Arnold, Julie and Neal Kaske. Chat with a Librarian, Computers in Libraries 2002.

The University of Maryland (UM) Libraries began offering a pilot real-time interactive reference service in April 2001, which is called “Chat with a Librarian.” Librarians in the Engineering and Physical Sciences Library articulated the need for this new service. These librarians are also members of the Science and Technology Services team, which is supporting the new service. Staffing for the “Chat with a Librarian” service has expanded to librarians from different units of the University of Maryland Libraries.

After an initial software evaluation was completed, the principals decided to purchase HumanClick. This software was chosen based on its ease of use, popularity, price, and ability to store transcripts on the server.

The transcripts were logged on the HumanClick server for April, 2001 through December 2001. There were a total of 225 “chat” sessions logged and evaluated.

Some of the highlights of the evaluation are as follows:

Ø Number of “chat” sessions has increased. Chat increased to a peak of 61 sessions in October and though the number of sessions declined in November and December, the number for these months is still higher than in any month prior to October. There were 25 sessions in the Spring semester (only open two months), 50 sessions in the Summer semester, and 150 sessions in the Fall 2001 semester.

Ø Overall, more than half of the questions received have been reference or research questions. Less than half of the questions received were “directional” or “policy and procedural.” The percentage of questions recorded as “ready reference” has grown each semester. The percentage of questions that were recorded as “ready reference” was 28% in the Spring semester, 34% in the Summer semester, and 41% in the Fall semester.

Ø Overall, 72% of the questions received have been from University of Maryland students, faculty, staff, or alumni.

Ø The busiest day of the week for “chat” is Tuesday. The quietest day is Friday. The busiest times for “chat” are 12:00 – 1:00 pm, and 4:00 – 5:00 pm.

Ø Though the “chat” link is posted on various web pages, 81% of our sessions were referred from the Libraries home page.

Ø 61% of the sessions were 10 minutes or less in length.

Ø Email reference has increased during this same time period. This may be due in part to advertised email access on the “chat” page, and to the “chat” button, allowing users to leave email messages during off hours. It may also be a real increase in demand for digital reference services, which leads us to believe there is a strong relationship between “chat” and email services.

As a result of the “chat” service, the UM Libraries now has a newly formed Digital Reference Committee. The committee is charged with evaluating and implementing all forms of digital reference, including, but not limited to, “chat” service. This demonstrates a growing support for the service not only from top management but from other librarians also.

Our next steps are to 1) continue “Chat with a Librarian” as a regular service for our users, 2) continue to look at technologies that we are not currently using, including voice overlay, and co-browsing. We are also planning to host some focus groups with the “chat” operators to find out their reactions to the service, and their experiences, both positive and negative, and how being a “chat” operator has changed their jobs. We will also be looking at the “cost” of the service to the UM Libraries.

Overall, feedback from our users has been extremely positive. We have added a short user evaluation survey at the conclusion of each session. This pilot has proven successful, and this is a service that we feel is valuable to the UM Libraries’ user community and which we will continue to offer.