The Virtual Reference Task Force (VRTF) was established in November 2001 as an ad hoc group charged with advising Council on consortia approaches to providing electronic reference service. The Task Force was asked to:

1. investigate the need for and desirability of offering virtual reference service through Orbis. 
2. explore Orbis' potential role and how that role might relate to similar initiatives underway elsewhere
3. investigate software, technical support, and training options.
4. detail potential costs to the consortium and member libraries.

A quite informative web site on virtual reference services is Stephen Francoeur's Digital Reference at  http://pages.prodigy.net/tabo1/digref.htm.

Live online reference provides point-of-need service to online users. Presently, remote users may access librarians by telephone and e-mail. Telephones allow real-time interaction, but often users have only one phone line, which means that patrons need to disconnect in order to get help. Email reference, on the other hand is asynchronous and response time is much slower than VR which allows live interaction and simultaneous access to library databases. Search strategies are easier to explain in a "live" mode rather than over the phone or email.

Recent  trends have brought up concerns that reference services may be imperiled unless libraries diversify their reference access and take a more aggressive approach to reaching out to patrons using the power of the Internet.  Specifically, there has been  a discussion on a possible decrease in reference transactions among academic libraries.  Data in the ARL's "Service Trends in ARL Libraries, 1991-2000" (http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/graphs/2000t1.html) suggests that reference transactions went down in number by 25.7% between 1996 and 2000.   Some attribute this decrease to the students' ease of access to Internet resources and their perceptions of self-reliance.  VR provides a great opportunity for libraries to reclaim their patrons and teach them effective ways to locate and use reliable information sources. 

Beyond reference services, VR software has the great potential to be used for other library services such as on-line instruction with classes of students.

Although participating libraries gain subject expertise in their reference service from other member institutions, at the same time they might lose some of their local expertise. A librarian from another institution may not be as knowledgeable about the electronic or print resources available at the patron’s institution.  Good communication among the member libraries and  familiarity with the resources available at each of the participating libraries is quite crucial.
  

    Orbis' interest & potential 

In April 2002 the Orbis Virtual Reference Task Force conducted a survey among member institutions in order to identify the level of interest and issues that may need to be addressed in offering virtual reference services through the Orbis consortium.  Below is a summary of the survey results. 

Survey Results

• Responses: 15 members responded to the survey.
• Current services: 14 (93%) of the respondents currently provide e-mail reference; none of them provide live chat or virtual digital reference
• Plans for virtual reference: 10 (81%) of the libraries plan on having a virtual reference service within the next 24 months with one library planning it within 6 months and 1 library within 1 year.
• Consortial interest: 14 (93%) of the libraries are interested in this service through the consortium. Additional comments were that this would be the best way to go because the reference time could be shared by the staffs and the costs would not be as high.
• Reasons for having a virtual reference service
• The most important reasons for having a virtual reference service were that the sessions were interactive (80% very important; 20% somewhat important) and that both the librarian and patron can see the same screen (73% very important; 27% somewhat important)
• 90% felt it was very (33%) or somewhat (47%) important that reference services could be available during times librarians are not usually available.
• 87% felt it was very (27%) or somewhat (60%) important that questions get answered in real time
• 86% felt it was very (73%) or somewhat (13%) important that there was better access for users
• 80% felt it was very (27%) or somewhat (53%) that there be a written record of the transaction
• 80% felt it was very (20%) or somewhat (60%) that only Internet access is needed
• 60% felt it was very (7%) or somewhat (53%) that there are no long distance charges involved on the patron’s part
• Staffing problems: Everyone felt that staffing would be a problem with 33% thinking it a serious problem and 67% seeing it as only somewhat of a problem.
• Receptive staff: All staff was seen as receptive to developing these new skills with 53% very receptive, and 47% somewhat receptive
• Attitude toward new technology: 80% of the staff’s attitudes toward new technology was seen as very positive and 20% as somewhat receptive
• Costs: 60% of the libraries saw the costs associated with virtual reference as being a serious problem and 40% as a somewhat serious problem
• Reliability of technology: 87% felt the technology in their libraries was very reliable; 13% felt it to be somewhat reliable
• Importance of distance education: Distance education services were very important to 40%; somewhat important to 40% and not important to 20%
• Importance of virtual reference: Only 1 respondent felt it was not important; 7 felt it was very important, 7 felt it was somewhat important
• Staffing changes: 67% felt there would not staffing changes and 20% felt there would be more staff required. Others commented that they would not know until they tried it, or that services would have to be shifted rather than add staff.
• Additional comments
• There is not enough research on this as a method for providing research
• Staff is more interested in this as a method of instruction rather than strictly reference
• Budget cuts make this a low priority item
• There would need to be a pilot project to determine if this would be a useful service
• 24/7 reference is not necessary
  

     Related or similar initiatives underway elsewhere (emphasis is on academic library initiatives or cooperative projects involving academic libraries)

• Oregon State Library E-Reference Task Force (newly created)
  
  The Oregon State Library has appointed a Statewide E-Reference Task Force to craft a proposal to create a collaborative E-reference service in Oregon. Members to the Task Force include representatives from each Oregon Reference LINK library, representatives from OLA, one representative from OEMA (Oregon Educational Media Association), one representative from Orbis, and one representative from Portals.  Patrice O'Donovan from Linfield College will represent the Orbis Virtual Reference Task Force.
  
