Due to technological advancement, remote or virtual works have become popular in many fields, such as in education, business, and so on. In the area of library, virtual reference (VR) services are also being practised in many institutions. It is obvious that virtual services provide a lot of advantages (E.G. equitable access, quality information at no charge, ETC.), STILL, THERE ARE MANY ISSUES TO CONSIDER UPON.
First, since the remote or virtual services require the moderate to high technological skills, libraries should prepare their staff to deal with this change. Also, infrastructure and technological equipment are essential; there should be enough budgets ready to support this part.
Confidentiality of patrons is another issue that librarians should consider. It is true that because of anonymity nature of online services, identity of patrons is protected. However, there is a concern about the security and authentication problems in Off-the-Record Messaging inherent in IM.
http://www.xelerance.com/mirror/otr/
Eventually, library should find ways to guarantee and ensure that confidentiality of patrons is treated as the same level as the traditional services.
Apart from the provider–the library site, Administrators should also consider the readiness of patrons as well, such as their digital literacy, supported tools/access point, and so forth. These are factors that influence the use of services, and hence, affect the cost- effective as the whole operation.
One of the interesting solutions offered by Lipow (1997) is to provide virtual reference services as part of a consortium or some kind of collaboration, but that will probably change as virtual reference becomes as common a service as renewing books online. Let’s see what the future of this VR services is!
Reference:
Lipow, A. G. (1997). Thinking Out Loud: Who Will Give Reference Service in the Digital Environment? Reference and User Services Quarterly 37(2), 125-129. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from Wilson Web.
May 22, 2009 at 7:11 pm |
You bring up some intersting points that need to be considered when offering Virtual Reference service. Your comment about adminstrators determining the rediness of patrons seem to be very important. We may not want to put all of the power in the hands of adminstrators. As they may not have the same interaction with the people visiting the library as other staff members do.