Comments on: my VR experience, follow-up

By: Unit 7: Near East « INLS 758 Blog

Unit 7: Near East « INLS 758 Blog — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 21:14:18 +0000

[...] I have some of the same qualms about libraries outsourcing reference work – through 24-hour virtual reference services where a patron might chat online with a librarian who might come from a completely different academic or organizational culture and who is not familiar with the resources available to the patron. Jessamyn West, who writes at librarian.net, chronicled an less than wonderful experience she had with a virtual reference service, reflected later that “The VR librarian never gets to know you, never learns your habits, doesn’t have an investment in your continued patronage and in fact wouldn’t have a way to continue a librarian relationship with you if they wanted to.” To me, this is eerily similar to the practices of corporations who outsource their business. Jessamyn continues on to say that it is very important for libraries not to value expedience over people and to have profit as a motive over service. Libraries, I believe should not follow the path of corporations in this growing trend of outsourcing, but instead should continue to get to know and understand their communities and partner with them in providing the best library services possible. Posted in Assignments | [...]

By: L-net staff information blog » talking about bloggers talking about virtual reference, or, how to conduct a reference interview and show your patrons that you love them

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 03:29:14 +0000

[...] A bloggy discussion started by Jessamyn West last week has been making the rounds, and I hope that everyone will have a look at what Jennie Levine, Steven Cohen, Luke Rosenberger and Jessamyn again have said. I am thrilled to not have a lot to add – these intrepid bloggers are right on the money. [...]

By: lukethelibrarian

lukethelibrarian — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 15:49:36 +0000

Thanks for the followup. I absolutely think that the relationship issue you refer to is actually a very important concern, and one that isn't coming up nearly enough in discussions about VR implementations. The fact of the matter is, there's nothing inherent to "the VR model" that would actually make such relationships impossible -- if we start thinking out of the box with our policies and implementations. In terms of software, there's no reason a patron couldn't be presented with a choice of all of the currently available librarians (local, consortial, and freelance) to choose from if they wished to work with a particular favorite librarian. There's also no technical reason that patrons must be in the dark about when their favorite librarian will be available to work with them next. The problem has been with implementation. Why are librarians perfectly willing to sit at a desk with a nametag and make themselves totally available to anyone who walks up to them, yet online they prefer to reveal nothing more than their initials, if even that? I have blogged over and over about how VR is an opportunity for libraries to reach out and actually serve patrons with a trusted human voice online -- but we're squandering away that opportunity with policies that create a false dichotomy between safety/security and warmth/relationships.