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Title:
"The Virtual Reference Handbook: Interview and Information Delivery Techniques for the Chat and E-mail Environments"
Review:
Looks can be deceiving. This thin paperback volume opened my eyes to the challenges of providing reference service by what I formerly thought of as 'non-traditional means'. I have seen the present, and, thanks to Diane Kovacs, I'm not afraid.
"The Virtual Reference Handbook" is organised into four main sections; the first, entitled 'Technical, Communications, and Reference Skills and Knowledge for Virtual Reference Librarians', stresses the importance of the reference interview and compares the processes used for face-to-face, chat and e-mail interviews. I was glad to see that the reference interview is still the starting point for helping patrons in the virtual world.
While I receive about a third of my daily reference queries by e-mail, I now realise I'm actually not participating in virtual reference. I have the flexibility to pick up the phone, or, in some cases, meet face-to-face with a patron. Kovacs discusses ways to communicate with patrons by chat or e-mail, letting them know the librarian is paying attention to their questions during the virtual reference interview, since non-verbal forms of communication, such as eye contact and gestures, are missing in virtual reference.
What I like most about this book is its organisation and emphasis on practising until you're comfortable with the many skills that contribute to providing virtual reference. I mentioned the book is broken into four main sections above, but each one has a section on competencies, questions and answers with eight librarians currently providing virtual reference, self-assessment activities, and a list of reference and recommended reading.
Technical competencies are as important as reference skills, and Kovacs provides links for Web-based learning activities. How do you make it on the West End? Practise. The same is true for virtual reference. Librarians need to be adept at attaching and sending files by e-mail, using toolbars and plugs-ins, and scanning documents to send to patrons.
Chapter 3, 'Practice and Expand Communication Skills and Knowledge for the Virtual Reference Interview', certainly builds on the material in previous chapters. Again, Kovacs interviews seasoned virtual reference providers, asking them to share their 'bad' chat interview stories and lessons learned. She lists Web-based tutorials to improve communication skills and provides information on professional discussion lists and blogs for librarians using virtual reference. She and her fellow librarians consider the uses of emoticons and chat styles, and the author gives a list of common chat and e-mail abbreviations.
The final part of this true handbook focuses on maintaining and building reference skills and knowledge. Librarians need to have a full toolbox of core reference resources and be able to guide and instruct patrons in the use of these materials, whether they are electronic or print. There are many thought-provoking quotes, which I won't re-type here, that made me smile and nod to myself. I like the fact that Kovacs includes references to journal articles, papers and books throughout this title. If I come away from reading this book with only one thought, it would be 'remember why you became a reference librarian, way back when' and, with some practice and informal training, the pieces will fall into place.
FreePint Reviewer:
Laura Suttell has been a reference librarian at Phillips Lytle, in Buffalo, NY, since 2001. She received her MLS degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1994 and serves as a board member and grants committee coordinator for her local chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries. Suttell is also the Buffalo coordinator for the Special Libraries Association's Upstate New York Chapter. She has assisted in planning the 2007 Northeast Regional Law Libraries Meeting - Libraries Without Borders II, and is looking forward to this event, happening this October in Toronto.
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