Virtual Reference Services

Stephen D. Coffman, Vice President Public Library Operations/East Library Systems and Services, LLC

ARL Reference Statistics Reference Meets the Web DOWN  42.1% 1997-2003

Commercial Reference Services The 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 Rakim IM 60 Total = 3000+

How It Works

Co-Browsing Technology Librarian’s Browser Go to url: Patron’s Browser • 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.cf

m?PID=162

UCLA 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Sp rin g 20 Su 01 m m er 2 00 1 Fa ll 20 W 01 in te r 2 00 Sp 2 rin g 20 Su 02 m m er 2 00 2 Fa ll 20 W 02 in te r 2 00 Sp 3 rin g 20 Su 03 m m er 2 00 3 Fa ll 20 W 03 in te r 2 00 4

Quarter

Number of transactions Number of open hours per week

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

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 $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 Illinois Public Library Statistics – 2002

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

Re-Examine Staffing = 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

Operating Costs Name Staff Costs $1,072,858 7 Staff Other 25 Total 32 Staff $315.55 Staff $2.43 Staff $2.95 % Staff / Budget 62% Materials Cost $337,251 Operating Costs Name Orland Park PL, IL Staff Costs $435,512 $1,072,858 Prof / mgmt 3 7 Staff Other 21 25 Total 24 32 Staff Cost Per Hour $167.50 $315.55 Staff Cost Per $1.03 $2.43 Staff Cost Per Visit $1.40 $2.95 % Staff / Budget 69.5% 62% Materials Cost $48,000 $337,251 Temecula PL, CA Orland Park PL, IL 72 hours per week $415,740 $435,512 2 3 20 21 22 24 $84.09 $167.50 $0.64 $1.03 $0.90 $1.40 12.8% 69.5% $3,250,000 $48,000 Borders, Orland Park, IL Temecula PL, CA 96 hours per week $415,740 2 20 22 $84.09 $0.64 $0.90 12.8% $3,250,000 Borders, Orland Park, IL

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 Erlang C Calculations for a Networked Reference Service Table B Erlang C Calculations for Existing Desk Reference Service Number of Reference Transactions / Hour

Average Amount of Time Per Transaction in seconds Average Post Processing Time in seconds Service Level Percentage ("x" in the formula "x percent of calls answered in y seconds" Number of Seconds to answer ("y" in "x percent of calls answered in y seconds") Number of Minutes in the Interval Being Measured

Number of Staff Required Staff Occupancy Rate (%)

Average Speed of Answer in seconds (time average caller spends on hold)

1620

60 169 60 80 20

116 89

9

Number of Reference Transactions / Hour

Average Amount of Time Per Transaction in seconds Average Post Processing Time in seconds Service Level Percentage ("x" in the formula "x percent of calls answered in y seconds" Number of Seconds to answer ("y" in "x percent of calls answered in y seconds")

920

169 60 NA NA Number of Minutes in the Interval Being Measured

Number of Staff Available Staff Occupancy Rate (%)

Average Speed of Answer in seconds (time average caller spends on hold) 60

116 50

NA

Centralization = More Appropriate Staffing

20 Librarians For the Hard Stuff 46 Paraprofessionals To Answer the Easy Questions

Columbus Public Library Call Center Project Calls to 614 645-2ASK (2275)

Internal Job Ad

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

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