Part 2 of Steve Coffman/Linda Arret article

Thanks to the folks over at lbr, I've learned that part two of Steve Coffman and Linda Arret's article on the state of chat reference has been published in the September issue of Searcher. (The text of the article is not available online yet.) I haven't had a chance to track down a print edition of the September issue here in my library, but the comments about it on lbr suggest that I'll want to read it soon.

2004 Virtual Reference Desk conference registration

You can now register for the 2004 Virtual Reference Desk conference, which will be held in Cincinnati, OH, from November 8-9. I haven't been in a few years (thanks to grad school classes at night and parenting duties), but I highly recommend this conference to anyone who has anything to do with digital reference services in libraries.

Just make sure that if you decide to do some shopping at the newly opened Cincinatti Mills you don't make the mistake of wearing your baseball hat sideways.

The Internet is now the internet

Wired has officially declared that the magazine's style will no longer spell internet, web, and net with initial capital letters. No fan of mindless capitalization myself, I have been lowercasing these words for years.

Now for the next debate that needs to be settled: "web site" or "website?" The latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style seems to prefer "web site," but I'm partial to website, as it is only a matter of time before many two-word phrases end up becoming one word. Why not speed the process up?

Official press release for merger of QuestionPoint and 24/7 Reference

OCLC posted the press release announcing the merger of QuestionPoint and 24/7 Reference.

Why would OCLC be interested in 24/7 Reference

Following up on yesterday's post about OCLC combining its QuestionPoint service with MCLS's 24/7 Reference service, I thought I'd add a few thoughts about why I think the merger is taking place. OCLC seems to be getting a lot out of this deal. They pick up a cooperative chat reference service, something that their QuestionPoint service doesn't offer. The folks at 24/7 Reference (the staff and the librarians that participate) have done a lot of hard work over the past few years ironing out the wrinkles (and there are still some) in doing reference work cooperatively for a large collection of libraries (the academic library cooperative alone must serve nearly 100 libraries).

OCLC also picks up a chat service that has a lot of experience tinkering with a commercial software product originally designed for e-commerce, not chat reference: eGain. From what I hear, there are many libraries subscribing to the QuestionPoint service that are not happy with the basic or advanced chat software they provide. I've never been of fan of the software they provide either: the basic chat is really clunky and the advanced chat requires the user to download software before they can co-browse web pages with the librarian.

24/7 Reference gets some good things out of this deal, too. OCLC is likely (this is the optimist in me speaking now) to provide solid funding for this service. OCLC's QuestionPoint service also offers a great cooperative e-mail reference service, although I have doubts about its value for academic libraries.

What remains to be seen is what will happen with the competing chat reference software packages that 24/7 Reference and QuestionPoint offer. I think those of us in 24/7 Reference would be loath to exchange eGain software for any product that doesn't allow for co-browsing, that doesn't require user downloads, and that doesn't allow for transfers of chat sessions between librarians at different institutions. It may be that in the end OCLC will just decide to stick with the version of eGain that 24/7 Reference has been modified. Of course, if you take a look at eGain's finances, you have to wonder what that company's future looks like.

QuestionPoint and 24/7 Reference to combine

It's official: OCLC's QuestionPoint service is taking over 24/7 Reference from MCLS. I've been sitting on this piece of news for months now, waiting for an official release to be put out. None of the websites (OCLC, QuestionPoint, MCLS, 24/7 Reference) have posted the release yet; I got it via e-mail, as our library's chat service uses 24/7 Reference software.

The details of this are still being worked out. As far as I know, not much will change in the short term. I'll post more on this in the coming days as I get more information.

RUSA guidelines for "virtual reference services"

The MARS Digital Reference Guidelines Ad Hoc Committee recently posted the "Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining Virtual Reference Services" on the ALA web site. Skimming this document quickly reminds me of a number of issues our library needs to address with our service. In particular, I think our library needs to do a better job of informing users what to expect from the service and how to make the most of it.

The current page we have with that information was written several years ago. We've learned a lot since then about the nutty things that happen during chat sessions (users disconnecting themselves, browser compatability issues, firewall problems, inappropriate comments from users, etc.); I'd like to make the initial page that users see give them a better sense of what we can and can't do in chat. Another item for the to-do list...

Back from much needed vacation

It has been over six months since my little family (a wife and a 21 month-old son) were last outside of the limits of NYC on an overnight trip. We just returned from a week in Maine, which proved to be just what we needed. For me, the highlight of the trip were all the lobster rolls I ate, especially the one at Cook's Lobster House on Bailey Island, which was just across the water from where we were staying (Harpswell). The next time I go to Maine, I intend to get lobster rolls at each of these places rated as the "10 Best Lobster Shacks in Maine."

While I was away, the chat service I am the administrator for was somewhat quiet, except for a few pesky high school students who logged in to chat while in a library classroom during a workshop. The chats weren't as obnoxious as the ones I described in an earlier post, just bored kids goofing off.