Communication Technology and Media Choice in Library Reference and Research Assistance

8/9/2019 Communication Technology and Media Choice in Library Reference and Research Assistance

1/21

Ian Smalley

CCTP-745: Communication Technology and Organizations

Final Paper

I. Theoretical Review

Josh Meyrowitz, in his book No Sense of Place, discusses a phenomenon in

communication media that is changing the significance of physical presence in our

interactions. The evolution of electronic media has decreased the importance of physical

presence in social interaction, and we are increasingly living in a world where mediated

communication is the medium of choice (Meyrowitz vii). It used to be that live and

mediated communications were vastly dissimilar, but this is the case less and less of the

time. Mediated communications are making it easier to interact over long distances,

increasing the availability of communication partners, opening channels of interaction to

people who were once physically isolated, and generally reshaping the ways in which we

choose to correspond with people around the world. Media choice theories have long

tried to explain why people choose a particular mode of communication, and it is

interesting to see how these choices are changing in a digital era.

One of the seminal media choice theories that is most often cited and debated is

Daft and Lengels media richness theory. Media richness presumes that communication

channels have an inherent and objective set of qualities that characterize them and

determine their most effective use. For most organizations, the main challenges they face

in the transmission of information are uncertainty and equivocality. Uncertainty is when

there is a lack of sufficient data, creating a situation where the lack of information makes

completing a task difficult. This can be remedied by an increase in the amount of data

communicated, thus lowering the uncertainty of the situation and clarifying situations that

1


2/21

once remained cloudy. Equivocality is when there are differences in interpretations and

perceptions of situations. In an equivocal situation two or more people may understand a

problem or interpret a situation differently, causing interpersonal confusion and making it

difficult to reach a compromise or solution. In these situations richer data is required.

Richer data entails frequent communication and feedback, allowing ideas to be

exchanged and problems to be more clearly defined and understood.

Different media are defined as rich or lean depending on the type of information

that they convey. For example, rich media are personal and involve face-to-face contact

between managers, while media of lower richness are impersonal and rely on rules,

forms, procedures, or data bases (Daft & Lengel 559). Lean media, because they

effectively communicate a greater quantity of data while refraining from including much

personal contact, are useful in situations of high uncertainty. Rich media, since they

facilitate frequent feedback, are effective in untangling confusing problems and clarifying

interpretations, and are thusly useful in situations of high equivocality. Through these

definitions rich media tend to include face to face meetings and other interactions where

there are a high level of physical cues and synchronous feedback. Conversely, lean

media are characterized by their ability to convey a large amount of data quickly, and are

more impersonal and asynchronous. These typically include email, data bases, and

increasingly, online instant messaging.

There are many people who disagree with the idea that each media channel has a

fixed, inherent set of qualities that specifically characterize its usefulness in

communication situations. Instead, they believe that media richness is a more dynamic

concept, and that the perception of media appropriateness will change based on social

2


3/21

influences, job norms, and specific communication incidents. Janet Fulk, in her social

construction of communication technology theory posits that continuous interactions with

social agents in a communication sphere or workplace will result in an evolving set of

social structures that converge into a generally accepted group communication norm.

Through the influence of others, symbolic meanings may well arise, be sustained, and

evolve through ongoing processes of joint sensemaking within social systems (Fulk

922).

In a similar study Trevino, Webster, and Stein proposed that the media theories

that have traditionally be pitted against one another should be viewed as complementary.

They suggest that there are myriad factors that influence media choice in each situation,

and that choices in specific situations are influenced most by situation specific factors

while broader usage patterns and attitudes are influenced by more macro variables that

relate to job, communication partners in general, and the organization (Trevino et al

164). On a broader level these variables include conventionally accepted organizational

communication norms, individual experience and skill with technology, and general job

equivocality. In each specific communication incident there are even more factors that

will determine which media will be most effective in that particular situation. These

include message equivocality, contextual constraints (such as distance or access to

communication technology), comfort with the communication co-participant, and overall

comfort with the communication technology for both parties. As we can see, the

perception of media richness and the selection of an appropriate media is not a static and

exact science based on a inherent set of media characteristics, but rather a dynamic

process that must take into consideration many different factors and variables.

