virtual reference

Buff: Thanks to our panelists….and to everyone for coming!

Question: What about when librarian offers google or yahoo and patron reacts with if I'd wanted google, I would have done it myself?

Sharon: I think the patron's right….

Buff: whole business of defining inappropriate is hard…what older folks might consider inappropriate is very different from younger patrons….level of tolerance could even ange from person to person depending on mood….and whether they've had a difficult day… 

Marie Radford:  I was a school media specialist…kids of a certain age will say inappropriate things, but they will grow out of it…we will doing interviews with teens at baltimore public library….with hurry up thing, they may be trying to communicate that they're in hurry…you can give them an alternative…do you have 5 minutes or do you want to come back later…sometimes they might also just be bored..

Question: what about repeat offenders?

Virginia: don't make assumptions about name user logs in with….funky butt, etc. 

Also, I do think we need to talk to software providers to help us with this…

sharon: sometimes people are testing….to see what service is like…we don't want to shut people down right away….

Question:  would it be too much to have a user agreement that patron would look at?

Joe: asking people to hit I accept, would be too much…but at maryland we have policy of mutual respect

Questions from the audience:

Do your librarians use names?

What do you do about repeat offenders?

Tip sheets for chat oddities? Are they online? (will be added to the blog)

How or why do you answer more than one question at a time?

Do you read all of the transcripts?   

How is inappropriate use different in chat than f2f, phone or email?

sharon:  how can software be used to help us? she explained software that can change words…inappropriate word can be changed something else (maybe goofy, to diffuse situation)….  

Sharon: I recommend that our libraries not require chat to be mandatory….

How can inappropriate behavior be turned around?

Virginia: don't make assumptions that the phrasing of question means it's not serious, things like that

Buff: at seattle public, they call that assumicide….

ron: I've seen situations where the person apologized…enter without any preconceptions about what the person may or may not be asking…it does work and things can be turned around 

Virginia: Have mandatory and volunteer staff.  Can have people the best ref librarians in person… move them into chat andfor some reason it falls away, and the person can be very negative about chat

Ron concurs that face to face excellence in reference skills does not necessarily translate into good virtual reference skills, those that are the best chat on their own, etc.

Virginia:  some of her staff were good IMers, staff did not buy into using chat for reference, important to provide good service, often users are contacting the library for the very first time 

Should staffing the chat service be mandatory?

Virginia: we have both mandatory and voluntary…..some folks are great in f2f, but in chat environment, all that falls away….can be a challenge to work with that person….on positive side, though,,even the most reluctant staff can become great chatters if they hang in there…they begin to see the value of the service..