Links from database interfaces to digital reference services

A colleague of mine here in the library with administrative access to our database subscriptions helped me add links in the user interfaces for EBSCO, ProQuest, and FirstSearch to our library's chat and e-mail reference services. In some cases, we could add GIFs with links; in others, just plain-text links. Sadly, some of our databases don't seem to allow for such customization (e.g., Factiva and all the Gale databases with the Infotrac interface). There are dozens of other databases our library subscribes to that we haven't looked into customizing yet; it will take a while before we can get to every one. We'll also have to look into adding links in our online catalog, too.

The value of adding links within the search interface is obvious: you're offering help at a key location where your users are frequently stuck. Riffing on an oft-quoted line of Anne Lipow's, I'd say that adding such links is just one more effort in which librarians can make themselves less remote to their users (or, as Anne also used to say, we can work toward "in your face reference.") (Bonus material: here's some vintage Anne Lipow ideas about remote users vs. remote librarians.)

We've had some success with the links to our Ask a Librarian service that we've added elsewhere: the default main page for all Blackboard accounts and a desktop shortcut on most public PCs around campus. I'm hoping the links in the databases will get noticed; at the very least, it can't hurt to have them there.