Twenty-six of 75 respondents described their environment as one in which responsibility rotates among several people on an established basis. Twenty-five described a situation where questions are received by a single individual and distributed to others. Many libraries assign responsibility for answering electronic reference questions to librarians at the reference desk or on telephone reference duty. Others set up a triage system where basic questions are answered by librarians on the reference desk and others are forwarded to subject specialists. Some services allow users to choose the branch library or department to receive their question, so the staffing arrangement may vary by location.
Response time is a minor issue for the respondents.
Despite the current interest in assessment as a management tool, little information about users is being collected by ARL libraries in the area of electronic reference services. Strategies for assessment have included questions on the service as part of a general library user survey and follow-up at the end of individual transactions. Web-based database management systems, the Internet Public Library's software, and paper were mentioned as alternative archiving techniques. This survey shows that electronic reference service has become an established form of reference delivery within ARL libraries. It is yet another example of libraries' efforts to exploit technology and provide services to remote users.