Virtual Reference Services

Stephen D. Coffman, Vice President

Public Library Operations/EastLibrary Systems and Services, LLC

ARL Reference Statistics Reference Meets the Web

DOWN

42.1%

1997-2003

Commercial Reference ServicesThe Other Threat From the Web

"

In the electronic environment, a point-of-need reference service needs to be built into the infrastructure of the Internet--ideally on the browser, or as a constant source on specific sites--and must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

.... When users click on the "live consultation" option, they are asked to enter their question in an Ask Jeeves-type natural-language search engine, which returns some results from among a collection of librarian-chosen web sites. If the searcher is satisfied, the transaction ends there. If not, he clicks on a "Click To Talk to a Librarian" button and there appears a live person (via, say, CuSeeMe or Netmeeting interactive software) or a text box (using, for example, MOO, Chat, or WOO technology) for real-time chat.

The librarian, who has before her the client's failed search-engine effort, negotiates the real question and either answers it directly or does some follow-up work and gets back to the client via e-mail, FAX, etc.

What Made VR So Appealing? Did offer a possible solution to a

decline that was worrying us We had the example of the

commercial reference services like Webhelp that were using the technology … proving so it seemed that people loved it

Automatically made anybody who used it ‘waaaay cool’

Books, Articles and Conferences Oh My!

Pretty Soon VR Was Everywhere

Growth of Libraries with Chat

1999 Univ. North Texas Cornell Temple SUNY Morrisonville

Total = 4 or 5

2004 Questionpoint 1000 Tutor/LSSI 1000 24/7 1000 Docutek 300? LivePerson Groopz 60 Rakim IM

Total = 3000+

How It Works

Co-Browsing Technology

Librarian’s Browser

Patron’s Browser

Go to url:

• URL pushing

• Two-way (librarian to patron and patron to librarian)

• Send page or escort mode ( can be toggled on and off)

• Form sharing (text in search boxes can be shared)

• Works with many computers

• Talk via chat

• Produces transcript of session including chat and pages shared

Unfortunately Our Patrons Were Not As Enthusiastic As We Were

Joe Janes Global Census Nov 03

Median = 6 questions per day “Global Census of Digital Reference” Joseph Janes Proceedings of VRD 2003

http://www.vrd2003.org/proceedings/presentation.cfm?PID=162

UCLA

Digital Reference Quarterly Comparative

0100200300400500600700

Quarter

Number of transactions

Number of open hours per week

                                                   

Down 77.6%

Santa Monica Public Library

Not Just Us

Profession Losing Interest

Sales of VR off substantially Many vendors failed or been absorbed OCLC currently in the midst of

research on the ‘viability’ of VR Some services have quietly folded

their tents The major conference has been

discontinued

Discontin

ued

Legacy of VR Transcripts allowed us to track and

analyze the reference process as never before

Allowed libraries to collaborate on reference in ways that would have been impossible before

Allowed librarians from different institutions, subject specialties and even continents to work together

Also Leaves Us With Some Unresolved Questions?

Death of most commercial reference Limited ‘success’ of Google Answers Low use of email reference Low use of chat

1. Do We Really Need VR?

“Just need to market it better” “It’s all reference”, VR just another

method of contacting the library Assuming that patrons do want help

online, is chat and VR the best way to give it to them?

2. If Not VR - What Is Reference In the Age of Google?

Books Help for those who choose not to use

Google Help when Google fails Help when you need more than

Google

3. What’s Most Cost Effective Way of Providing It?

Traditional Reference Is Expensive

Illinois Public Library Statistics – 2002

$54,525,849 Amount Illinois Public Libraries Spent on Books in 2002

$57,380,232 Amount Illinois Public Libraries Spend on Reference Librarians in 2002

Median Hourly Wage Illinois Reference Librarian with Benefits = $27.95

Median Reference Salary with Benefits = $58,136

987 FTE Reference Librarians @ $58,136 = $57,380,232

Yet Few People Use It

Even Worse, Nationally

National Statistics (NCES) 20% or 1 in 5 patrons asks a question 1.1 reference questions per capita 6.8 items circulated per capita