3


4/21

Media appropriateness and choice is a highly subjective process, and as

communication media evolves, we are seeing more and more comfort with newer modes

of communication. Channel expansion theory is another theory that presupposes that

there are outside factors that influence media richness perceptions and media choice.

This theory posits that it is experiential factors that shape perceptions. Four experiences

are identified as being particularly relevant: experience with the channel, experience with

the messaging topic, experience with the organizational context, and experience with

communication co-participants (Carlson and Zmud 155). Increased experience in each

of these areas will lead to the development of knowledge bases, which allow the

participant to encode and decode messages more effectively through a channel. The

increased effectiveness of their communication leads to a higher efficiency and an

increased perception of the channels media richness. Once again we can see how factors

affect the comfort and perception of different communication media, and that these

perceptions are dynamic and will vary among different participants. Additionally, as

newer communication media are becoming more prevalent and popular a greater segment

of people are building knowledge bases around them. Channels that were once perceived

as lean or technologically uncomfortable are being increasingly utilized, and as a result

more and more people are able to develop a knowledge base for more adroitly applying

this communication channel (Carlson and Zmud 155).

As these new communication media are used more and more, the organizational

norms surrounding them will shift accordingly. Adaptive structuration illustrates this

dynamic aspect of media perception. The theory is based on Giddens theory of

structuration, that there is a production and reproduction of social systems through

4


5/21

members use of rules and resources (Poole and DeSanctis 179). Action and the use of a

particular communication technology relies on the rules and resources of the

organization. If rules concerning a certain channel are adopted by the organization (as

we are seeing with newer communication media) their use becomes the norm and causes

them to become part of the organizational communication structure. In turn, the action

and use of the communication technology maintains the structure, creating a re-

emphasizing cycle. Every organization forms its own distinct mixture of structural

features and rules through the various social processes that occur through interaction.

When the groups utilizes these rules it is reminding itself that these rules exist, producing

and reproducing the rules for its present and future use. Therefore the perception of

media richness will change with the communication media, showing once again that it is

a dynamic perception determined by outside factors, situational contexts, and

organizational rules and structures that are constantly evolving.

II. Organizational Context

This paper investigates the use of communication technology in libraries,

specifically in the area of research and reference assistance. Reference desks are an

integral part of every library, and have been for many years, but in a digital environment

where information is more accessible and technology easier to operate, the amount of

face to face reference help has dropped precipitously. Before the advent and

popularization of the Internet all reference help was done either in a face to face

interaction with a reference librarian at the reference desk, or more infrequently, over the

phone. Now that people can access library catalogs and journal databases online and

receive reference help through electronic media like email and instant messaging there

5


6/21

has been a sharp decline in the amount of face to face meetings. Will Wheeler, head of

Research & Instruction at Georgetowns Lauinger Library gave some insight into how

much live reference help had dropped off.

Referencing desks have declined all over the country for the last

decade, by as much as ten to twenty percent, per year, for the last ten

years. So that means that whereas in 1995 or so you might have beenanswering 100,000 questions a year, now were answering closer to

15,000 or 30,000. And there is a whole group of libraries, called the

Association for Research Libraries, there is one hundred and thirteen of

them that are really big libraries, and theyve been keeping track of thisfor a really long time, and there has been a steady decline by at least

thirty to fifty percent in every library in the last decade. (Will Wheeler

Interview)

This paper looks at how reference and research help is changing in an

increasingly digital world. Face to face interaction is an extremely rich means of

communication, and is useful in deciphering complex and nuanced questions and

problems. This meant that face to face reference assistance could be extremely helpful in

situations that had very ambiguous elements or in researching complicated subjects. As

research help becomes more reliant on online databases, email, and chat help, will the

rich elements of face to face be lost completely, and will the traditionally leaner

electronic mediums be as effective of an aid?

To investigate this, and other questions, three people were interviewed who could

provide some unique insight and perspective into different elements of reference

assistance. Martha Smalley is the head Special Collections librarian at the Yale Divinity

School Library. She deals with an extremely rare collection of one-of-a-kind materials

that are highly sought after resources for scholars in the field. Since many of the works

and collections fit into a very distinct niche of research she doesnt deal with an

overwhelming volume of patrons, but must be able to handle and decipher very complex

6


7/21

and precise questions and requests from some of the preeminent scholars in the field.

