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State of Virtual Reference. January 2004. Libraries using VR. Gerry McKiernan’s Registry of Virtual Reference: (http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/LiveRef.htm) Joseph Janes’ global census of Virtual Reference ( http://www.vrd2003.org/proceedings/presentation.cfm?PID=162 )
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State of Virtual Reference January 2004
Libraries using VR • Gerry McKiernan’s Registry of Virtual Reference: (http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/LiveRef.htm) • Joseph Janes’ global census of Virtual Reference (http://www.vrd2003.org/proceedings/presentation.cfm?PID=162) • Hundreds of libraries doing VR alone or in consortia. • More VR software providers than ever. • Other big trend: Patrons using IM.
Collaborations • Almost 100 collabs on Bernie Sloans pages. • (http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~b-sloan/collab.htm) • QuestionPoint • Night Owl (NCSU, UNC, Duke) • State Services: (MASSanswers, AnswerZone, AnswerOnline, AskAway,KANanswer, Answerland), Regional, National (ASERL’s project, CDRS) International (Ask A Librarian- Finland, AskNow- Australia)
Organizations • Virtual Reference Desk. (http://www.vrd.org) They host the VRD conference. • MARS Ad Hoc Committee on Virtual Reference: working on guidelines, policies and standards for librarian behavior and administration of Virtual Reference.
Other Virtual Services • Ask a+ Locator- A network of expert-based services (for instance, ask an ornithologist) (http://www.vrd.org/locator/subject.shtml) • LSSI and 24/7- “rent a librarian” services. • RIP AskERIC- Educator’s Reference Desk (http://www.eduref.org/) • Why isn’t there an EbscoHost VR service??
Standards • Interoperability between systems • Interoperability with email • Librarian Performance guidelines • Administration practices Major Players: • RUSA- quality, behavior, administration • NISO Netref community (hardware, software, metadata, organization schemes)- stems from work on WRC
Listservs • DIG_REF http://www.vrd.org/Dig_Ref/dig_ref.shtml • Livereference http://groups.yahoo.com/group/livereference/