Going Live : Starting and Running Virtual Reference Service
Contents: Preface. 1. Reference: the first one hundred years. 2. Getting started: designing virtual reference systems. 3. Managing virtual reference services. 4. Marketing virtual reference services. 5. Where do we go from here? Appendices: i. Software feature checklist. ii. Sample pre-employment screening test and key. Virtual reference services bibliography/Bernie Sloan. Index.
"If your customers don\'t sleep, why should your reference service? Online library reference services available 24/7 are offered in a growing number of institutions. With many models to choose from and more details to be worked out, it is a critical time for librarians to assess their patrons\' needs and marker their services to address these needs.
Collecting and documenting what thousands of virtual reference librarians have learned over the past few years, this comprehensive guide provides a needed overview to help new and aspiring virtual reference library departments and their directors and administrators, reference librarians, and project managers, to understand the entire process and its ramifications. Here are the basics of designing, implementing, operating and marketing a virtual reference service from the ground up.
In a text supplemented with checklists, so no key elements is forgotten, this reference offers the real-world answer from leading experts to the most common questions:
Where has web-based library reference come from and where is it going?
What is the best digital reference software to address specific needs?
Who should staff the virtual reference desktop and how do they get hired and trained?
When and how does a library market such a radical new service?
Why are evaluations and system enhancements critical to the future of digital reference?
With a look into the costs, and a look into the future, supplemented with the most comprehensive bibliography available on the topic, going live is a one stop resource for getting started in digital reference service." (jacket)