Although the Divinity School Library does utilize email and chat referencing, the

elaborate and often multifarious nature of most inquiries lend themselves to face to face

reference help.

Nicolette Sosulski is a reference librarian for the Portage District Library in

Michigan by day, and at night works for QuestionPoint, an online, 24/7 collaborative

virtual reference service. Through QuestionPoint she uses a chat interface to provide

round-the-clock reference assistance to everyone from elementary school children to PhD

candidates. Although most libraries are now incorporating some kind of chat reference

help, Ms. Sosulski has the unique perspective of only being able to communicate through

that medium, and often with an extremely diverse set of patrons. There are both struggles

and benefits associated with this communication channel and she had some interesting

insight into how useful it can really be.

William Wheeler is the head of Research and Instruction at Georgetown

Universitys Lauinger Library. As someone who has worked in many prestigious

academic libraries over the years he was able to give some great perspective on how

reference assistance has changed over the years and where the future of reference help

lies, especially with the popularization of the Internet and new digital communication

technologies.

It is a unique time for reference and research assistance in libraries. While face to

face interaction remains the richest and most substantive method of communication, the

proliferation of new modes of communication has shrunk the global communication

sphere, making it possible for almost anyone to access to these valuable reference

7


8/21

resources. With these new communication methods gaining popularity the reference field

will continually have to adapt and stay abreast of any new innovations that promise to

offer more effective and efficient help to patrons. Norms will change as email, chat, and

other forms of virtual reference become more and more accepted and useful. The key for

the reference field will be to figure out the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the

various forms of communication and find a way to incorporate the various channels in

different ways that can meet the needs of their widely disparate field of patrons. There is

no one solution to the question of reference assistance here, they must learn how to adapt

to each situation and find the most effective mode of communication in that instance.

III. Findings and Themes

Throughout the interviews it became apparent that there are a few communication

channels which are used most frequently in research assistance. As mentioned before,

face to face interaction at the library reference desk or in scheduled appointments is the

oldest and richest type of reference assistance. The phone is also utilized, but to a much

lesser degree. The other types of communication media have embraced the online and

digital environment that increasingly influences our everyday life. Email reference help

has been used for almost as long as email has been around. Instant messaging has also

had an increase in prevalence. Previously the librarian at the reference desk would have a

computer in front of them to address questions in the chat window, but more recently

libraries have joined cooperatives that allow for 24/7 chat reference help availability.

While instant messaging has often been considered a lean medium, it offers an

opportunity for a much greater portion of the population to submit reference inquiries.

No longer do you have to attend a university or even have a library card; anyone with a

8


9/21

question and an internet connection can now be connected with someone who can help

them out. A final communication channel that is also starting to be used frequently is

online downloadable content. While this mode lacks the interactivity of the other

channels, it allows the user to gain information into how to conduct their own research,

sometime allowing them to completely bypass the traditional reference inquiry areas.

Figure 1 illustrates some of the strengths and weaknesses of the various forms of

communication technology used by libraries. Later in the paper these strengths and

weaknesses will be discussed in terms of how they affect media choice among patrons

and reference librarians, and prevalent themes uncovered in the interviews will be

incorporated.

Communication

Media

Strengths Weaknesses

Face to face interaction - Synchronous Interaction

- Physical Cues

- Rapid Feedback and Free

Flowing Idea Exchange

- Useful for Understanding

Complex Issues and Clarifying

Problems

- Time Constraints

- Distance Constraints

Phone - Synchronous Interaction

- Rapid Feedback

- Available Over Long

Distances

- Lack of Visual Cues

- Inability to Show Visual

Examples or Explanations

Email - Efficient Communication of

Data

- Ability to Multi-Task

- Asynchronous Interaction

- Lack of Visual Cues

- Inability to Show Visual

Examples or Explanations

Live Chat Reference - Synchronous Interaction

- Ability to Multi-task

- Patron Anonymity (for

Patron)

- Efficient Communication of

Data

- Useful for Short, Simple

Questions

- Patron Anonymity (for

Reference Librarian)

- Comfort with Technology

-Skill with Technology

- Typing Skills

Online Downloadable

Content

- Concise, Visually Rich Data - No Interactivity

Figure 1: Strengths and Weaknesses of Communication Technologies

9


10/21

One major prevailing theme throughout the interviews was the struggle between

face to face live reference assistance and mediated help through email and chat systems.

