Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Social and Behavioral Sciences
School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
What Chat Transcripts Reveal, Carol Tenopir
What Chat Transcripts Reveal, Carol Tenopir
School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works
CHAT REFERENCE PROVIDES NEW ways to interact with patrons. Research by Marie L. Radford of Rutgers University (mradford@scils.rutgers.edu) and Lynn Silipigni Connaway of OCLC (connawal@oclc.org), supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will replace suppositions about how chat conversations progress in ways satisfactory to both patrons and librarians. They are conducting focus group interviews, online surveys, and telephone interviews of virtual reference service (VRS) users and nonusers and VRS librarians. They also plan to examine over 1300 anonymous transcripts from chat services. Rapport-building, deference, and identifiable beginning and closing "rituals" all have a place in virtual reference. And …