Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Collaborative Virtual Reference Services: The Tri-College Libraries’ Experience

Megan Adams, Swarthmore CollegeMark Colvson, Bryn Mawr CollegeJanuary 17, 2003

Collaborative Virtual Reference Services:

The Tri-College Libraries’ Experience

Educause Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference

January 17, 2003


Copyright © Megan M. Adams and W. Mark Colvson, 2003.

This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the authors. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.


Background

– Long history of collaboration & cooperation

– Similar types & sizes of schools

– Mellon Foundation grants



Process

• Buy-In

– Library Administration

– Patrons

– Library Staff


Process

• Institutional Differences

– Reference cultures– Student cultures– Organizational priorities– Technical differences– Resource differences


Process• Overhead

– Monetary costs– Intangible costs– Staff time costs– Workload


Benefits/Costs of Collaboration

• Benefits

– Shared financing– More staff participation– Shared workload– Improves other library services


Benefits/Costs of Collaboration

• Costs

– Overextended system administrator– Time commitment for meetings– Supporting users with diverse technical

issues– Coordinating & maintaining the service


Where are we now?• Timeline

Spring 2001 Mellon Foundation grant

Fall 2001 Initial pilot project

Spring 2002 Secondary pilot project, testing

Summer 2002 Training, branding

Fall 2002 Live with VRL 2.0, increasing staff involvement


Where are we now?Fall 2001 1 month Open 20

hrs/weekVRL 1.0 & AIM

No statistics kept

Spring 2002

4.5 months Open 20 hours/week

VRL 1.0 Kept statsNo email

Summer 2002

3 months Open 20 hours/week

VRL 1.0 Kept statsNo email

Fall 2002 4.5 months Open 39 hours/week

VRL 2.0 Kept statsEmail


Statistics

020406080

100120140160180200

Spring2002

Summer2002

Fall 2002

Email Questions

Total # of ChatQuestions


Where are we now?

• In the works:

– Funding for new server– Compensation for late-night service– LiveHelp links ubiquitous on web sites,

in OPAC, in Blackboard


Where are we going?

• Marketing!

– Integrated into freshman orientation and instruction sessions

– Press releases to student publications– Target specific groups (grad students,

study abroad students, etc.)


Where are we going?• Increasing collaboration

– QuestionPoint?

– Oberlin group libraries in other time zones?

– Other collaborations• local/state• partner with campus IT help desks


Where are we going?

• Evaluation

– Talk to patrons!– Satisfaction, usage, desirability– Will our patrons use LiveHelp enough to

justify costs? Should we do it anyway?


Yes, we should!– Shift from print libraries to digital

libraries, multiple access points

– Collections & services becoming digital

– LiveHelp is a primary digital library service


Questions?Megan Adams, Swarthmore College

[email protected] 610-328-8503

Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr [email protected] 610-526-7465

http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/reference/vr.html


Collaborative Virtual Reference Services: The Tri-College Libraries’ Experience

http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/reference/vr.html

Megan Adams, [email protected] Colvson, [email protected]

Educause Mid-Atlantic Regional ConferenceJanuary 17, 2003

Documents

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Collaborative Virtual Reference Services: The Tri-College Libraries’ Experience