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The Current State of Digital Reference: Validation of a General Digital Reference Model through a Survey of Digital Reference Services

Pomerantz, Jeffrey and Nicholson, Scott and Belanger, Yvonne (2005) The Current State of Digital Reference: Validation of a General Digital Reference Model through a Survey of Digital Reference Services. Information Processing & Management.

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Abstract

This paper describes a study conducted to determine the paths digital reference services take through a general process model of asynchronous digital reference. A survey based on the general process model was conducted; each decision point in this model provided the basis for at least one question. Common, uncommon, and wished-for practices are identified, as well as correlations between characteristics of services and the practices employed by those services. Identification of such trends has implications for the development of software tools for digital reference. This study presents a snapshot of the state of the art in digital reference as of late 2001 – early 2002, and validates the general process model of asynchronous digital reference.

EPrint Type:Journal Article (Paginated)
Keywords:Question acquisition, Triage, Answer formulation
Subjects:Reference Services
ID Code:828
Deposited On:12 May 2005
Eprint Statistics:View statistics for this eprint
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