Ian Smalley

1. Ian Smalley CCTP-745: Communication Technology and Organizations April 23rd, 2009 Final Presentation

2. Communication Technology Use in Library Research and Reference Assistance

3. The Decline of Face to Face Interaction • Referencing desks have declined all over the country for the last decade, by as much as ten to twenty percent, per year, for the last ten years. So that means that whereas in 1995 or so you might have been answering 100,000 questions a year, now we’re answering closer to 15,000 or 30,000. And there is a whole group of libraries, called the Association for Research Libraries, there is one hundred and thirteen of them that are really big libraries, and they’ve been keeping track of this for a really long time, and there has been a steady decline by at least thirty to fifty percent in every library in the last decade. - Will Wheeler

4. Questions • How are new communication technologies changing reference and research in libraries? • Are they replacing or complementing traditional methods? • Will we see a switch to all online reference help? • Is a combination of reference help methods that are determined by the situation hold the key to effective and efficient help? • What does the future hold?

5. Interviews • Martha Smalley: Special Collections librarian at the Yale Divinity School Library

6. Interviews • Martha Smalley: Special Collections librarian at the Yale Divinity School Library • Nicolette Sosulski: Reference librarian for the Portage District Library and QuestionPoint, an online 24/7 virtual reference service

7. Interviews • Martha Smalley: Special Collections librarian at the Yale Divinity School Library • Nicolette Sosulski: Reference librarian for the Portage District Library and QuestionPoint, an online 24/7 virtual reference service • William Wheeler: Head of Research & Instruction at Georgetown’s Lauinger Library

8. Strengths and Weaknesses of Communication Technologies

9. Face to Face vs. Mediated Interaction • [I]n the Special Collections area, where I work, I think we see more face to face kind of people just because of the type of reference questions they are asking are a little more complicated. They need to know about the collections in a way that requires more detail so they like to make appointments to come talk. – Martha Smalley

10. Confusion in Chat Messaging Reference Help • If somebody gives you a… if you get this grossly misspelled incoming message, there are five possibilities: there is a brilliant person who just can’t spell; this is a person who is a lousy typist; this is a person who is young and hasn’t learned spelling yet or is unfamiliar with spelling conventions; or it’s an ESL person. And depending on whether you get that right, the whole level of sources and sophistication of research that you’re dealing with… you can really miss the boat if you get it wrong. – Nicolette Sosulski

11. Level of Comfort With the New Communication Technology • We have had sporadic success with instant messaging reference, but part of the deal is that a lot of librarians are not thrilled with – because they’ve been doing reference for years – they find reference in an instant message or chat environment a little intimidating…. Part of it I think is just less comfort with the technology. You have the technologies, plus you have the speed pressure, and the typing, and of course the time stress…plus everything you do is recorded. So anything you mess up there is a lasting record of…. Some of my colleagues have been librarians for twenty-five, twenty-eight, thirty-two years, so they’ve been using the other modes of reference, and they don’t use chat or texting in a social environment. So it ends up…it’s another technology to learn, with its own time pressures and its own challenges. – Nicolette Sosulski

12. Anonymity of Mediated Interaction • At NC State they would have… they started doing this online reference question answering, and they found that there would be people in the library, in front of the reference desk, who would rather type in a question than come up to the desk…. And there was a while in the late 90s and early 2000s where people thought, hey chat is really going to catch on because people can be anonymous, and one of the reasons they’re not talking to people at the desk is because they’re afraid of them, or approaching them and looking stupid or something. - Will Wheeler

13. Anonymity of Mediated Interaction • NS: [Y]ou know there are time where I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe they asked that question’. Of course on the reference desk you have to have a poker face. But people, when they think they’re completely anonymous will ask things on chat that they would never ask a person on a reference desk. Never, never, never. I get a lot of very interesting how-to questions that I would not get on the reference desk. • IS: Yeah, that no one would be able to ask with a straight face when they’re standing in front of you? • NS: Um… I end up sending them to very interesting help sites (laughter). Well, like for example if your personal piercing gets infected…people are much more likely to ask about that in an anonymity situation than they are on a reference desk…. We get questions about personal situations, you get sex questions… trying to stump the librarian (laughter). We get people who aren’t sure if they broke the law.

14. Theoretical Applications • Media Choice Theories: Media richness perception is dynamic. Media appropriateness is best determined based on the job context and situational elements.

15. Theoretical Applications • Media Choice Theories: Media richness perception is dynamic. Media appropriateness is best determined based on the job context and situational elements. • Channel Expansion Theory: As new communication technologies are integrated into organizations people are forced to adapt to them. They build knowledge bases and eventually become more comfortable with the communication channel and types of messages it can send.

16. Theoretical Applications • Media Choice Theories: Media richness perception is dynamic. Media appropriateness is best determined based on the job context and situational elements. • Channel Expansion Theory: As new communication technologies are integrated into organizations people are forced to adapt to them. They build knowledge bases and eventually become more comfortable with the communication channel and types of messages it can send. • Adaptive Structuration: As the rules surrounding these new technologies are adopted into the organization and become norms they create a re-emphasizing cycle. Use of the media maintains its position in the structure.

17. The Future of Reference Assistance in Libraries • People are becoming more and more comfortable with new virtual reference technologies.

18. The Future of Reference Assistance in Libraries • People are becoming more and more comfortable with new virtual reference technologies. • Creating a network of communication channels that can selected and utilized based on the situational factors.

19. The Future of Reference Assistance in Libraries • People are becoming more and more comfortable with new virtual reference technologies. • Creating a network of communication channels that can selected and utilized based on the situational factors. • An increase in participatory databases and user contribution.

20. The Future of Reference Assistance in Libraries • People are becoming more and more comfortable with new virtual reference technologies. • Creating a network of communication channels that can selected and utilized based on the situational factors. • An increase in participatory databases and user contribution. • Teaching the patrons how to help themselves more effectively.