Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

 

IM, e-mail, and chat reference is already here, but have you adapted your traditional reference interview and information provision skills to these new formats? ACRL online trainer and popular Internet workshop leader Diane Kovacs has assembled this handbook to help reference librarians develop the communication skills and resources they need to work effectively in the virtual reference environment. The handbook shows how to adapt traditional face-to-face reference interview skills to the virtual interview--and how to interpret and use new cues (chat slang, IM shorthand, emoticons, etc.) to better serve your users. For both chat and e-mail transactions, Kovacs outlines strategies for analyzing the question, conducting the interview, developing a search strategy, and delivering sources. There is guidance for selecting the best information format for users and delivering content in a timely and valuable manner. This practical guide offers everything reference librarians need to move from the face-to-face to virtual transaction with ease.

 ...useful and easy to follow....well-written and easy to understand....this text will be very useful to any librarians venturing into the world of chat reference.
-- Legal Information ALERT, January 2009
 
...a practical manual for identifying and learning the skills and knowledge sets key to building librarian competence in providing virtual reference.
-- Journal of the Medical Library Association, January 2008
 
...a practical guide to the technical, communication, and reference skills you need to deliver fluent chat and e-mail reference services.
-- C&RL News, July/August 2007
 

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