Discussion Group on Reference Work Report

The Virtual Reference Interview: Equivalencies

A discussion proposal by:
Ann Viles

The virtual environment is not totally alien to us. The weightlessness, sensory deprivation (or degradation), time warp, mechanical simulation, and cybernetic brain activity encountered in the virtual reference interview are commonplace in day to day activities. We regularly converse with mechanical voices and tape machines on the telephone, see ourselves on monitors as we are being filmed by surveillance cameras in grocery stores, order fast food from people wearing headphones behind glass windows, and ask robots for telephone numbers. Many of our clients expect virtual reference, but we're still not entirely comfortable with it. Most of us would agree that computer screens, keyboards, faxes, e-mails, and even telephones are poor substitutes for face to face interviews, but dwindling transactions at reference information desks and increased demand for remote reference assistance signal changes in the delivery of reference services. If unlimited funds and affordable technology made it virtually possible to have the holographic presence of a reference librarian next to the remote client's work station and vice versa, would that be desirable? Janice Koyama reports that cyberspace users "prefer anonymity to in-person, over-the-desk delivery of reference service and feel free of the captive nature inherent sometimes in the personal interview controlled by the librarian (1999, 51).

Virtual reference is the electronic mediation between a user needing an answer to a question and the information that will lead to the answer. The virtual reference interview brings the human element of the reference librarian into the equation. Reference librarians are using the Web as an extension of their work, creating Web pages to answer anticipated reference questions and to help themselves organize and locate information. Penn State University's "Tell Me Where" service (www.lias.psu.edu:80/btellme.html) answers one of the more frequently asked questions in the virtual environment, "Where is the best place to start searching for information on my topic?" Penn students are given an online form with two categories of items to select: (1) Format--books, government publications, photographs, journal articles, full text, videos, manuscripts, newspapers, and patents (2) Topics--27 general subject areas, probably corresponding to the major departments in the University. Barbara D'Angelo provides Arkansas Community College and University students real-time reference assistance using a MOO (Multi-User Dimension Object Oriented) program (http://ethos.rhet.ualr.edu/~barbara/library/ask/ask.html). Temple University's "TalkBack" service (http://www.library.temple.edu/ref/tbabout.htm) connects students within two minutes to a paging service at the reference desk for a real-time typed conversation with a librarian. The Science Library at the University of California, Irvine has been experimenting with using desktop videoconferencing technology for face-to-face reference interviews with students at a campus computing lab located outside the library (Lessick 1997).

Much has been written about the human-computer interface, perhaps we need to start discussing the human-computer-human (i.e. reference librarian) interface. Speaking at the 89th Annual Special Libraries Association Conference, Robert Travica identified five characteristics of the virtual library, which affect the interaction of librarians and their clients. (1) Clients are usually remote from the library and most modes of virtual communication lose essential cues for understanding such as eye contact and tone of voice. (2) Virtual information is drawn from disparate, often proprietary electronic resources with varying degrees of user-friendliness. (3) The information delivered increasingly resides outside of the library, and the librarian's influence on the success of the reference transaction may be limited to finding the source and providing the connection. (4) Virtual librarians need knowledge management skills to analyze and anticipate clients' information needs. (5) Virtual libraries are dynamic; their mission, organization, and services must remain flexible and responsive to change. He advises the librarian faced with the shortcomings of the virtual environment to use standardized information resources, more interactive technology, simpler technology, and a variety of assessment methods (Information Professionals 1998, 7).

Travica's first characteristic of the virtual interaction involves one of the basic tenants of the reference interview, communication and understanding between the librarian and the client. The loss of non-verbal communication cues and the conversational exchange of information in the face-to-face interview are missing in the electronic environment. Eileen Abels has proposed a model e-mail reference interview to simulate the exchange of information in the face-to-face interview. "An efficient e-mail reference interview would consist of three messages: the problem statement by the client, summarization by the intermediary, confirmation by the client. When question negotiation is needed, the interview might be extended to five messages, adding one intermediary-client round of messages. (1996, 354). For discussion, here are a few suggestions for virtual equivalencies of non-verbal behavior.

EYE CONTACT "Ask a Librarian" symbol blinks once when the search screen is first accessed.

SITTING OR STANDING AT THE REFERENCE DESK "Ask a Librarian" button is always in sight either at the bottom or top of the search screen. Placing the mouse on the "Ask a Librarian" flashes a message such as, "Have a question? Click here!"

SMILING Screen design includes some whimsical elements--cheerful color, silly cartoon, dancing animation

NODDING Return automatic acknowledgement to every client inquiry such as, "Your question has been received and will be answered as soon as possible." Return automatic links to help messages if the inquiry transaction can not be completed.

LISTENING ATTENTIVELY Provide information about the types of questions that are appropriate for the online service and provide a reference desk phone number for other questions. Provide a link to a FAQ file. Respond as quickly as possible, either with the requested information or a canned response explaining need for extra time or reason for not answering.

TONE OF VOICE Use different screen layouts, fonts, color, capitalization, and animation to suggest tone of voice.

References:

Abels, Eileen. "The E-mail Reference Interview." RQ 35 (Spring 1996):345-58.

"Information Professionals in the Driver's Seat--Part 2." Library Hi Tech News 157 (November): 5-16. 5-16.

Koyama, Janice T. http://digiref.scenarios.issues. Reference & User Services Quarterly 38 (1999): 51-53.

Lessick, Susan, Kathryn Kjaer and Steve Clancy. "Interactive Reference Service (IRS) at UC Irvine: Expanding Reference Service Beyond the Reference Desk." American Library Association. 1997. Available <http://www.ala.org/acrl/paperhtm/a10.html>. 6 July 1999.

July 1999.