1. Reflections of Reference Practice: Analyzing Virtual Reference Transcripts Presented by Marie L. Radford and Lynn Silipigni Connaway 2007 ALISE Conference Seattle, WA, January 15-18, 2007

2. Presenters Marie L. Radford, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Rutgers University, SCILS Email: mradford@scils.rutgers.edu www.scils.rutgers.edu/~mradford Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D. Consulting Research Scientist Email: connawal@oclc.org www.oclc.org/research/staff/connaway.htm

3. Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, and Librarian Perspectives $1,103,572 project funded by: Institute of Museum and Library Services $684,996 grant Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, Inc. $405,076 in kind contributions

4. Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, and Librarian Perspectives Project duration 10/1/2005-9/30/2007 Four phases: Focus group interviews* Analysis of 1,000+ QuestionPoint transcripts 600 online surveys* 300 telephone interviews* *Interviews & surveys with VRS users, non-users, & librarians

5. 24/7-QuestionPoint Transcript Analysis Previous sample: 24/7 July 7, 2004 through June 27, 2005 263,673 sessions 25 transcripts/month = 300 total New sample: QuestionPoint December 1, 2005 through August 31, 2006 298,237 sessions 50 transcripts/month= 450 total Total transcripts analyzed: 750

6. 6 Analyses Geographical Distribution Originating library Librarian respondent Type of Library Wait Time & Session Time Type of Questions Katz/Kaske Classification Subject of Questions Dewey Decimal Classification Interpersonal Communication Radford Classification

7. VRS Session Times Wait time Mean – 1.87 Minutes Median – 1 Minute Minimum – 1 Second Maximum – 67 Minutes Session time Mean – 12.42 Minutes Median – 12 Minutes Minimum – 12 Seconds Maximum – 71 Minutes

8. VRS Transactions by Library Type

9. VRS Questions by Location of Originating Library

10. Location of VRS Librarian Respondents

12. Wait Time for VRS

13. VRS Mean Wait Time by Library Type

14. VRS Mean Session Times by Library Type

15. VRS Questions by Type

16. VRS Questions by Subject

17. Results Interpersonal Communication Analysis 2 Major Themes Relational Facilitators Aspects with positive impact on interaction that enhance communication. Relational Barriers Aspects with negative impact on interaction that impede communication.

18. Comparison of Relational Facilitators N=558

19. Comparison of Relational Barriers N=558

20. Transcript Reading Positive Transcript Example Question Type: Ready Reference Subject Type: Economics Duration: 19 min., 21 sec. Negative Transcript Example Question Type: Subject Search Subject Type: Parapsychology & Occultism Duration: 7 min., 29 sec.

21. End Notes This is one outcome from the project Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, & Librarian Perspectives, Marie L. Radford & Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Co-Principal Investigators. Funded by IMLS, Rutgers University and OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Special thanks to Jocelyn DeAngelis Williams, Patrick Confer, Julie Strange, Susanna Sabolcsi-Boros, & Timothy Dickey. These slides available at project website: http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/synchronicity/