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Virtual Reference Best Practices And The College Student Experience, Sara J. Stambaugh

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This capstone addressed the research question: what are today’s best practices in online reference, and how can librarians at academic institutions improve the student experience in online reference transactions? It documents one librarian’s creation of best practices for a virtual reference service based on the guidelines and practices outlined by governing bodies, commercial entities, and other libraries. During the study the practices were implemented at a higher education institution and results about the effectiveness, clarity, and overall improvement of virtual reference transactions were gathered using a mixed-methods approach. The author used related research literature as a foundation for building best …