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Clarification of Virtual Reference Queries: Librarians and Users Interaction Patterns

This study analyzes how librarians and users clarify virtual reference queries based on data gathered from focus group interviews, chat transcripts, surveys, and telephone interviews. It explores the types of clarifications made by librarians and users during interactions, highlighting patterns and differences in their approaches.

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Clarification of Virtual Reference Queries: Librarians and Users Interaction Patterns

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  1. ARE WE GETTING WARMER? QUERY CLARIFICATION IN VIRTUAL REFERENCE Marie L. Radford Lynn Silipigni Connaway Library Research Round Table ALA Annual Conference Washington, DC June 23, 2007

  2. Seeking Synchronicity:Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, & Librarian Perspectives Funded byInstitute of Museum & Library Services Rutgers University & OCLC (10/05-9/07) Four phases: • Focus group interviews • Analysis of 850 QuestionPoint live chat transcripts • 600 online surveys • 300 telephone interviews

  3. Would you clarify?

  4. A helpful answer?

  5. i don’t want scuba diving classesi want driving classes

  6. Do librarians clarify? Good news! n=581

  7. When librarians clarify… 50% (217) asked the highly recommended follow-up question: “Does this completely answer your question?” n=434

  8. What do librarians clarify? • Topic • Background • Verify Their Understanding • Search History • Type of Resource • Extent/Depth • Referral • Corrected User Misunderstanding

  9. Librarians ask about TOPIC 45% (195) sought TOPIC information “Is there a specific animal that you're researching?” n=434

  10. Librarians ask about BACKGROUND 31% (133) sought BACKGROUND information “When is your paper due?” “Are you in the NYC area?” n=434

  11. Librarians VERIFY 20% (87) VERIFIED their understanding “So you are looking for the reasons why the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor?” n=434

  12. Librarians ask about SEARCH HISTORY 19% (83) sought SEARCH HISTORY information “Ok, and have you checked their Web sites yet?” n=434

  13. Librarians ask about TYPE OF RESOURCE 11% (49) sought TYPE OF RESOURCE information “Are you looking for books, articles, or online information?” n=434

  14. Librarians ask about EXTENT/DEPTH 11% (48) sought EXTENT/DEPTH information “Were you looking for in-depth history? Or a summary?” n=434

  15. REFERRAL 4% (16) asked a REFERRAL question “Do you want me to refer your question to your library?” n=434

  16. CORRECTED MISUNDERSTANDING 2% (7) CORRECTEDMISUNDERSTANDING “By the way, what I told you about the list being in strictly chronological order was not correct; I'm sorry.” n=434

  17. How about the Users? • Users offered information about: • Topic • Background • Extent/Depth • Correct Librarian’s Misunderstanding

  18. Users Clarify TOPIC 52% (69) offered TOPIC information “I am doing marketing reseach on marylands restaurant industry” n=132

  19. Users Clarify BACKGROUND 24% (32) offered BACKGROUND information “I am in 7th grade GT Sciene and I am Doing a 2 year research project…” n=132

  20. Users Gave EXTENT/DEPTH 20% (26) offered EXTENT/DEPTH information “the thing is i need it to be simple and not to wordy” n=132

  21. Users CORRECT Librarian’s Misunderstanding 16% (21) CORRECTED the librarian’s misunderstanding “No. The form says I need the correct name for the position.”

  22. Users VERIFY 14% (19) VERIFIED their understanding “So the best thing is to find it on the online catalog… is that correct?” n=132

  23. Users Offer SEARCH HISTORY 14% (18) offered SEARCH HISTORY information “I looked in the card catalogue and didn't see it there...” n=132

  24. Users provide TYPE OF RESOURCE 9% (12) offered TYPE OF RESOURCE information “...And [not] a book, online though” “Yes, but I’m looking for more historical and architectural resources” n=132

  25. Users ask for REFERRAL 4% (5) asked for a REFERRAL “Can you contact me with anyone from the […] Library” n=132

  26. When did librarians & users clarify? Surprising finding… Two different patterns of clarification! • Librarians clarified in beginning of interaction • Users clarified in middle of interaction

  27. When did they ask for clarification? n=581

  28. Types of clarifying questions… Open or closed? • Percentage of all questions asked by librarians: • 66% (554) Closed Questions • 34% (284) Open Questions n=838

  29. Closed or open: Is it clear? “Can you tell me more about what you are looking for?” • An invitation to talk, but still a closed question? “Can I ask what grade level this is for so I don’t give you something that is too technical or too easy?” • “Ok” • An unhelpful, closed response to an ostensibly open question.

  30. Imposed Query “Imposed queries emanate from both formal and informal relationships between people” (Gross, 1999, p. 501). “For a history project, I must do a poster diagram of the evolution of pyramids from masatbas to step pyramids to straight-sided pyramids.”

  31. Self-Generated Query “User identifies an information need and asks a question” (Gross, 1995, p. 237). “I want to plan a camping and rock climbing trip to Pilot Mountain. Do you have any recommendations?”

  32. Imposed query vs. Self-generated query (267) (165) (140) (9) (n=581)

  33. What makes a difference for accuracy? • Analysis of Accuracy of Ready Reference questions (n=180) • Does question clarification make a difference? • Does asking a follow-up question make a difference? YOU BE THE JUDGE…

  34. YES! Clarifying & follow-up improve accuracy!

  35. Future Directions • Continue to collect & analyze data • Online surveys • Librarian survey completed • Non-user and User surveys in progress • Telephone interviews • 100 with Librarians completed • 100 Users in progress • 100 Non-users in progress

  36. END NOTES • This is one of the outcomes from the project Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, and Librarian Perspectives. • Funded by IMLS, Rutgers University, & OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. • Special thanks to Jocelyn DeAngelis Williams, Patrick Confer, Timothy Dickey, David M. Dragos, Mary Anne Reilly, Susanna Sabolcsi-Boros, Julie Strange. • Slides available at project web site:http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/synchronicity/

  37. Questions & Comments • Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D. • Email: connawal@oclc.org • www.oclc.org/research/staff/connaway.htm • Marie L. Radford, Ph.D. • Email:mradford@scils.rutgers.edu • www.scils.rutgers.edu/~mradford

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