1. IS IT RIGHT FOR US? An AMICAL Virtual Reference Collaborative PRESENTED BY MARY KICKHAM-SAMY

2. Definition: VR “…is the use of computer and communications technology to provide reference service to patrons anytime and anywhere" (OCLC, 2006).

3. VR Collaboratives: Formed based on  Geographic proximity or  Cultural Affinity

4. A Case Study: The Michigan Experience Librarians from 15 community colleges and universities collaborate to provide their students services in Reference Instruction

5. Reasons for AMICAL to Form a Collaborative Provide a more comprehensive reference and instruction program for our students Develop professional relationships Become knowledgeable of each others resources and students’ needs

6. A More Comprehensive Reference Program With the QuestionPoint 365/24/7 live chat service  Follow up and referral  Archives for transcripts  Statistic  Training  Quality Control

7. The Michigan Experience Celebrated its 10 th Anniversary as a Collaborative in 2014

8. PRESENTED BY FATMA ABDELEMGUID Question Point Implementation: The AUC Experience Straight forward once you determine the path

9. Question Point Implementation Implement as a Project

10. Understand the most important components and features of the product Create a Power point presentation for staff orientation session Get acquainted Determine the participants and their roles Choose chat forms (Qwidget, chat and email) Make sure information for a policy page is available Design Set up accounts (admin & Librarian) Build chat forms Set up the policy page Build Test functionality Conduct in-house training Test end-to-end service Test

11. Question Point Implementation Assign activities using RACI table

12. Question Point Implementation Resources  Out sourcing service  No need to host on your own server

13. SCHEDULING FOLLOWING UP MONITORING QUALITY CONTROL Administering the Program: The AUC Experience PRESENTED BY NERMINE RIFAAT

14. A. Challenges B. Strengths C. Threats Schedule Conflicts Flexibility of Virtual Desk Absenteeism and Coordination of Substitution The Schedule

15. Schedule: The Process Study the schedules of the participants Prepare tentative schedule and send for approval Make necessary revisions and fill problematic slots Get back-up assistants Train prospect/interested peers and assistants

16. Follow Up Daily follow up or Continuous follow up by staying logged in all day “to remember”

17. Monitoring Quality Cont Reading and analyzing session transcripts Reporting weaknesses and strengths in the transcripts

18. Summary and Discussion