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VIRTUAL REFERENCE SERVICES: IMPLEMENTATION OF PROFESSIONAL AND ETHICAL STANDARDS

Shachaf, Pnina (2007) VIRTUAL REFERENCE SERVICES: IMPLEMENTATION OF PROFESSIONAL AND ETHICAL STANDARDS. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 34(2):pp. 20-24.

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Abstract

Virtual reference, which allows users to connect easily with librarians online, is becoming popular. Librarians answer thousands of questions every day over the Internet. As the service matures, professional associations publish standards that provide professional guidelines to improve the quality of the services. This article focuses attention on the quality of these e-services in light of professional and ethical standards in the field. It examines the extent to which librarians adhere to professional and ethical guidelines and the role that virtual reference plays in providing services to diverse user groups. First, it discusses adherence to the professional standards and shows that the professional behaviors of librarians vary depending on user, institution, and request types. Then, it discusses the extent to which librarians provide equitable online reference services to diverse users groups and the inconsistent findings from empirical research.

EPrint Type:Journal Article (Paginated)
Keywords:professional standards, ethical standards, virtual reference
Subjects:Reference Services
Standards
ID Code:2467
Deposited On:19 November 2008
Eprint Statistics:View statistics for this eprint
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