was tested in several libraries (

10. Washington VR Summit Held at SPL on 9 February 2005
Develop proposals for replacing LSTA funded project with mechanisms to continue coordination and growth
Joe Janes provided framework
Susan McGlamery discussed collaboration
Sources of funding not identified
Establishment of Advisory Council recommended
Nurture a “culture of collaboration”
Joe raised questions to consider for the future of VR in Washington State
Susan noted that cooperation is key to success if libraries want to be useful to their communities – each library can bring unique skills and knowledge that result in a stronger service
Steering Committee given the task of exploring funding models – at end of project, steering committee would be replaced by the Advisory Council

11. Current situation 19 active cooperative members
Washington State Library funds three QuestionPoint accounts: Public, Academic, State Library
Several libraries participate in the cooperative, but have their own full subscriptions
WSL subsidizes membership in QuestionPoint 24/7 cooperative
Advisory Council established to oversee the cooperative and promote growth
Would like additional Washington State Libraries to join!! – it’s a deal!
* 4 –four year academics; 3 – community colleges; 9 public library systems; 2 law libraries; State Library
We do have an Advisory Council – members come from the different types of libraries.
Wish we’d done differently: worked more assiduously to grow the cooperative and get more libraries involved – although our intention was ground up, we think we could have done more to form a statewide cooperative earlier, while still using grants to research various aspects of virtual reference.
I’ll talk a little more about the benefits of our cooperative when I focus on our service at the UW

12. More information . . .
Complete information on the Washington State Virtual Reference project: Hirko, Buff. “Building networks, building trust : Statewide virtual reference.” Advances in Librarianship 29 (2005):