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RUSA Approves New Definition of Reference

At the January 14, 2008, meeting of the RUSA Board, a new definition of reference was approved. It was based on solicited input received on the RUSA Blog as of 12/8/07. Thank you to all those who gave input, as well as all those who worked hard to come up with a definition that could be supported by so many.

Lisa R. Horowitz
Chair, Reference Services Section (2007-2008)

Definition of Reference
Approved by RUSA Board, 1-14-08

Submitted
by subgroup of RSS Executive Committee



Reference Transactions are information consultations in which
library staff recommend, interpret, evaluate, and/or use information resources
to help others to meet particular information needs. Reference transactions do
not include formal instruction or exchanges that provide assistance with
locations, schedules, equipment, supplies, or policy statements.

Reference Work includes reference transactions and other
activities that involve the creation, management, and assessment of information
or research resources, tools, and services.

(The following bullets clarify what is meant
by terms within the Reference Work definition.)

·        
Creation and management of information
resources includes the
development and maintenance of research collections, research guides, catalogs,
databases, web sites, search engines, etc., that patrons can use independently,
in-house or remotely, to satisfy their information needs.

·        
Assessment activities include the measurement and evaluation of reference work,
resources, and services.

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Using Evaluation Data to Change & Improve Virtual Reference: Call for Virtual Poster Session Proposals

Using Evaluation Data to Change
& Improve Virtual Reference:

Call for Virtual Poster Session
Proposals

MARS Management of Electronic Resources and Services (MERS) Committee

How does your library (or consortium) use the results of evaluation to
change and improve your Virtual Reference service? Have you used data,
statistics, opinions, or other feedback to persuade administrators, librarians
and staff, or your patron body? To plan budgets, hours, or training? To test
anecdotal assumptions? To offer a new service? Are changes driven by evaluation
significantly different from those driven by technological advancement or new
VR products?

Share your successes and challenges via a Virtual Poster Session sponsored
by Management
of Electronic Resources and Services  (MERS), a Machine-Assisted
Reference Section (MARS) Committee.

We seek virtual posters which describe how libraries use evaluation to
change and improve their Virtual Reference services.

Virtual Reference can include reference assistance provided via chat, IM,
e-mail, videoconferencing, or other means. Evaluation methods can include
statistical analysis, patron surveys, transcript analysis, use of standards and
guidelines, interface usability testing, or any other method or combination of
methods that the library uses to evaluate its service. 

Virtual posters can be submitted as Web pages, PowerPoint presentations, or
other formats which can be mounted on the Web.

Accepted posters will be mounted on the American
Library Association (ALA)
web site before the ALA 2008
Annual Conference  and will be
announced at the conference.  Presenters will be asked to participate in
on-line discussions of their posters through the Reference and User Services
Association (RUSA) blog.

To apply, please use the form at http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaourassoc/rusasections/mars/marssection/marscomm/mersvps2007.htm.
Proposals will be accepted through 5 p.m. Eastern, Thursday, January 3, 2008.
Authors of selected proposals will be contacted by e-mail by January 18, 2008. 

Completed virtual posters must be submitted to the committee by April 1,
2008.  The committee will review the
posters and work with the creators on any suggested edits needed for clarity
and to comply with ALA
and other guidelines.   

Questions?  Please contact the MERS Chair, Kathryn Courtland Millis at millisk@depauw.edu, or (765) 658-4427.

MERS is a committee of the Machine-Assisted
Reference Section (MARS) in the Reference and User
Services Association (RUSA) of the American
Library Association (ALA).

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"Are You A Robot?" And Other Serious Questions, by Sean Eads & Karen T. Pardue of AskColorado

“Are You A Robot?” And Other Serious Questions, by Sean Eads & Karen T. Pardue of AskColorado.

This presentation will examine how
AskColorado's
Quality Assurance and Evaluation Subcommittee [QA&E] combines
statistical analysis, patron surveys and transcript reviews to evaluate
and improve the quality of virtual reference.

• Who or what do patrons expect to interact with? For instance,
are they expecting a live person or an automated message? Do they
expect detailed help or just a referral?

•  How are patron expectations discovered and how are they
met?

• What are proper standards for expectations and how are
they maintained?

In short, how do we chart, understand and respond to patron expectations?

This is one of four winning posters in the 2007 MARS Management of Electronic Resources and Services (MERS) Committee virtual poster session on the evaluation of virtual reference services.

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Virtual Poster Session on the Evaluation of Virtual Reference Services

How do libraries use
evaluation to improve Virtual Reference service?

Four winning entries in the MARS Management of Electronic Resources and
Services (MERS) Committee's first ever Virtual
Poster Session on the Evaluation of Virtual Reference Services share
successes and challenges of the evaluation of Virtual Reference services, and suggest ways that individual libraries can use information gathered to improve services.

·  “Are
You A Robot?” And Other Serious Questions
Sean Eads & Karen T. Pardue of AskColorado.

·  Measuring
Instruction at the Virtual Reference Desk
Stephanie J. Graves & Christina M. Desai of Southern Illinois University
Carbondale.

·  Truing
the Wheel: Designing a refined taxonomy for virtual reference services in
academic libraries
John Dorr & Jannelle Ruswick of the Illinois Institute of
Technology.   

·  Virtual
Reference, Real Evaluation

Donna Goda & Corinne Bishop, University
of Central Florida
Libraries.



Please join us un discussing the these posters, and the general topic of
evaluation of virtual reference services, here at the RUSA blog!