Face to face interaction remains the paradigm of rich data transfer and is still the most

helpful form of communication when dealing with complex and equivocal information,

but it was being supplanted by the efficiency and convenience of online channels in some

cases. Martha Smalley, who works with a lot of scholars doing research in the Special

Collections of the Yale Divinity School Library said:

[I]n the Special Collections area, where I work, I think we see more

face to face kind of people just because of the type of referencequestions they are asking are a little more complicated. They need to

know about the collections in a way that requires more detail so theylike to make appointments to come talk. (Martha Smalley Interview)

While initial inquiries may come by phone or email, when the researcher really

seeks to gather a great deal of information from the collection and reference librarians

they need to come in for a face to face meeting. The visual cues and rapid feedback

allow the transfer of complex, equivocal, and subtle information that would otherwise go

unnoticed in mediated communication. It is interesting to note however, that the majority

of initial contact still comes through email or chat. These digital communication

mediums allow a much greater number of people to have access to the collections and to

the reference assistance, but when the nature of the inquiry is unique or complicated, it is

often recommended that they make an appointment to come in.

As was seen in the interview with Ms. Sosulski though, sometimes a face to face

meeting is not an option, and assistance through the 24/7 virtual reference system is

necessary. Not everyone has the time or the transportation means to go all the way to a

library to consult a reference librarian. In these cases the contextual limits force both the

10


11/21

patron and reference librarian to make do with what they can and try and communicate as

clearly as possible. In some cases the chat reference works even better because it is an

effective way to convey simple information and answers, allowing the librarian to multi-

task and help multiple people at the same time. Other times the chat window doesnt

provide a sufficient amount of information to be appropriately helpful to the patron,

simply because there are tools in assessing the patron that you dont have in a text or

chat based environment (Nicolette Sosulski Interview). Ms Sosulski described the

following situation where confusion could arise through the lean media of virtual

reference.

If somebody gives you a if you get this grossly misspelled incomingmessage, there are five possibilities: there is a brilliant person who just

cant spell; this is a person who is a lousy typist; this is a person who is

young and hasnt learned spelling yet or is unfamiliar with spelling

conventions; or its an ESL person. And depending on whether you getthat right, the whole level of sources and sophistication of research that

youre dealing with you can really miss the boat if you get it wrong.

(Nicolette Sosulski Interview)

With a lack of visual information and physical cues, something as simple as a

misspelled question can derail the entire interaction before it even starts. The lean nature

of email and chat messaging can handicap this type of communication, and preventative

steps must be taken in order to clarify things right off the bat. Says Ms. Sosulski: Well

you have to ask things, you cant intuit. And you dont get the nods or the light-up in

their eyes, and you may not understand (Nicolette Sosulski Interview). The contextual

and physical limitations and the type of message or question being communicated are all

things that must be taken into consideration when trying to determine the most

appropriate media channel to utilize in an interaction.

11


12/21

Another hindrance to the success of virtual chat reference that came up was the

level of comfort that people had with the instant messaging software. Ms. Sosulski, in

talking about her day job at the Portage District Library said:

We have had sporadic success with instant messaging reference, but

part of the deal is that a lot of librarians are not thrilled with because

theyve been doing reference for years they find reference in aninstant message or chat environment a little intimidating. Part of it I

think is just less comfort with the technology. You have the

technologies, plus you have the speed pressure, and the typing, and of

course the time stressplus everything you do is recorded. Soanything you mess up there is a lasting record of. Some of my

colleagues have been librarians for twenty-five, twenty-eight, thirty-

two years, so theyve been using the other modes of reference, and they

dont use chat or texting in a social environment. So it ends upitsanother technology to learn, with its own time pressures and its own

challenges. (Nicolette Sosulski Interview)

It is interesting to see how a lack of comfort with the technology can change the

perception of the usefulness of that media. The librarians who have been around for a

long time and are used to more traditional forms of reference help simply havent been

able to build up strong knowledge bases around these new media, and therefore they

perceive them as difficult to use and intimidating. Interestingly enough, in talking about

her work with QuestionPoint, Ms. Sosulski mentioned that there are a number of older

librarians who text, IM, and use Facebook in their social lives, so they have no problem

adapting to the new technology. Since they are comfortable using the channel, and it is

an organizational norm to communicate through this medium, it is completely accepted

and widely utilized. This shows how personal use and comfort with a technological

medium can also influence its usefulness and appropriateness.