  The charges to the E-Reference Task Force are:
  1) To design a collaborative E-reference support service to serve end users (within public library service areas; students and faculty of schools, colleges, and universities), and public, academic, school, and publicly-funded special library staff in Oregon.
  2) To incorporate components of Oregon Reference LINK, as deemed necessary, as part of the proposal.
  3) To propose whether the service should be a virtual reference or digital reference system, that is, with a real time component or not.
  4) To propose whether the service should be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or on some other time schedule.
  5) To propose the costs of establishing and maintaining the service, and investigate what kind of compensation would be needed, if any, to the provider libraries.
  6) To submit a report to the State Library and the LSTA Advisory Council by October 1, 2002.  
  
  After the report is submitted, the LSTA Advisory Council will consider it and forward a recommendation about implementation to the State Library Board’s December meeting. 
  
  
• Statewide Virtual Reference Project.  Washington State Library.
  
  The Washington State Library Commission recently approved the funding of seven demonstration virtual reference demonstration projects that will begin in September 2002. These cooperative projects include the following libraries:
  
  1.King County Library System / University of Washington Libraries
  2. Washington State University-Vancouver / Clark College 
  3. Spokane Falls Community College / Spokane Community College / Pend Oreille County
  Library / Stevens County Library District / Whitman County Library 
  4. Skagit Valley College / Grays Harbor College 
  5. Seattle Public Library / King County Law Library / University of Washington Health
  Sciences Library 
  6. Tacoma Community College / Highline Community College 
  7. Whitman County Library / Pend Oreille County Library / Stevens County Library District 
  
  The goal of this LSTA-funded initiative is to provide virtual reference services to all residents of Washington State and users of the World Wide Web.  
  
  
• OhioLINK WebRef
  
  OhioLINK serves over 600,000 students, faculty and staff at 113 campus-based libraries at community colleges, four-year colleges, and universities throughout Ohio. It is important to note that OhioLINK provides access to 95 core databases available to all OhioLINK users. The stated objectives of the OhioLINK WebRef  project are: 1) Implement web-based chat reference system. 2) Answer questions through the chat service from at least 45 OhioLINK member institutions. 3) Train 25 reference librarians in use of chat software, and have them peer-instruct staff at their home and neighboring institutions.  4) Answer at least 80% of questions received in a manner deemed satisfactory by surveyed patrons. The WebRef service is scheduled for implementation by September 2002.  An initial pilot and evaluation of the service will be completed between the months of March-July 2002.  
  
  
• Alliance Library System. Ready for Reference. Ask a Librarian    

The Ready for Reference service is a collaborative 24x7 live reference service of eight academic libraries in the Alliance Library System in Illinois.    This service ,which was provided by the first academic consortium to offer live electronic reference service, went online in mid-February, 2001 and to 24/7 on March 5, 2001.  Among the participating institutions, four are community colleges, one is a state university and three are private universities or colleges.  Funding for this project was provided by the Illinois State Library, using federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding.   For a preliminary report see http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~b-sloan/ready4ref.htm.

• Metropolital Cooperative Library System (MCLS) 24/7 Reference service.
  (http://www.smpl.org/library/  via the Santa Monica Public Library's Web site
  or  http://www.247ref.org/)

This is a large multi-type library cooperative that provides live 24/7 reference assistance and  includes public, academic, K-12 and special libraries mainly in southern California with a few on the East Coast or the Pacific/Southwest.  The service became operational in 1999 with the help of an LSTA grant administered by the California State Library. For management, this project has a web-based schedule so that each librarian can see at a glance who is online. The software allows each of the participating libraries the freedom to implement the Live Reference Service in their own way, limit use of the service to their own registered library users and determine the hours at which the service is available.

• QandANJ

Q and A NJ is administered by the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, which provided the initial cost of start-up, training and software for shared use of LSSI's Virtual Reference Desk product. Currently there are 33 New Jersey libraries participating in this project, mostly public and county libraries, but also a few academic, including Burlington County College Library, Gloucester County College Library, and the Univ. of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey Library. As of January 28, 2002, the service has been open 24X7. 

• Collaborative Digital Reference Service/QuestionPoint

In August 2000, the Library of Congress (LC) and 16 other libraries introduced an online 24/7 reference service available to users worldwide. Since then CDRS has expanded its membership to over 200 academic, national, public, and private libraries.  Initially this service operated as a library-to-library service, with reference experts submitting patrons' questions online. Software that powered the system routed the question to the library best suited to answer it, based on information the library has provided about its expertise and about its hours of operation. Currently, QuestionPoint, jointly developed by LC and OCLC, is an enhancement of this original service combining email management, live chat, local and global knowledge databases, and administrative tools that support digital reference service. After the software release in summer 2002, patron questions will be automatically routed to participating libraries based on the following criteria: Subject 30%; Geographic area 20%; Load balancing 20%; Availability 20%; and Format expertise 20%.