Illinois Public Library Statistics 26.5% or 1 in 4 asks a question 1.2 reference questions per capita 7.9 items circulated per capita

5600 books

at Cornell avg salary plus benefits = $87,859.2

2341 books In the rest of the county avg salary plus benefits =

= $36,738

Re-Examine Staffing

=

Operating Costs Staff Name Staff Costs

Prof / mgmt

Other Total Staff

Cost Per Hour

Staff Cost Per

Circ

Staff Cost Per

Visit

% Staff / Budget

Materials Cost

$1,072,858

7

25

32

$315.55

$2.43

$2.95

62%

$337,251

Orland Park PL, IL

$435,512

3

21

24

$167.50

$1.03

$1.40

69.5%

$48,000

Temecula PL, CA

$415,740

2

20

22

$84.09

$0.64

$0.90

12.8%

$3,250,000

Borders, Orland Park, IL

Operating Costs Staff Name Staff Costs

Prof / mgmt

Other Total Staff

Cost Per Hour

Staff Cost Per

Circ

Staff Cost Per

Visit

% Staff / Budget

Materials Cost

$1,072,858

7

25

32

$315.55

$2.43

$2.95

62%

$337,251

Orland Park PL, IL

$435,512

3

21

24

$167.50

$1.03

$1.40

69.5%

$48,000

Temecula PL, CA

$415,740

2

20

22

$84.09

$0.64

$0.90

12.8%

$3,250,000

Borders, Orland Park, IL

Average Hourly Cost of Operations Library vs Bookstore

72 hours per week

96 hours per week

So Are There More Cost Effective Methods Than This?

Build Reference Into Our Machines

Call Center

So How Much Could We Save?

Erlang C Formula

Where: D (>O) = probability of delay; A = total traffic volume of calls arriving (measured in erlangs); n = number of customer service officers available; and B = probability of loss (rejection) (Poisson distribution).

Where the relationship between D and B is described by:

What It Means: Answer 76% More Questions with Same Staff

Table A Table B

Erlang C Calculations for a

Networked Reference Service

Erlang C Calculations for Existing

Desk Reference Service

Number of ReferenceTransactions / Hour

1620 Number of ReferenceTransactions / Hour

920

Average Amount of Time Per

Transaction in seconds

169 Average Amount of Time Per

Transaction in seconds

169

Average Post Processing Time in

seconds

60 Average Post Processing Time in

seconds

60

Service Level Percentage ("x" in the

formula "x percent of calls answered in

y seconds"

80 Service Level Percentage ("x" in the

formula "x percent of calls answered in y

seconds"

NA

Number of Seconds to answer ("y" in

"x percent of calls answered in y

seconds")

20 Number of Seconds to answer ("y" in "x

percent of calls answered in y seconds")

NA

Number of Minutes in the Interval

Being Measured

60 Number of Minutes in the Interval Being

Measured

60

Number of Staff Required 116 Number of Staff Available 116Staff Occupancy Rate (%) 89 Staff Occupancy Rate (%) 50

Average Speed of Answer in seconds

(time average caller spends on hold)

9 Average Speed of Answer in seconds

(time average caller spends on hold)

NA

Centralization = More Appropriate Staffing

46 Paraprofessionals To Answer the Easy Questions

20 Librarians

For the Hard Stuff

Columbus Public Library Call Center Project

Calls to 614 645-2ASK (2275)

Internal JobAd

Inside Sengkang

Sengkang Self-Service Library

Contracting Out

Make Better Use of Our Limited Resources

Average Question Score Average Question Price

Google Meets Ebay – comparison of performance and cost of Cornell Reference Librarians vs Google Answers 2003.

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june03/kenney/06kenney.html

Contracting for EverythingResearch Library As a complement to your local library resources, Capella offers online university research through a cooperative arrangement with the Sheridan Library System at Johns Hopkins University. Services include access to specialized library databases. In addition, a research librarian is available to help you acquire articles, books and documents unavailable through other sources.