 | Response rate: 73% (32 responses from 44 members)
|
| All 32 respondents
currently provide some kind of virtual reference service:
 | 47%— chat-based reference and email |
| 3%— email only.
Of
these users:
 | 35%— plan to introduce chat-based services within six months of
survey date |
| 17%— plan to introduce chat-base services within one year of
survey date |
| 7 respondents have no plans to launch this service, or gave no
timelines
|
|
|
| Names for the service
|
“Ask A Librarian”: 43% of all respondents |
| Other names
| Real Time Reference |
| Ask Zak |
| AskUs.Now |
| InfoChat |
| LiveAssistance |
| Live Help |
| Live Ref |
| RefeXpress
|
|
|
| Software used for
services (15 respondents)
| LSSI, HumanClick, or LivePerson: 63% of libraries offering chat
services |
| All others: 36%, made up entirely of products used by only one
site.
|
|
| Software under
consideration for planned services (17 respondents)
| LSSI, HumanClick,
LivePerson: 66% |
| All others: 34%, made up entirely of products considered by at most
two sites. |
| 10 respondents not currently offering chat service did not specify
products being considered.
|
|
| Software system life
cycle: Of the 15 ASERL libraries offering v-ref services,
9 libraries (60%) consider their current service provider or software to
be a short-term solution. 5
libraries selected “other/not sure” in response to this question.
|
| Software costs:
ASERL libraries report a wide range of pricing, depending on vendor and
service package. LSSI, the
most widely used package, costs $8,000 initially and requires $6,000/year
service fees.
|
| Software Features: when asked about required features for v-ref software, respondents
chose as follows.
| No use plug-in needed: 75% |
| Ability to push Web pages: 65% |
| Price: 65% |
| Platform independent: 44% |
| Co-browsing: 41%
|
|
| Service hours: Of
the 15 ASERL institutions providing v-ref services
| 13 sites (87%) provide service during daytime hours Monday-Friday. |
| 8 sites (53%0 provide some service during weekday evenings after
6pm. |
| 5 sites (33%) provide some service on weekends. |
| Afternoons appear to be the busiest time of day for most.
|
|
| Service session
lengths: Of the 15 ASERL institutions provide v-ref services
| Two sites (13%) reported average session times between 5 – 7
minutes; |
| Four sites (26%) reported average session times between 8 – 10
minutes; |
| Three sites (20%) reported average session times between 10 – 15
minutes; |
| One site reported “widely variable” session times.
|
|
| E-mail response times:
The survey respondents reported their normal response time to email
questions.
| 28% respond in less than 24 hours |
| 53% respond in 24 hours or “next day” |
| 9% respond in 24-48 hours
|
|
| Staffing: The survey asked respondents to estimate FTE staff assigned to
answer chat-based reference services. Most responses included staff trained to handle this task and/or
staff who handle this task in rotation.
| Of the 2 libraries that reported FTE, the average was .35 FTE. |
| The 10 libraries that provided staff trained or staff assigned
resulted in an average of 19 people who were available to respond to chat
questions.
|
|
| Service to
non-affiliates: 29 libraries responded to this question.
| 24 (80%) reported that they provide v-ref service to non-affiliates |
| 2 sites (7%) reported that they do not provide v-ref service to
non-affiliates |
| 3 sites (10%) reported that they may sometimes provide v-ref
service to non-affiliates, depending on current workload
|
|
| Licensed data to
non-affiliates: 27 libraries responded to this question.
| 75% reported that they do not provide information from license data
sources to non-affiliates via v-ref services |
| 2 sites (7%) reported that they do provide information from
licensed data sources |
| 5 sites (18%) reported “maybe/other” to this question
|
|
| Funding of v-ref
Services: Nearly all respondents provided initial/startup funding for
v-ref services from their own budget. All respondents indicated that they expect to fund ongoing v-ref
service costs from their existing budgets.
|
| Reference question sources
| 78% of reference questions are received in person |
| 13% are received via telephone |
| 7% are received via email |
| 2% are received via chat |
| 1% received by “other”
|
|
| Consortial v-ref
activities
| 25% of respondents participate or will join CDRS soon. |
| 1 respondent is considering the MCLS 24x7 initiative. |
| Most (88%) of respondents do
not provide v-ref services with consortial arrangements. |
| 7 sites indicated that shared staffing from consortial arrangements
would be effective in providing virtual reference services. |
| 4 respondents indicated that sharing subject expertise among
consortia partners would benefit v-ref services. |
| 3 sites believed questions that are specific to a particular
library make consortial v-ref services ineffective. |
| 1 site indicated that database licensing restrictions would make
consortia-provided v-ref services ineffective.
|
|
| Overall usefulness of
v-ref services: when asked if chat-based reference services are
worthwhile and cost effective
| 13 respondents (41%) responded
affirmatively |
| 1 respondent (3%of total) responded
negatively |
| 18 respondents (56%) did not
respond. |
|
