ALA and Virtual Reference

At ALA this year, I attended the presentation, “See it, Hear it, Touch it: How do Communication and Learning Styles Affect Virtual Reference?” with presenters, Eileen Abels, Marie Radford, and Lynn Westbrook.

I walked away with pages and pages of notes but I wanted to share some of the highlights and see if you had any feedback…

What do we know about our users?
- Millenials (our heaviest users) (Jr High to about age 27)
Multi-taskers with an affinity for electronic communication. ‘Do-it-Yourselfers’ who learn through experimentation and self-exploration. Prefer independent learning. They look toward the Internet for resolution/solutions. What does this mean? When they come to AaL, its because they have tried on their own already, be positive (make sure they save face), appeal to desire to save time, better resources, don’t be robotic, be clear upfront on what you can and can not do, refer (monitored though).

How does the librarians learning style affect VR?
Who is staffing the desk? If not comfortable in chat, should not force it. Though comfort level will go up with training. So, expose staff.

Resources used in VR:
Users – only 25% use more than one search term. Have lack of conceptual understanding on how information exists on web, confusion with judging sites authoritativeness.
Librarians- Typically use 6-7 words in a Google Search
Librarians often use Google as a first stop in VR. Are we undermining our own e-resources? or are we going straight for an answer not a source…

Users want the answer then the option to learn.

Self-Efficacy- Supports and Barriers in VR. We need to:
- Ask open-ended questions (engage, create active users),
- Ask differentiated questions (Do you want a book or a scholarly article? ) this helps create a ‘teachable moment’ and comes in a positive way. Lets them know what choices are available.
- Keep purpose clear (what they are responsible for, and what you can do for them)
- Focus on the tools/process avoid lingo (Great study on lingo users didn’t understand is here)
- Self-Disclosure (REAL SOUNDING NAME) and admit when it’s a topic your not familiar with.

What to expect from Screenagers :
- Enthusiasm
- Don’t disclose a lack of knowledge
- Abrupt Endings…
- Impatience…which can lead to rude/insulting behavior.

What we do back?
- We are less likely to refer for additional help
- We more often send to Google
- We abruptly end sessions and reprimand
- Use more informal language.
Our own biases can cause some of the issues we have with this group. We need to treat users alike.

How do user and librarian expectations influence VR services?
Expectations:
- Users feel Internet resources are seamless and fluid connections meaning-
Consistency in language should exist (if I searched X here, X should always bring good results), they want choices in process, product and media. Prefer a single approach- (Google Search) and want tremendous flexibility, choice. HA! That’s all….
- Internet Communication patterns: Blurring the line between task and social patterns, we are setting new norms for service, the Internet has an unclear narrative structure (old- beginning, middle, end; new – ‘dip-in’, ‘dip-out’).
- 90% of users start with the Internet for research
- Set expectations for users. They come to VR for information- which they could not find (so they start with us having already failed)and want instant gratification. Users don’t have a good perspective on question difficulty.
- Can’t help – explain why and give a positive alternative.
- Build relationships, these are our users in the future.

Mean Time for transactions is 12.5 minutes.