QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS – AFTERNOON SPEAKERS
Q: At Biomed
Library (UCLA) are they doing Ref Chat while at the Reference Desk?
A: [UCLA] No. We
are not doing Ref Chat from the Reference Desk. It is too awkward with other
patrons present.
Q: How do you
handle staff members who are not into it?
A: [CSUMB] We
model what we would like to see. We are not requiring staff to participate. We
have sent 2 LAs to training and will use them to help staff the service.
[UCLA,
Eleanor] If librarians are not doing it now, they will be. We are getting
positive feedback from our administration. Staff are getting more interested.
Everyone will be doing it in 3-4 years.
[UCLA,
Alice] During demonstrations we have other librarians participate as callers.
This helps get them interested.
Q: There are
many consortia in California, why not all work together on this?
A: At Region 7
Library of California meeting we asked if regions are obsolete. But there are
benefits to customization. Local action is also important for teaching.
Q: Is Ref Chat
being done in addition to regular reference desk hours?
A: [UCLA] At
UCLA reference chat hours are in lieu of desk hours.
Q: Do you
provide support for librarians working at home? Equipment, network support,
etc.
A: [UCLA, Alice]
We have some night owls who want to do this at home. But we are not in a
position to provide equipment, etc. at this time.
[UCLA,
Eleanor] We provide flexibility (time) to librarians working at home.
[CSUMB]
The QandAcafe is looking into hiring people to do this from home to cover some
of the evening hours, especially Thursday and Friday evenings. DSL lines might
be provided.
Q: Do you ever
wish you had to opportunity to talk to the caller.
A: [UCLA] Yes.
Our users want it too. Voice over IP is coming.
Q: What about
evaluation? How can you be sure the patron is getting the best answer? What
about follow up when patron doesn’t give correct email?
A: [UCLA] We ask
at the end of the session if the question was answered, just like at the
Reference Desk. We also provide “Here’s how you can get back to us.”
[SJSU]
Not giving a correct email address only means that the patron doesn’t get the
transcript; not that the patron didn’t participate in the process.
Q: What about
patrons whose first language is not English?
A: [UCLA] We
trained ourselves to work very fast but slowed down when we went live. We had
to slow down to let the patron read and reply to the answer. Typing skills are
also an issue.