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Peer Review of Chat Reference Transcripts: Approaches and Strategies

Pomerantz, Jeffrey and Luo, Lili and McClure, Charles R. (2006) Peer Review of Chat Reference Transcripts: Approaches and Strategies. Library & Information Science Research 28(1):pp. 24-48.

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Abstract

NCknows is a collaborative statewide chat-based reference service, launched in North Carolina in February 2004. The authors were contracted by the State Library of North Carolina as program evaluators for the NCknows project. This article reports on one component of the overarching evaluation effort: an analysis of the transcripts of NCknows chat sessions. This analysis was performed as a peer review, where NCknows librarians critiqued transcripts from the service. This study has three main findings: (1) The quality of reference service being provided by NCknows is high overall. (2) NCknows librarians are more engaged with users than are 24/7 staff members, but they are no more skilled in research or use of information sources. (3) Public librarians provide superior service, but academic librarians provide superior referrals. The implications of these findings for staffing chat reference services are discussed, with respect to librarians' credentials and the participating libraries' service philosophies.

EPrint Type:Journal (Paginated)
Keywords:chat reference, virtual reference, real-time reference, collaborative reference, NCknows, peer review, transcript
Subjects:Reference Services
ID Code:1888
Deposited On:25 May 2007
Alternative Locations:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2005.11.004, http://www.ils.unc.edu/~jpom/pubs/Preprint-LISR-2006a.pdf
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