Reports

Charge: To build a 24/7/365 information service provided by the member institutions or in cooperation with other consortia with similar needs and means, in order to meet the defined information needs of the BLC 's primary constituency groups and/or the wider scholarly community.

Members: Ann Frenkel, Susan Glover Godlewski, Julie Jersyk, Jackie Riley, Kate Silfen, James Skypeck, Janet Stewart; Bessie Hahn, Director Liaison; Barbara Preece, BLC Liaison

The 24x7 task force recommends that the BLC initiate a two-year pilot cooperative virtual reference program. During the pilot period the service should be offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our initial investigations indicate that there are at least 5 BLC institutions interested in participating in this pilot project immediately. We recommend that the service be implemented during the Fall 2002 semester. The service will be evaluated at the end of the first year and at the end of the pilot period.

If 5 BLC institutions participate in the pilot, the time commitment from each institution after initial installation and training is estimated to be 8-16 hours of reference service per week. If more institutions join the pilot the time commitment per institution may be less.

• Met every other Friday morning at Northeastern University Library, using the convener model for running the meetings.
  
  
• Developed a virtual reference bibliography to aid in the education of the task force.
  
  
• Identified existing consortial arrangements that provide 24/7 or other types of virtual/real time/ live reference, and developed a survey instrument to investigate these arrangements to determine if any existing model is appropriate for the BLC needs.
  
  
• Identified current vendors that provide software for 24/7 or other types of virtual/real time/live reference, and developed a list of questions for these vendors to assure that uniform data on each product would be gathered.
  
  
• Co-sponsored with Simmons College a satellite teleconference produced by the College of DuPage entitled "Virtual Reference Services…What, Why and How?" and transmitted on 8 February 2002 and 19 April 2002. Funding was provided by BLC; the satellite link, auditorium, and lunch were provided by Simmons College.
  
  
• Surveyed each BLC institution to determine what level of electronic reference is currently offered, what support exists for a BLC consortial arrangement to provide electronic reference service, and to determine potential interest in participating in a pilot project.
  
  
• Analyzed results of all surveys and identified two vendors invited to on-site presentations.
  
  
• Held a meeting with the Reference Services Community of Interest at Tufts University on May 17 to inform them of the activities of the task force and to gather input.
  
  
• Determined the recommendations to be made to BLC Board using the data gathered at the vendor demos and the COI meeting.
  
  
• Submitted the final Report to the BLC Board on June 10, 2002.

• Virtual reference will be provided to the BLC community through the purchase of 2 operator seats if 2-5 institutions join the pilot program. A third seat would be purchased if 6-10 institutions join the pilot.
  
  
• Participating BLC institutions will staff the virtual reference service for 40 hours a week in a cooperative arrangement to be determined at the start of the project. If there are 5 institutions participating in the pilot then each institution will be responsible for staffing the virtual reference service for 8 to 16 of the 40 hours a week.
  
  
• The recommended vendor will provide after-hours, weekend and holiday service.
• Authentication for proprietary databases and journal aggregators will be configured to meet each library's needs (password, IP ranges, EZProxy, etc.).
  
  
• For the first year of the project, we may use the vendor's specialized subject queues (academic, ASK Eric, art, medical, New England law, etc.). In the second year, BLC specialized subject or "library type" queues will be implemented.
  
  
• The BLC will appoint a Project Manager, either as an in-kind contribution from one of the participating institutions or as a direct hire. This position will be at least half time and possibly more depending on the number of institutions that join the pilot. This person will oversee the project and serve as a liaison to the Advisory Committee.
  
  
• The Advisory Committee will be composed of a representative from each of the participating institutions, a Board liaison and a BLC staff representative.

The following features and functionality were determined to be important to any virtual reference service offered by the BLC. Both finalist vendors offer these features:

• Chat
• Push pages to patron
• Collaborative browsing
• Send files, images, slides
• Generate automatic "stall" message while patron is waiting
• Create and store pre-formatted responses
• Save transcript/log of the session and send a copy to the patron.
• Evaluation form for the patron to complete
• Forward queue to subject specialists
• Comprehensive reporting structure
• No patron downloads required
• Proxy compatible
• Support multiple browsers for patrons
• After hours, weekend and holiday service
• Scheduling software

• The Project Manager must be at least a half-time (.5) FTE position.
• The Project Manager can either be a BLC direct hire, or an in-kind contribution in staff time from one of the participating institutions.
• The Project Manager is primary liaison to the vendor, BLC office and BLC Board.
• The Project Manager leads regular meetings of the Advisory Committee.
• The Project Manager coordinates and writes up administrative reports and project evaluations.

• The Advisory Committee will be made up of the Project Manager, a representative from each participating library, a BLC Board liaison and BLC staff representative
• The Advisory Committee coordinates scheduling of the libraries.
• The Advisory Committee coordinates compilation of usage statistics
• Each member will coordinate or delegate staff scheduling for his/her library
• The Advisory Committee develops service policies, standards, guidelines and documentation.

• Customer service delivery standards.
• Clientele served.
• Reference Scripts.
• Reference etiquette.
• Referral procedures.
• Length of reference transactions.
• Resources to be used for answering questions.
• Coordination and sharing of library-specific information.

• Guidelines for database use and/or authentication.
• Scheduling/staffing guidelines.
• Training and supervision guidelines.
• Publicity and marketing plan, including naming the service.
• Mid-pilot evaluation, and evaluation at the end of the two year pilot.

