Virtual Reference Service of the Russian State Library (Russia, Moscow)

2  Russian State Library’s VRS http://www.rsl.ru/ru/vs/ is realized on base of the OCLC QuestionPoint (QP) software.

 It was launched on April 17, 2007

5 departments of the library participate in reference service 3

Administrator and coordinator – Reference and Bibliographical Dept. Library science, bibliography and book studies dept. Dept. of public state and regulatory publications Dept. of Internet and digital stock Department of newspapers Department of dissertations

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Our bibliographers serve users 5 days a week

Main channels for communication with our users 5

Forms of communication with users

6 Virtual Reference Service of Russian State Library operates as in ‘postponed answer’ mode and in real-time mode (chat).

VRS “postponed answer” mode

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Bibliographers are supposed to give answers within 2 to 3 working days but they are always ready before the due time.

Kinds of reference questions our VRS answers

8     Thematic questions – reference answers containing list of documents (books, articles, dissertations etc.) on the same topic; Clarification questions – answers which clarify or define bibliographic description elements; Address questions – references on availability and/or location of documents; Factual questions – answers, containing info on some event, person, object etc.

Examples of questions coming to VRS through a web-form

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Thematic questions

 Will you please help me to find information on Open-air museums.

Genesis of open-air museums.

Skansen as a modern type of museum.

 Please help me to find materials on the topic of “A question of war in Russian philosophy”. Ideas of P. Florensky, S. Bulgakov, and other Russian philosophers about social role of war. How did they consider the “thou shalt do no murder” commandment and patriotic duty for the defense of home country? What did they think of sin of murder and slaughterer? What do church officers declare of it? Looking forward to your answer, Anton.

Examples of questions coming to VRS through web-form 10

Orientation questions

• Could I look through collections of the library through Internet? Could you also email me texts of books which I’m looking for?

Clarification questions

• Has ever the ”Special case” novel by Yuri Yarovoy been published? If yes, how could I find it?

• Will you please check whether you have the book titled “Principles of electromagnetic theory” by I.E. Tamm? (Gostekhizdat Publishing house, 1941). My question relates to the national research priority.

Examples of questions coming to VRS through a web-form

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Address questions

 Do you have a set of “Trud” newspapers published in 1929?   Is the “National memoirs” magazine available in the library? I need the edition dated by 1828, pages 39-70 and 211-241 (articles by I. Yakovkin). Could I find the “Memory-training self-teaching book” in the library?

Examples of questions coming to VRS through a web form

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Factual questions

 Conductor bolster drawing for the hole enlarging.

  What’s the height of Saratov’s steam power plant chimney? How can I find addresses of European and American university libraries?

VRS: serving users through chat

13 Chat option was introduced in the Russian State Library in November 2010.

It’s available Monday to Friday from 10.00 till 15.00.

Examples of questions which VRS has received through chat

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6371320:

Good morning! Does your library maybe have an archival file of “Land regulation, cadastre register and land monitoring” magazine? If yes, could I check in a few copies to the reading hall?

6363304:

I’m looking for the electronic version of “Preparation of theses on military science and technology: textbook” by A. Dolgov, Kalinin-city, 1989.

6359103:

How can I order a book from home by using the library e-catalog?

7850404:

What kind of literature could you advise for writing a diploma on Russian, English, and Arab phraseology?

Forms of answers

15 Answers can be given to users in form of:  textual answer accompanied with a link to the information source, including Internet;  list of bibliographic records;  bibliographic consultation;  re-direction to a specific institution plus indication of contact information.

Overcoming difficulties in serving users

16    Lack of confidence demonstrated by bibliographers at the beginning of operation due to absence of the proper online communication skills; Fear of giving an incorrect response due to work under stress; Necessity of continuous education in new technologies to catch up with users’ demands .

Geographical span of RSL VRS

17 VRS receives 10 to 25 questions (incl. chat) a day from different countries of the world in different languages:

Russia, CIS and the near abroad (in Russian) as well as from far abroad (in foreign languages)

 English:

Dear Sirs, where can I find an electronically accessible English database of all Russian dissertations after the year 2000 ? Thank you for your efforts! Best regards, Jakob

 French:

Voulez-vous bien m'envoyer une bibliographie assez détaillée sur l'écrivain suivant et si possible m'indiquer la manière pour acquerir un de ses ouvrage ?: Meierovitch G.I.,l'auteur de Roumantsèv à Saint Petersbourg edition L. année 1987 . Merci. Messabih

 Polish:

Dzień dobry, Jak mogę zapisać się do biblioteki? Chcę przez internet czytać zdygitalizowane dysertacje, książki. Jestem historykiem i archiwistą. Pracuje w Archiwum Państwowym w Toruniu Oddział we Włocławku. Serdecznie pozdrawiam dr Tomasz

 Japanese: 国際学部 教員のみなさま 国際学部

FD

委員会 アンケート回答に関してご質問がありましたので、改めて、教員アンケートのマニュアルをお 送りいたします。 とくに、添付ファイルのマニュアル手順５においては、「確認」をクリックしてください。 間違えてアンケートのタイトルをクリックした場合は、アンケート編集画面になり、回答画面 にはなりません。 回答期限は、

3

月

25

日

(

金）となっておりますが、どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。すでにご 協力いただいた皆さま、ありがとうございました。 そのほか、アンケート回答に関してご質問がおありの場合には、遠慮なく学部

FD

委員会（城多 、板谷、大庭）までお問い合わせください。 18

Statistics: the year of 2012 19

Knowledge Base Service

Records Activated

Ask Service

Questions Referred to Subscription Partner Questions/Chat Transcripts Deleted Questions (Total) Received

Chat Service

Number(Total) of Chat Sessions Requested Number of Chat Sessions Requested via Qwidget 1425 631 201 4754 817 103

Letters of gratitude received from our users

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3371826:

Thank you for your swift, distinct and full and complete reply. I the occasion I would like to thank the Russian State Library’s VRS for the high-quality way of work. Long life to the Russian State Library’s VRS and all the best wishes. Kindest regards, Mikhail.

3115132:

Thank you so much for your assistance! I wish you all success and prosperity!!!! Terribly grateful!!! Best regards, Sergey Vassiliev.

7246030:

Anfissa Fantastic! You’ve provided me with links to very interesting resources! Thank you very much!!! Kindest regards,

7202401:

God bless you! Thank you for your kind attitude and patience, Yuri.

D E P U T Y O F T H E R E F E R E N C E A N D B I B L I O G R A P H I C S E R V I C E D E P A R T M E N T M A R I N A N E S H C H E R E T M N E R @ R S L . R U Т Е Л . + 7 ( 4 9 5 ) 6 9 1 - 8 3 - 4 7 Chief administrator Russian State Library Virtual Reference Service

Eugenia Naydina

[email protected]

тел. (495) 622-86-05 21