    VR software

There is an increasing number of VR software offering a range of features, one of the main ones being the ability for the librarian and the library user to exchange chat messages.  Although there are free chat reference software available for libraries to use, additional software features usually imply a higher price to pay.  For a comparative look at the most popular software, see the VR software link prepared by the Orbis VRTF.

    Potential cost to the consortium and member libraries

VR is an add-on service and, at least for the foreseeable future, it can only be treated as an enhancement offered in addition to current reference services.  This may have financial implications for each individual library considering staffing needs.

Most of the VR software packages are fee-based and may involve costs (see the table above) for one-time purchase, for ongoing maintenance, and for training, depending on the software chosen.

There may be VR out-sourcing costs. For example, if Orbis consortium members decide to proceed with virtual reference but not to staff the service during late night hours (11 pm - 7 am), there are services (e.g. LSSI) that will answer questions during those hours for $10 each.

Besides financial costs, one needs to consider the time involved in the training of librarians to interact with patrons on a virtual basis. Virtual reference studies are showing that reference librarians, accustomed to personal or phone interaction with patrons, do not find virtual reference to be intuitive or "the same thing." 

Offering VR services through the consortium, implies that librarians will  need to be trained on a continuous basis also on other participating libraries' resources and policies. 

Libraries will need to expend energy and resources in the marketing of VR services to the communities they serve.

There may be funding considerations for Orbis regarding the coordination of VR among member institutions including on-going training, communication on policies and resources, scheduling, marketing, and continuous evaluation of the service.

Finally, staff and user interest in the service are going to be critical in the success of VR services. If the service is difficult for staff to sustain, or  if it does not attract many users, continuing the money and time investment on such services will need to be reevaluated and possibly discontinued.

    Recommendations for future action

VRTF finds that the introduction of virtual reference through Orbis will be consistent with the Orbis mission to "share the resources, enhance the services and strengthen support for its member libraries."  In addition, the task force believes that VR supports individual institutional goals for service to a growing body of remote users and  Distance Education students.

Because of the potential costs mentioned above, VR should be entered into for good reasons. Likewise, VR is a service that would probably be difficult for an individual library to sustain, but which can be an innovative and exciting success story, if consortium members share the costs. 

Based on the recent survey results, the task force considers the majority of Orbis libraries  very receptive to the prospect of establishing VR services through the consortium.  A cooperative approach to VR seems quite attractive minimizing the risk of staff and money investment associated with such an experimental  service.  Also, based on the survey results, the task force concludes that library staff attitudes among the individual institutions are expected to be positive and receptive to developing new required skills for the successful implementation of such service. 

The VRTF recommends a pilot  involving a small group of Orbis libraries (perhaps up to three libraries may be involved in this initial stage) to determine the feasibility and usefulness of web-based chat reference. The pilot may offer the service during hours of possible high demand and consider possibilities for expanding after the first experience. Libraries currently offering virtual reference are finding out that their peak hours are weekday afternoons. While a recommendation about precise service hours will be determined later on, the service could initially focus on weekday afternoons and include mornings, if possible.  

The preparations for the pilot service may take place in Fall 2002 allowing staff time to develop the necessary skills and to identify potential problems.  The service may open to the public by January 2003.

Specifically, upon Orbis Council approval, the present task force recommends the following steps in the implementation of a VR pilot project: 

• Determine the task force composition of members for the pilot project.  This new task force will be immediately involved in the implementation and evaluation of the pilot project.
• Announce the introduction of virtual reference and call for participation.
• Determine the initial software and costs involved.  The project may start with a less expensive software and consider options for additional features as the service develops.
• Determine timeline for software implementation and staff training.
• Identify remote access issues to participating library databases.
• Determine initial hours of service.
• Determine the type of patrons that may access the service.
• Determine the level of staff training in terms of information resources and policies in other participating libraries.
• Determine  scheduling issues.
• Determine how  referrals to other services or staff members can be handled.
• Determine ways to promote the service.
• Determine ways to develop and implement assessment and feedback mechanisms.
  

There may be additional issues to consider as Orbis moves forward with the initial set up of the pilot.

The VRTF would also like to note that QuestionPoint which is due for release this summer jointly by the Library of Congress and OCLC (see VR software table) provides an attractive option to collaborate on a quite large scale with other libraries nation wide but also to develop and maintain local control for the service Orbis members may wish to provide.  

Finally, the VRTF recommends that Orbis should participate in discussions with the newly created Oregon State Library E-Reference Task Force and consider the benefits and implications of a broader, multi-type collaborative effort to introduce VR services in the state of Oregon.  Issues that may need to be addressed include the needs of Orbis member libraries in the state of Washington and also the specific needs of higher ed clientele.