Reflections of Reference Practice: Analyzing Virtual

Reference Transcripts

Presented by Marie L. Radford

andLynn Silipigni Connaway

2007 ALISE ConferenceSeattle, WA, January 15-18, 2007

Presenters

Marie L. Radford, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Rutgers University, SCILS Email: mradford@scils.rutgers.edu www.scils.rutgers.edu/~mradford

Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D. Consulting Research Scientist Email: connawal@oclc.org www.oclc.org/research/staff/connaway.htm

Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, and Librarian Perspectives

$1,103,572 project funded by:

Institute of Museum and Library Services $684,996 grant

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, Inc. $405,076 in kind contributions

Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, and Librarian Perspectives

Project duration 10/1/2005-9/30/2007

Four phases: Focus group interviews* Analysis of 1,000+ QuestionPoint

transcripts 600 online surveys* 300 telephone interviews*

*Interviews & surveys with VRS users, non-users, & librarians

24/7-QuestionPoint Transcript Analysis

Previous sample: 24/7 July 7, 2004 through June 27, 2005 263,673 sessions 25 transcripts/month = 300 total

New sample: QuestionPoint December 1, 2005 through August 31, 2006 298,237 sessions 50 transcripts/month= 450 total

Total transcripts analyzed: 750

6 Analyses Geographical Distribution

Originating library Librarian respondent

Type of Library Wait Time & Session Time Type of Questions

Katz/Kaske Classification Subject of Questions

Dewey Decimal Classification Interpersonal Communication

Radford Classification

VRS Session Times Wait time

Mean – 1.87 Minutes Median – 1 Minute Minimum – 1 Second Maximum – 67 Minutes

Session time Mean – 12.42 Minutes Median – 12 Minutes Minimum – 12 Seconds Maximum – 71 Minutes

234

0

137

40

7

37

63

2

262

187172

165

64

37

13 10

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Public QuestionPointBackup

Academic Consortium National Law State Other Special

Num

ber

of T

rans

crip

ts

Originating library (N=723) Respondent (N=707)

N = 723

VRS Transactions by Library Type

US-Pacific, 40.0%

US-Northeast, 17.3%

US-Southeast, 13.1%

Australia, 9.8%

England, 3.2%

Canada, 2.8%

Other countries, 1.2%

US-West, 2.2%

US-S. Central, 2.9%

US-N. Central, 6.4%

Non-US, 17.0%

N = 730

VRS Questions by Location of Originating Library

US-Pacific, 35.8%

US-Northeast, 21.4%

US-Southeast, 20.5%

Australia, 10.5%

England, 3.7%

Canada, 2.0%

Other countries, 0.8%

US-West, 1.7%US-S. Central, 3.1%

US-N. Central, 3.4%

Non-US, 17.0%

N = 712

Location of VRS Librarian Respondents

30 seconds or less 37.2%

31-90 seconds 37.8%

1.5 to 8 minutes 21.6%

9 to 67 minutes 3.3%

N = 658

MEAN = 1.87 minutesMEDIAN = 1 minute

Wait Time for VRS

Academic, 1.04

Public, 1.13

Other Special, 1.22

Consortium, 1.71

State, 1.80

National, 2.78

Law, 9.03

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

MinutesN = 657

QuestionPoint Backup, 1.61

VRS Mean Wait Time by Library Type

National, 11.67

Public, 13.68

Academic, 14.07

State, 14.41

QP Backup, 14.52

Law, 14.82

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Minutes

N = 577

Consortium, 16.60

VRS Mean Session Times by Library Type

Directional, 0.2%

Inappropriate, 1.4%

Research, 2.6%

Holdings, 7.8%

No Question, 11.3%

Subject Search, 30.0%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Percent of OccurrenceN = 810

Ready Reference, 26.8%

Policy and Procedural, 20.6%

Reader's Advisory, 0.1%

VRS Questions by Type

Inappropriate, 1.0%

Religion, 1.2%

Language, 1.3%

Literature, 3.5%

Science, 7.0%

Technology, 7.1%

Other, 12.2%

Procedural, 17.6%

Social Sciences 23.8%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Percent of Occurrence

N = 761

History & Geography, 13.6%

Arts & Recreation, 5.1%

Compupter Science & General, 4.1%

Philosophy & Psychology, 1.0%

VRS Questions by Subject

Results Interpersonal Communication Analysis

2 Major Themes

Relational Facilitators Aspects with positive impact on interaction

that enhance communication.

Relational Barriers Aspects with negative impact on interaction

that impede communication.

Comparison of Relational Facilitators

N=558

409

357

170

216233

372344

153

77

214

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

RapportBuilding

Deference ReRep. Of NVCues

GreetingRitual

Closing Ritual

Librarian

User

Comparison of Relational Barriers

88113

77

214

0

50

100

150

200

250

Relational Disconnect Closing Problems

Librarian

User

N=558

Transcript Reading

Positive Transcript Example Question Type: Ready Reference Subject Type: Economics Duration: 19 min., 21 sec.

Negative Transcript Example Question Type: Subject Search Subject Type: Parapsychology & Occultism Duration: 7 min., 29 sec.

End Notes This is one outcome from the project Seeking

Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, & Librarian Perspectives, Marie L. Radford & Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Co-Principal Investigators.

Funded by IMLS, Rutgers University and OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, Inc.

Special thanks to Jocelyn DeAngelis Williams, Patrick Confer, Julie Strange, Susanna Sabolcsi-Boros, & Timothy Dickey.

These slides available at project website: http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/synchronicity/