Richardson/DIS 2002

Symphony of Synchronicity?Evaluating Chat Reference

Dr. John V. Richardson Jr.

UCLA Professor of Information Studies

LSSI Presidential Scholar

VRD Chicago, 12 November 2002

Richardson/DIS 2002

Presentation Outline

S. S. Green’s Qualities Attributes Identified by Subsequent Authors RUSA Behavioral Guidelines Open vs. Closed Questions LSSI’s Green Guidelines Assessing Transcripts Further Readings

Richardson/DIS 2002

Green’s Qualities (1876)

Courteous disposition Sympathy Cheerfulness Patience Enthusiasm

SOURCE: S.S. Green, “Personal Relations Between Librarians and Readers,” American Library Journal 1 (November 1876): 79ff. See http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/jrichardson/DIS220/personal.htm

Richardson/DIS 2002

Subsequent Textbook Authors

Wyer (1930) Intelligence, Accuracy, and Judgment

Hutchins (1944) Memory, Imagination, and Perseverance

The Effective Reference Librarian (1981) Tact, Intelligence, and Imagination

Katz (1982) Professional Knowledge, Judgment, Speed

SOURCE: Richardson, KBS (1995), p. 25

Richardson/DIS 2002

ALA RUSA Behavioral Guidelines (1996)

Readiness Interest Understanding Verification

SOURCE: “RUSA Behavioral Guidelines for Information Professionals”; for a discussion see Saxton and Richardson, Understanding Reference Transactions (2002), p. 60ff.

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Open vs. Closed Questions

Open-ended questions are those questions that will solicit additional information from the inquirer. Sometimes called infinite response or unsaturated type questions. Note that neutral questions are merely a subset of open questions, according to Dervin and Dewdney.

Closed ended questions are those questions, which can be answered finitely by either “yes” or “no.” Also known as saturated type questions.

SOURCE: http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/jrichardson/DIS220/openclosed.htm

Richardson/DIS 2002

Open Questions

How may I help you? Where have you looked already? What aspect are you looking for? What kind of information are you looking for? What would you like to know about [topic]? When you say [topic], what do you mean?

SOURCE: Based in part on reclassifying some examples from Jennerich and Jennerich (1987), p. 14; Ohio Reference Excellence (2000), p. 8; and Dervin and Dewdney (1986), p. 509.

Richardson/DIS 2002

Closed Questions

Can I help you? May I help you? Can you give me more information? Can you describe the kind of information you want? Can you give me an example? Could you be more specific? Are you looking for [topic]?

SOURCE: Based in part on reclassifying some examples from Jennerich and Jennerich (1987), p. 14; Ohio Reference Excellence (2000), p. 8; and Dervin and Dewdney (1986), p. 509.

Richardson/DIS 2002

LSSI Green Guidelines

Drawing upon the variety of sources previously mentioned, LSSI’s SS Green Award for Exemplary Reference uses multiple criteria:

Http://purl.org/net/checklist

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Assessing LSSI Transcripts

Several model transactions are available for public perusal April -October 2002 Source:

http://www.vrtoolkit.net/greenaward/awardwinners.htm

Submit your own for consideration: http://orca.pwl.com/greenaward/green_submit.html

Richardson/DIS 2002

Further Readings

The LSSI checklist is based on findings presented in the research literature. For a model of the process, see John V. Richardson Jr., “Modeling the Reference Process: A Systems Approach,” College and Research Libraries 60 (May 1999): 211-222 and is reprinted in Saxton and Richardson, Understanding Reference Transactions (2002), chapter 7. For more background research on each of the questions in the checklist, see “The Current State of Research on Reference Transactions,” In Advances in Librarianship, vol. 26, edited by Frederick C. Lynden. New York: Academic Press, 2002. You can find nearly 1,000 citations to reference related studies at http://purl.org/net/ reference or those 250 related solely to virtual reference work, see http://purl.org/net/vqa.