For more detailed information about the specific policies to establish, see: Lipow, Anne Grodzins and Steve Coffman. Establishing a Virtual Reference Service. Berkeley, CA: Library Solutions Press, 2001;
Ready For Reference LSTA Grant Guidelines for Service from the Alliance Library System in Illinois (www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/projects/readyref/rrrg.htm); Reference Policies and Guidelines from the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, (www.qandanj.org/manual/policies.pdf).

The BLC 24/7 reference task force recommends that there be an evaluation of the virtual reference project halfway through the two-year pilot and at the end of the project. The task force recommends that the following steps be taken to evaluate the pilot.

The software's transcripts and reporting features will enable the Project Manager to compile sets of important statistics. We recommend that the Project Manager compile data on the following:

• Average number of sessions by hour of the day. Data on the average number of sessions per hour will enable all involved institutions to see what is typically the busiest or slowest time of day. This information will help the participating institutions make staffing decisions. The data will also allow participating libraries to determine what hours the service needs to be offered should they decide not to offer the service twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
  
  
• Number of sessions per week. Statistics on the number of virtual reference questions per week will allow the participating institutions to monitor how heavily the service is being used.
  
  
• Sessions by institutional affiliation of user. Data on the number of sessions by institution will allow the Project Manager to determine what percentage of total number of questions is coming from each institution's users. Such information would be useful in determining whether usage has been light or heavy at individual institutions.
  
  

• A study of a sampling of the session transcripts will allow the Project Manager and the Advisory Committee to gather information about the quality as well as the quantity of the virtual transactions.

• Surveys are automatically sent to each patron after he or she has logged off the service. A study of a sample of these surveys will allow the Advisory Committee to assess the success of the pilot.

• The task force recommends that all librarians who provide virtual reference services to BLC patrons be given a brief survey. A survey would allow librarians to express areas of satisfaction with the service as well as elaborate on some of the challenges they face when providing virtual reference services in a consortial environment.

This report has been abridged. Information regarding specific vendors and products has been removed. The full report will be available online for the BLC community in the near future. Staff of BLC member libraries may contact the BLC office for unabridged copies of task force reports.

Members: Ann Frenkel, Susan Glover Godlewski, Julie Jersyk, Jackie Riley, Kate Silfen, James Skypeck, Janet Stewart.

This report details activities completed or pending since the Interim Report of March 1, 2002.

1. Completed surveys of existing consortial arrangements.
2. Completed surveys of vendors.
3. Completed surveys of BLC institutions to determine what level of electronic reference is currently offered and what support exists for a BLC consortial arrangement to provide electronic reference service.
4. Analyzed results of all surveys and identified two vendors as candidates for on-site visits. Arrangements were made by Barbara Preece, and the vendors, 24/7 and LSSI will visit to demonstrate their products for the BLC community, and then meet separately with the task force and BLC staff, on May 3 and 10 respectively.
5. Developed publicity for the second half of the teleconference to be held on April 19.

1. Follow up with BLC sites that indicated possible interest in participating in a pilot program to inform them of developments and gauge continuing interest in light of current information.
2. Convene a meeting of the Reference Services Community of Interest to inform them of the activities of the Task Force and encourage dialog.
3. Identify and evaluate existing models of live reference service and develop cost projections for each.
4. Develop and communicate final report including recommendations to the BLC Board on 30 June, 2002.

Charge: To build a 24/7/365 information service provided by the member institutions or in cooperation with other consortia with similar needs and means, in order to meet the defined information needs of the BLC 's primary constituency groups and/or the wider scholarly community.

Members: Ann Frenkel, Susan Glover Godlewski, Julie Jersyk, Jackie Riley, Kate Silfen, James Skypeck, Janet Stewart

a. Established meeting schedule of every other Friday morning from 9:30-11:30 am with Northeastern University as our host. The committee makes liberal use of electronic communication between formal meetings.

b. Chose the convenor model of meeting with the role of both convenor and recorder rotating among committee members.

c. Clarified the task force's mission with the BLC Board; proposed a communications model that includes the larger BLC community.

d. Developed a virtual reference bibliography to aid in the education of the task force membership.

e. Identified existing consortial arrangements nationally that provide 24/7 or other types of virtual/real time/live reference.

f. Developed a survey instrument to investigate these existing consortial arrangements to determine if an existing model is appropriate for the BLC needs.

g. Completed surveys of existing consortial arrangements due March 1, 2002.

h. Identified current software applications/vendors that provide 24/7 or other types of virtual/real time/live reference.

i. Developed a detailed list of questions for the vendors of such software to assure that uniform data on each product would be gathered.

j. Vendors interviewed and survey data completed by March 1, 2002.

k. Co-sponsored with Simmons College a satellite teleconference produced by the College of DuPage entitled "Virtual Reference Services…What, Why and How?" and transmitted on 8 February 2002. Funding provided by BLC; satellite link, auditorium, and lunch provided by Simmons College. Part 2 of the teleconference will be aired on 19 April 2002.

a. Contact all BLC members to determine what level of electronic reference is currently offered by BLC member libraries, what plans may exist for future implementation and what support exists for a BLC consortial arrangement to provide electronic reference service.

b. Identify appropriate level of service, software application and vendor, cost ranges, as well as organizational model for providing 24/7/365 virtual reference service to the BLC community.

c. Identify and contact potential pilot sites among the BLC membership.

d. Communicate final report including recommendations to the BLC Board on 30 June 2002.