Abstract: Recognizing the needs of a new community of remote and distance learners, academic libraries are extending their reference and instruction services beyond the traditional boundaries of in-person, in-library service. Virtual reference enables librarians to reach out to remote students and provide real-time instruction and assistance at the point of need. Since Fall 2002, librarians at Southeastern Louisiana University have been using virtual reference software to provide synchronous digital library instruction in which librarians and students chat and co-browse online resources.

Introduction

Library instruction has always been a significant role that academic librarians have played on college campuses. A survey of academic librarians indicates that librarians’ involvement in instruction has increased in recent years as library databases and the Internet have increased the students’ need for instruction and information literacy (Tenopir & Ennis, 1998). To address this need, reference librarians provide tours, introductory and subject-specific classroom instruction, as well as on-the-fly, at-the-point-of-need instruction in the reference department.

The new challenge for librarians is to provide similar instruction to a growing population of remote and distance learners. With the increase in digital library collections that are accessible outside the library via the Internet, students are visiting libraries less frequently. Telephone and e-mail reference allow reference librarians to provide short and sometimes detailed reference assistance to remote and distance learners but these media are too cumbersome for remote instruction. However, with the advent of real-time virtual reference, librarians now have the ability to provide instruction to remote and distance learners.

Virtual Reference in Academic Libraries

Virtual reference is sometimes referred to as digital reference, electronic reference, e-reference or online reference. The goal of virtual reference is to create a computer-based artificial reference environment that simulates the physical reference environment.

The simplest and most prevalent form of online reference is e-mail reference. Libraries create an e-mail address or a Web form that allows library patrons to submit questions and receive answers via e-mail. While e-mail reference serves a purpose, it fails to provide the interaction necessary for an effective reference and instruction environment. For that, real-time virtual reference is needed.

Real-time virtual reference is synchronous online reference where a live librarian interacts online with patrons in real-time. At a minimum this interaction involves chat. It may also include web page pushing, Web page escorting or co-browsing, file sharing and video and audio (VOIP) transmission.

The Use of Virtual Reference for Instruction

With virtual reference, there are two instructional possibilities. The first is the informal, at-the-point-of need instruction that often occurs in virtual reference transactions. The second is one-on-one or group-based instruction, tied to specific course-related objectives.

The most prevalent use of virtual reference software as an instructional tool is in the provision of informal at-the-point-of need instruction. Many reference transactions include informal instruction. What begins with a simple question from a student may become an instruction session if the student is receptive. This “teachable moment” may be as simple as showing the user how to log into a proprietary database, how to search in the online library catalog, or how to construct a good keyword search using Boolean operators for the topic that he is researching.

Just as reference transactions in the reference room provide “teachable moments,” virtual reference encounters also provide instructional opportunities. The ability to interact in real-time and co-browse databases and other digital collections provides virtual librarians with the opportunity to teach students how to find and evaluate information, rather than just provide answers. In a study of one library’s virtual reference service, sixty percent of the virtual reference transactions included some instructional element (Johnston, 2003).

In addition to this informal instruction, virtual reference software also provides the opportunity for librarians to collaborate with faculty in providing instruction. Students can be given individual instruction through the regular virtual reference service or group instruction through chat/meeting rooms.

Recently, several institutions have reported using virtual reference software as instructional technology. Librarians at San Jose State University and California State University Monterey Bay collaborated to use their virtual reference service to provide instruction to small groups of distance learners (Hope & Silveria, 2003). They advise librarians to carefully prepare and practice the group sessions, incorporating scripted messages and ground rules to avoid “bumper car syndrome.” The California experience recommends minimal student technology requirements as well as the appropriate types of virtual interaction for different student learning styles.

Librarians at the Florida Distance Learning Reference and Referral Center have been early adopters of the use of chat rooms for instruction to distance learners. From their experiences, Viggiano and Ault suggest that the groups of students need to be kept small to prevent chaos and encourage more interaction among the students (2001). To assist with the inevitable problems that result in having multiple students online from different locations, they recommend having two librarians online, one to lead the discussion and one to help students by answering “off-topic questions” and assisting with any difficulties during the session. Jaworski recommends three virtual librarians, one to lead the discussion, one for “off-topic questions” and one to help slower students catch up (2001). These suggested practices of early proponents of the use of virtual reference technology for instruction are currently being incorporated into instruction initiatives at Southeastern.