One of the interesting aspects of instant message and chat reference help that

came up was the concept of anonymity. As was discussed earlier, it is a disadvantage at

12


13/21

times for the patron to be anonymous to the librarian. Without visual cues it can be

difficult to identify what kind of person theyre dealing with, and can result in confusion

over the level of sophistication they need in their research help. In other cases though,

there are some positive elements to the level of anonymity that chat messaging affords.

When people have the safety of sitting discreetly behind their computer screen they are

likely to be more forthcoming and ask questions that they normally might not. As Mr.

Wheeler describes:

At NC State they would have they started doing this online reference

question answering, and they found that there would be people in the

library, in front of the reference desk, who would rather type in aquestion than come up to the desk. And there was a while in the late

90s and early 2000s where people thought, hey chat is really going tocatch on because people can be anonymous, and one of the reasons

theyre not talking to people at the desk is because theyre afraid of

them, or approaching them and looking stupid or something. (Will

Wheeler Interview)

It may be surprising to some that people would purposefully shun the richer

interaction of face to face communication, but many people are very shy or intimidated

by the prospect of asking the reference librarians questions, so the instant messaging

offers them a level of anonymity to overcome their fears and have a venue to seek out the

information they need. Sometimes this anonymity can apply to even more sensitive and

embarrassing situations than normal reference help. Ms. Sosulski related the following

experiences in her interview:

NS: [Y]ou know there are time where Im like, Oh my gosh, I cantbelieve they asked that question. Of course on the reference desk you

have to have a poker face. But people, when they think theyre

completely anonymous will ask things on chat that they would neverask a person on a reference desk. Never, never, never. I get a lot of

very interesting how-to questions that I would not get on the reference

desk.

13


14/21

IS: Yeah, that no one would be able to ask with a straight face when

theyre standing in front of you?

NS: Um I end up sending them to very interesting help sites(laughter). Well, like for example if your personal piercing gets

infectedpeople are much more likely to ask about that in an

anonymity situation than they are on a reference desk. We getquestions about personal situations, you get sex questions trying to

stump the librarian (laughter). We get people who arent sure if they

broke the law. (Nicolette Sosulski Interview)

While it is somewhat humorous that this type of questioning goes on in this

anonymous environment, it is important to note that many of these people are actually

getting help in situations where they honestly dont know what to do. They would never

think of asking these questions to a live librarian, so the anonymous nature of the 24/7

virtual reference is performing a service by giving them somewhere to ask these

questions.

Finally, looking forward to the future, there seems to be some consistency in the

direction that reference help in the libraries is moving towards. The virtual chat

reference, despite its shortcomings, seems to be becoming an integral part that will be

around for years to come. What is interesting to see is that libraries are recognizing the

fact that people are searching for and finding their own information to a greater extent.

The Internet and digital communication mediums have facilitated the search for

information, and instead of fighting this change libraries are embracing it and seeking to

complement their own reference help with ways to help people search on their own more

effectively. The use of online downloadable content, particularly tutorial videos detailing

how to effectively conduct searches in journal databases and other research contexts are

becoming a popular and effective method of teaching. Short videos that quickly grab the

attention and convey a great deal of data can become two minutes that save you three

14


15/21

hours of hunting around (Will Wheeler Interview). These are not always effective, but

they may be something that are increasingly accepted and utilized in the future.

Another type of service that is being considered is also adding a contributory

element to online catalogs and other library services. The Web 2.0 culture that we exist

in encourages participation and contribution from its users, and it is a concept that has

both supporters and opponents within the library communities. Mr. Wheeler, in talking

about the possibility of user contribution in the library said:

Allowing users to put information into library spaces has been an issue

that librariansahh, they get really, well some of them, some librarians

get really worried over allowing users to put stuff into library spaces.Ive been arguing that we should. Thats the thing, like if you have a

blog or a chat mechanism on a subject guide, then the people who wereusing it can say, Hey this was kind of useful, but Id really like to see

this, this, and this. (Will Wheeler Interview)

Similarly, Ms. Smalley talked about the possibility of user contribution to the

finding aids that accompany their collection.

