1. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org What to Teach Future Digital Reference Librarians: Experiences of IPL Student Volunteers Maurita Peterson Holland Soo Young Rieh School of Information, University of Michigan

2. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org The IPL is a venue for … n Education –Trained 1,500 information professionals from twelve U.S. and Canadian universities n Research –Janes, Carter, Mon, Chen, Edwards, Holland and Rieh n Service –Linked to by over 12,000 sites and cited in more than 500 articles and books

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9. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Digital Reference Service (DRS) n Previously in the literature –Understanding the nature and role of intermediation in digital environments –The process of building and maintaining DRS –User studies –Usage log analysis

10. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org n What about the experiences, behaviors, and preferences of librarians (intermediaries)? n How can we better train future digital reference librarians? Digital Reference Service (DRS)

11. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Ask a Question in IPL n Same as other DRS –Asynchronous (web-based form) transactions –Lack of reference interviews –Require additional skills and training to reference service n Different from other DRS –Entirely rely on the Internet resources –Volunteer labor –Intermediaries choose the questions that they would like to answer

12. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Research Questions What factors influence student volunteers ’ decisions in selecting questions? n What are their search strategies? n How do they select specific information resources? n What are the strategies, search skills, and knowledge of resources that the IPL librarians need? –We teach sources, tools, information needs and professional practice

13. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Methodology n Questionnaire including open-ended questions n Participants: 111 students at the School of Information, University of Michigan (41 students in Fall 2002 and 70 students in Fall 2003) n Every time the students answered a reference question, they filled out questionnaire n Participants answered 1581 reference questions in total during the two semesters n Analyze frequency for quantitative data and develop coding schemes for open-ended questions

14. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Questionnaire n Why did you choose this question? n Do you need additional information? n Choosing and executing a strategy n Strategy n Implementation n Result (copy of message sent to client) n Time spent n URL suggestions for IPL n Ah-ha: Reflections, observations, lessons learned, suggestions for IPL interface and software

15. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Why did you choose this question?

16. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Do you need additional information?

17. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org If “yes,” then what is needed?

18. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Question-related strategy

19. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Source-related strategy

20. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Search-related strategy

21. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Ah-ha Reflections – Self n Learns sources n Makes emotional investment n Derives personal satisfaction n Draws on personal experience n Learns to be professional n Learns strategy n Shows curiosity to learn more

22. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Ah-ha Reflections – Client n Tries to match writing style and tone n Tries to intuit need n Contemplates level of detail n Considers clients intelligence, ponders their motives, ascribes attributes

23. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Ah-ha Reflections – Question/Answer n Learns that what appears easy sometimes isn’t n Must accept that some questions can’t be answered n Sometimes learns to take a new point of view about a question and marvels at the result

24. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Ah-ha Reflections – Question/Answer n Considers ethics n Finds print sources are necessary n Thinks about orderly steps as the writing process forces

25. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Ah-ha Reflections - Tools n Evaluates, evaluates n Suggests improvements for the IPL n Is pleased with the IPL n Faces technical problems n Locates gaps in web resources n Tests search engine features

26. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org What We Teach n Whose job is it? How far to go? –One hour rule n Give it up for Jen –Confidence/uncertainty n It’s not all here! –Print is still important n If only… –Tools and sources needs

27. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org What We Teach n Present your credentials –Evaluating sources n Fractured resources –Deep web, fee-based, confusions of access n Everybody is a client –Helping kids, global citizens

28. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org What We Teach n Familiarity breeds confidence –More sources learned, more used n Know answer, can’t find source n If you can’t give’em bread, give’em crust –You don’t understand the question, chew on potential answers

29. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org What Do We Teach? n Policy and Ethics n Resources n Collection credentialing n Strategies n Team work; rely on experts n …and acknowledge personal involvement

30. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org www.ipl.org Join Us!!

31. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Bibliography n Lankes, R.D, et al, eds. (2000) Digital reference service in the new millennium: planning, management, and evaluation. New York: Neal- Schuman. n Smith, L.C. (2002) Education for digital reference services. Proceedings of the Digital Reference Research Symposium, Aug. 1-3, Cambridge, MA n White, M.D. (2001) Digital reference services: framework for analysis and evaluation. Library & Information Science Research, 23:3, 211-231