Internet column

Citation

O'Beirne, R. (2005), "Internet column", Reference Reviews, Vol. 19 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/rr.2005.09919aag.001

Internet column

Digital reference services are coming of age. There are increasing numbers of early adopters who are making steady progress and proving that the technology is certainly up to the task. For many people there is that sense of excitement and expectation that goes along with a new venture. There are still inconsistencies in the language used, as one might expect in an emerging field. The term “digital reference” seems to have gained the ascendancy over rivals such as online reference and virtual reference. A clearer picture is emerging with the various components beginning to find their natural positions.

Generally speaking there is a dichotomy between reference services that use technology in a synchronous way and those that use it in an asynchronous way. E-mail and forms submitted via a web site are typical devices used in an asynchronous environment where some time lag is present in the communication. The more ambitious and technically complicated method sees a real-time synchronous dialogue between the client and the reference librarian. For those who thought the face-to-face reference interview was in itself a complicated enough human process, wake up and witness a whole new world!

Real-time – or, as it is often referred to, “chat” – delivery has the obvious benefit of allowing the librarian to clarify and define the scope of the customer’s enquiry. The system is usually text-based, so there are no visual clues from the client that might assist the librarian. Other ways to classify digital reference services are along subject matter lines or on a geographical basis. Subject-driven services can use a number of experts and respond in a narrow but deep fashion to enquiries. Geographically based services can be both near and far. Distance, of course, is of no significance, and many services form coalitions in order to cover time and dateline shifts, enabling the provision of 24-hour services.

Many other approaches are simply born out of convenience or other motivations, and indeed one of the fascinations and key characteristics of this emerging area of reference delivery is co-operation. It is intriguing how such collaborations are brokered and how the reference community has seen and made so much of the opportunity. Aside from the factors driving the collaboration, there are real barriers that need to be overcome. The most obvious is financial – how are costs shared fairly across two collaborating libraries? How is work shared? What kinds of agreements need to be in place to ensure a consistent quality of service is delivered by all the partners in the venture? These are just some of the initial issues which, to be fair, many services have already overcome.

It is heartening to see the progress made. It is essential to ensure that the customer remains at the core of all activity. It is important to realise that those same customers, although they may be happy to forego their face-to-face contact with the librarian, will never tolerate poorly designed systems. These are still relatively early days, but every librarian needs to consider how this technology will cause a significant shift in service delivery over the next decade.

Ronan O’BeirnePrincipal Libraries Officer, Bradford Libraries Archives and Information Service, Bradford, UK