I would say that in the next few years there will be that opportunity for

people using the collectionyou know, the finding aids, the collection

listing are pretty bare-bones, there is not a whole lot of detail in it. Butif somebody was actually reading the document, the letters or whatever,

if there was a way for them to add some information that they came

across, saying the letter was about this, then that would help otherresearchers later on, because they could see that online without having

to read the letter. But how they do that, and how to kind of monitor it

to make sure that people dont say stupid things is still a bit of a

problem. (Martha Smalley Interview)

So while there are still some logistical problems as to how the new type of

participatory communication media would work in the library setting, steps are being

taken to try and embrace the participatory culture of the modern era. The online

downloadable content and user contribution collections are important steps in a world

where people are increasingly autonomous and capable of finding their own information.

15


16/21

VI. What the Future Holds

As we can see, the role of communication technology in libraries is obviously

changing as the world embraces digital media more and more. Just as Meyrowitz

predicted (even though he was talking about television as an electronic medium), there is

less and less of an emphasis on physical presence in social interactions. People are

becoming more comfortable with new communication channels, which are making it

easier to interact over long distances, opening up channels of communication to people

who are physically isolated, and generally allowing more people to be interconnected.

As Figure 1 indicates, there are characteristics that seem to accompany the

different kinds of communication technology used in reference and research help in

libraries. Face to face interaction remains the richest form of interaction, and the lack of

visual cues in email and instant messaging make them leaner mediums. However, unlike

the suggestions of the media richness theory, these characteristics are not inherent in the

technologies or set in stone. There is no formula that prescribes the exact media that

should be used in a situation, rather the perception of media richness and the choice of

media use is a dynamic perception that changes with each job and situational conext.

Consider the examples of face to face and chat reference help, and how they can

change based on the reference situation. Ms. Smalley is head of the Special Collections

department; a collection of rare and one-of-a-kind artifacts that are useful to a very

specific niche of scholarly study. The questions and inquiries she receives are often quite

in depth and complex. While she may receive the initial inquiries through the Yale live

help chat system, she often has to schedule appointments with the patrons in order to

fully help them with their research. The complex and intricate nature of their research

16


17/21

and questions requires the feedback and visual cues that face to face interaction offers.

The equivocality of the situation makes instant messaging a poor media choice.

On the flip side, Ms. Sosulski operates on QuestionPoint solely through chat

messaging. At times she will be helping up to three or four patrons at the same time.

Some have in depth inquiries, which can be difficult to answer, while others have very

generic questions that are easily accommodated. If she was attempting to help four

people at the same time at a reference desk there would be chaos and some very angry

patients. The instant messaging is useful in that it can quickly convey concise

information and exact answers, while allowing the librarian to help multiple people at the

same time. Also, the anonymity that the chat window provides allows a portion of people

who would normally be too embarrassed or shy to ask a question have the courage to

speak up. Some of the questions may be nothing more than a silly or childish attempt to

stump the librarian, but they may also be an issue that the patron has genuine concern

about, but are too uncomfortable to ask someone face to face. Each of the two

communication channels has their strengths and weaknesses, and it will be interesting to

see how libraries figure out how to utilize their various efficacies in conjunction with one

another to form a network of assistance that can help the most people in the most efficient

manner possible.

When considering QuestionPoint, it is important to note the drastic change in

organizational structure that the virtual service employs. While most physical libraries

are beginning to ease into virtual referencing, this service has jumped in head first and

completely embraced the digital era of communication. This illustrates how broader

communication channel usage relates to the job context and organizational structure. To

17


18/21

work at QuestionPoint you must understand that they function completely in a chat

environment, and you must be comfortable operating through this channel. In other

libraries the job context does not dictate that all interaction must be done through instant

messaging, but situational factors are starting to require that the chat interface be used in

certain situations. Since they offer the option of instant messaging chat help, the

reference librarians must be prepared to field questions through that medium in addition

to answering live inquiries.

This provides an example of the channel expansion theory, and how knowledge

bases surrounding new communication technologies are being built up in libraries around

the world. In the case of QuestionPoint the knowledge is completely necessary; in order

to work there you must be comfortable with the communication channel and be able to

operate productively within the constraints of the chat window. In other libraries the

process is likely more gradual. As new communication technology is integrated into the

organization the reference librarians must begin to learn how to use it. As they learn,

they are constructing these knowledge bases. Eventually, through enough practice, they

will become comfortable with the technology, and their perception of it will change.

