E-2 Chat 2.0: Renovating Virtual Reference

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Monday, July 27 - 10:00am - 10:30am
Location: 
WCC-Room 146 C
Target Audience: 
Librarians who want to implement or improve their library’s virtual reference services
Learning Outcomes: 
1) Participants will improve their existing chat reference service or implement a chat service to meet their patrons’ needs.
2) Participants will gain the skills necessary to perform an in-depth study of their virtual reference service.

Law libraries have long recognized the need to reach out to patrons who do not visit the library. One way that many libraries do this is to offer a chat or IM reference service. This program will discuss how one library, Georgetown University Law Library, renovated its popular and heavily used chat service after conducting a scientific evaluation of the chat transcripts. Yasmin Morais, the Library Resident, led the library’s effort to design and conduct an in-depth scientific study of Georgetown’s chat reference transcripts. She will discuss the findings of the study—specifically, who uses chat reference and what types of questions they ask. Sara Sampson, the Head of Reference, will discuss the administrative and management issues surrounding the study — specifically, how the study was designed and undertaken and how the library’s chat reference service was improved in response to the study.

Speaker(s): 
Sara Sampson, Coordinator and Speaker, Georgetown University Law Library
Yasmin L. A. Morais, Georgetown University Law Library