User Preferences in Reference Services: Virtual Reference and Academic Libraries

This study examines the use of chat in an academic library’s user population and where virtual reference services might fit within the spectrum of public services offered by academic libraries. Using questionnaires, this research demonstrates that many within the academic community are open to the idea of chat-based reference or using chat for some loosely defined “research purposes,” but this openness does not necessarily result in high levels of use. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether the lack of virtual reference use could, in part, be explained by students’ preference for competing methods and technologies for obtaining reference assistance. This study demonstrates a pattern that suggests chat-based reference does not compete well with other methods of providing reference service. As academic libraries continue to adapt to meet the needs of new student populations, traditional service points have also evolved. In response to declining use statistics,1 reference desks staffed by librarians who meet face-to-face or by phone with students in a defined physical space are increasingly supplemented by e-mail, virtual reference, instant messaging services, and Web logs.2 In this changing environment, how traditional and virtual reference services will be used by the next generation of students remains an area open to inquiry and research. The ability to communicate with users in a variety of modes is an important one for librarians. It is often cited as a reason that many new services are designed or purchased and implemented.3 Synchronous chat-based reference is one example of a communication technology that was enthusiastically accepted by the library community, producing several highly successful digital reference services nationwide. In some cases, however, interest in providing the service was not always matched by actual use.4 As a result, a number of these digital reference projects have now been indefinitely suspended or discontinued altogether. User Preferences in Reference Services: Virtual Reference and Academic Libraries 82 During the winter of 2004, librarians at Washington State University (WSU) examined the use of chat-based library assistance in an effort to understand where virtual reference might fit within the larger array of public service options. The main WSU campus is located in Pullman, Washington. The university includes three regional campuses located around the state. Using Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding, chat-based virtual reference services were implemented on the Pullman and Vancouver campuses as a collaborative pilot project in the fall of 2002. In a previous study by the authors, it was noted that the WSU Libraries digital reference service received very little use.5 Steve Coffman and Linda Arret noted in a 2004 article series “To Chat or Not To Chat,” parts I and II, that there was a marked decline in chat reference “patrons,” despite the fact that most of the library chat services had just opened for business approximately one year prior.6 Many chat services were also discontinued after only a few short years of business. This WSU Libraries study expands on those patron use and satisfaction findings. It examines the use of chat in an academic library’s user population and where virtual reference services might fit within the spectrum of public services offered by academic libraries. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether the lack of virtual reference use could, in part, be explained by students’ preference for competing methods and technologies for obtaining reference assistance. Virtual reference as a method of reference service delivery has been considered a new frontier in library service. Unfortunately, recent evidence has shown that, despite the library community’s enthusiasm for virtual reference, this mode of providing reference services has not been a universally popular method with users. The authors noted in an earlier article that there was a willingness among the academic community to use chat-based reference service for research or questions about the library, but this expressed willingness did not result in high use of the virtual reference service. We did find that the service was successful in providing useful answers to questions, and overall satisfaction with the virtual reference experience was high.7