Once these knowledge bases are formed the channel can be used effectively and it will be

perceived as a more useful tool. This is a gradual process, and it is changing how

reference assistance is offered in libraries. Face to face help will probably never be

completely replaced, but it must find a way to work in partnership with these new

channels as patrons increasingly operate online.

The gradual adoption of these new communication technologies within the

organization is an example of adaptive structuration as well. As the new channels are

18


19/21

introduced and people begin to learn how to use them the rules start to become

normalized within the workplace. As people start to become comfortable with the

technologies and the rules surrounding them become internalized, the channels become

more and more a normal part of their jobs. While instant messaging reference help may

have been a foreign and uncomfortable tool to utilize when it was initially introduced,

most reference librarians probably dont even give it a second thought now. More and

more of them become comfortable with using the channel, and it becomes more

normalized in the workplace. As the rules of the technology become a norm, the use of

the technology maintains its place within the structure of the organization, creating a re-

emphasizing cycle. A technology that was once confusing and strange is now situated

securely within the organizational structure and perpetuated through its frequent use.

So we can see how new online communication technologies have become an

invaluable and integral part of research and reference assistance. The different

technologies each have their benefits and drawbacks, and a library will most efficiently

help its patrons by utilizing a combination of the different channels to cater effectively to

each unique situation. But, where does the future of library reference lay?

Finholt, Sproull, and Kiesler, in their chapter in Distributed Work investigated

field engineers and the likelihood that they would consult either an archive of experts

answers or an archive of peer responses. They hypothesized that despite the unofficial

and voluntary source of its contents, an archive of informal questions and answers by

peers would be preferred by field engineers over an archive of experts answers to

questions (Finholt et al 360). While this may not apply directly to library patrons

seeking reference help it does speak to the changing nature of our society. A world of

19


20/21

information is available at our fingertips, and people are able to find their own answers to

a greater and greater extent. Additionally, the Web 2.0 culture that is thriving in our

society encourages contribution and participation from its users. Libraries are seeing that

people are starting to work more on their own, and also that they are seeking to contribute

to peer archives of information. In the future we will see them embrace these changes.

Mr. Wheeler spoke about the online downloadable content that is meant to be a tutorial

for research practices. This is an example of the way that the library recognizes peoples

autonomy, and is finding news ways to assist them in their research. By teaching them

these methods they will prepare them for all the research they need to do in the future.

Similarly both Mr. Wheeler and Ms. Smalley spoke about user contributions to online

catalogs and collections listings in the future. While it may be difficult to moderate the

content that is added, user contributions would undoubtedly add an invaluable element to

these online resources. Some may think that this change towards independent

information gathering would render the reference services obsolete, but in actuality it is

just another reference option and service that libraries are adding to the network of

communication technology that they currently use. The mission of the library is to

provide the most efficient and effective research assistance possible, and it doesnt matter

how they provide that service as long as its accomplished.

20


21/21

Works Cited:

Carlson, John R., and Robert W. Zmud. "Channel Expansion Theory and the Experiential

Nature of Media Richness Perceptions." The Academy of Management Journal

42.2 (1999): 153-170.

Daft, Richard L., and Robert H. Lengel. "Organizational Information Requirements,

Media Richness and Structural Design." Management Science 32.5 (1986): 554-

571.

Fulk, Janet. "Social Construction of Communication Technology." The Academy of

Management Journal 36.5 (1993): 921-950.

Hinds, P., and S. Kiesler. Distributed Work. London: MIT Press, 2002.

Meyrowitz, Joshua. No Sense of Place. Oxford University Press, 1985.

Poole, M.S., and G. DeSanctis. Understanding the use of Group Decision Support

Systems: The Theory of Adaptive Structuration. In J. Fulk & C. Steinfield

(Eds.), Organizations and Communication Technology. Newbury Park, CA:

Sage, 1990.

Trevino, Linda, Jane Webster, and Eric Stein. "Making Connections: Complementary

Influences on Communication Media Choices, Attitudes, and Use." Organization

Science 11.2 (2000): 163-182.

Documents

Communication Technology and Media Choice in Library Reference and Research Assistance