MLA 2014: Virtual Reference Tips

A session of particular interest to me at MLA this year included a panel consisting of Carla Pfahl (Minitex), Jill Smith (Anoka County Library), Karen Pundsack (Great River Regional Library - GRR), and Greg Argo (Concordia University).   “Tips, Tools, and Tricks: Increasing Usage and Improving Value of the User Experience in Virtual Reference Services” offered a look at what public and academic libraries  are doing right and what they might be doing wrong.  Carla started off the session by highlighting the success of the AskMN chat widget.  This is a small chat window embedded in the ELM Portal and within many of the ELM databases.  This Widget can be found in EBSCO, Gale, ProQuest, and Britannica databases.  Carla is currently working with LearningExpress so you should be seeing it there soon too.  Over the past several months Carla has seen AskMN usage changing since more people are using the chat widget to ask questions than the chat form. Greg said that Concordia University’s virtual reference usage has increased with a change in branding.  Instead of the old Ask-a-Librarian link, they changed the text to “Get Help Now.”  They also moved the chat icon to the upper right corner of the web page.  In addition, he worked on creating helpful interview scripts that allow Concordia librarians to perform better virtual reference interviews.  Greg mentioned that this chat service helps to magnify their customer service opportunities.  Staff can work with patrons in real-time and then follow up with patrons via email.  Concordia University follows up on all questions answered by non-Concordia librarians (questions answered by librarians via QuestionPoint 24/7 Back-up). Karen, Great River Regional Library, said that many questions they get via their chat form relate to patron technology problems and issues.  Many questions are library account and library card based (e.g., how do I reset my pin?).  GRR originally launched chat using Meebo, but in 2012, they joined the QuestionPoint cooperative.  They use some paraprofessionals to answer local questions since they get so many relating to account information. Jill, Anoka County Library, did some marketing to let people know about their virtual reference that started in April 2013.  They created a QR code, business cards, posters, a web banner, and did some community outreach as well, in hopes of making people aware of the service.  Jill said that if she could do it over again she would get reluctant staff involved earlier in the process of creating a VR service.  One tip Jill mentioned is to make sure that the text and language used to promote and use the service is simple and clear for patrons to understand.  She also mentioned that Anoka County Library gets many questions via VR about local history, account management, and eBooks.