Virtual Reference and Instruction at Southeastern Louisiana University

Since Fall 2002, Southeastern has used the LSSI Virtual Reference Toolkit (VRT) to provide virtual reference to students and faculty members. The LSSI software was selected due to its ability to provide an effective one-on-one virtual reference environment through the use of chat, co-browsing, pre-scripted messages and transcripts as well as its provision of meeting rooms for group instruction.

The primary instructional use of the virtual reference service has been informal, at-the-point-of-need instruction that emulates the type of instruction that we routinely provide in the reference room. However, librarians are also using the software to provide one-on-one and group instruction as supplements to in-person bibliographic instruction sessions.

At Southeastern, one significant information literacy initiative is an 8-week Introductory Research Skills course that provides instruction to approximately 2000 undergraduate students annually. For some classes, time has been allotted in the virtual reference schedule for the instructor to meet one-on-one with students and direct the students in a research assignment, e.g., using Lexis Nexis to find local and regional information. While these sessions have been well received by students in the course, they are too labor-intensive to be scalable to all 2000 students. As a result, beginning in the summer of 2003, the course will make the transition to using LSSI VRT meeting rooms to provide small group instruction.

Also beginning in the summer, librarians will use meeting rooms to offer “Virtual Library Meetings” as follow-up sessions to bibliographic instruction delivered to undergraduate nursing students. Small groups will interact with two librarians to refine their search strategy, find appropriate databases for the group’s topic and retrieve journal articles for a literature review. In the Fall semester 2003, this pilot will be expanded to include sessions for a graduate level nursing research course that is delivered via compressed video and online. Eventually, librarians could expand this type of service to any instructor who believes his students would benefit from reinforcement of bibliographic instruction.

Conclusion

The Association of College and Research Libraries asserts that “the instilling of lifelong learning skills through general bibliographic and information literacy instruction in academic libraries is a primary outcome of higher education. Such preparation and measurement of its outcomes are of equal necessity for the distance learning community as for those on the traditional campus” (Guidelines, 2000).

With the widespread availability of online full-text journal literature, electronic books and Web resources, all students are increasingly becoming distance researchers. However, these students still need the intervention and assistance of librarians. Real-time virtual reference systems can provide one-on-one, point-of-need research assistance and instruction, as well as formal information literacy virtual classes to prepare students for research. At Southeastern Louisiana University, we have only begun to explore the instructional opportunities that virtual reference software provides, but through the use of this new instructional technology, we will be able to better serve the needs of a new generation of learners.

Works Cited

Guidelines for Distance Learning Library Services. (2000). Retrieved June 1, 2003 from: http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ACRL/Standards_and_Guidelines/Guidelines_for_Distance_Learning_Library_Services.htm.

Hope, C., Peterson, C. & Silveria, J. B. (2003). Reach out and teach someone: Instructional uses of virtual reference. Paper presented at Association of College and Research Libraries 11^th National Conference, April 12, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 2003 from: http://home.csumb.edu/s/silveriajanie/world/ACRL.ppt.

Jaworowski, C. (2001). There's more to chat than chit-chat: Using chat software for library instruction. Paper presented at Information Strategies 2001 conference. Retrieved June 1, 2003 from:

http://library.fgcu.edu/Conferences/infostrategies01/presentations/2001/jaworowski.htm.

Johnston, P. E. (2003). Digital reference as an instructional tool: Just in time and just enough. Searcher, 11 (1), 31-4.

Tenopir, C. & Ennis, L. (1998). The impact of digital reference on librarians and library users. Online, 22 (6), 84-88.

Viggiano, R. and Ault, M. (2001). Online library instruction for online students. Information Technology & Libraries, 20 (3), 135-138.

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