Chat and the Reference Interview Online

Now that many libraries are establishing chat reference services, the ability to conduct a successful reference interview is emerging as the key component in a successful program.

This book introduces the skills, techniques, and resources that librarians need to provide effective chat-based virtual reference for online users.

Readers learn how to adapt traditional reference interviewing practices to the medium of chat, including how to diagnose the needs of users, how to arrive at the actual information need, and how to provide timely and appropriate answers.

All parts of the reference interview are covered. Suggestions for delivering answers during a chat session or afterwards via other media, referring questions, and following up chat sessions are provided.

In addition, illustrations of chat sessions "gone wrong," as well as transcripts of a virtual librarian handling the situation effectively, accompany discussion of each phase of the reference interview.