Electronic Reference: What Are Our Users Telling Us?

Sharon MorrisLaura Kortz

American Library Association ConferenceSunday, June 26, 2005

10:30 – 12:00Intercontinental Hotel

Agenda

E-Reference Top Users…Teenagers

What are they telling us? Exit Surveys

What are they telling us? Focus Group

E-Reference Use by Teens

Florida – Florida Virtual School (online high school) 9% of total use

Maryland – 38% Teens

New Jersey – 50-60% Teens

South Central Wisconsin – AskAway 26%

E-Reference Use by Teens

Colorado Use Sept. 2004 through May 2005

Questions by Interest Level

General17%

K-845%

Grade 9-1223%

College Research

9%

Professional4%

E-Reference Use by Teens

Colorado K12 use by grade

1 23

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11 12

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 120

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

How are teens using E-Reference?

71% answered they used AskColorado to research for homework or another school project

29% reported that they learned more about a skill, hobby, or other personal interest

Bromberg, Sweet, Thompson transcript research indicates 1-6% use is prank

Kurtz, Morris and Greene estimate less than 1% use e-reference as cry for help

What are they telling us?Exit Surveys

Who is answering the survey?

What are users telling use AskColorado exit survey

Found librarian helpful (77%) Not helpful (23%)

Satisfaction with answer (74%) No satisfaction with answer (26%)

Likely to use service again (85%) Not likely (15%)

What are they telling us?Comments

Middle school girl - i can search for hours on the enternet and find nothing. askcolorado gets it fast. some kids dont like it because it takes time to load, but it really saves time

High School Girl - I knew that he wasn't trying to be mean but some of the ways he wrote it sounded just a little bit mean, im not sure though

Middle school girl - YOU PEOPLE NEED TO GET A LIVE I MEAN IF YOU HAVE TIME TO TALK TO ME AT 8:00 IN THE MORNING THEN YOU HAVE ISSUES AND DO YOU NEED A TISSUE.YOU ARE SOOOO RETARDED

Elem school girl - This place stinks get a new site Just Kidding

Middle school boy - This place blows. i mean come on you have people with sissy and gay names. for ex. Paul, Alex, and Dave.

High school boy - Cool beans.

What are they telling us?Focus Group Results

Preliminary Research

Summer 2004

Louise Greene & Joseph Thompson

Methodology

Focus group format Freshman college students Discussion of Internet use Virtual reference usability testing Feedback and response about E-Reference

Teen Research Habits

Always start with the internet

Check (15+) several sites to gather ideas

Look for “credible” information

Look for expedient information

Opportunity to cut and paste

Teen IM/Chat Preferences

Anonymity a plus – multiple screen names

Can converse with more than one person

Someone is always “on”

No “dead air”

Can use abbreviations/casual text

Teens’ First Encounter with E-Reference

Assumed it was NOT a live service

Why would the library have people waiting around to answer questions?? Don’t librarians have other things they need to be doing??

Prefer live service over email

What is the librarian doing on the other end – curiosity

“WHO” is reading my question – privacy concerns

Don’t want to give an email – prefer anonymity

Make the login option of “Anonymous” prominent

Ideal E-Reference Service:The Teen Perspective

Make it like Instant Messenger tm

Put newest message at the bottom of screen

Tell more people about it

Have more librarians to go faster

Have both a chat and a text interface available to choose from

Ideal VR Service:The Teen Perspective Personal Service & An Ongoing Relationship

Ability to request a certain librarian Ability to get back to the person who gave

you a satisfying experience Ability to avoid an unhelpful librarian An opportunity to rate librarian service as

an incentive for great service

Summary

Use of E-Reference services is varied but teens are a big user population

Teens & exit surveys – Not necessarily reliable

Teens and Focus Groups - Preliminary research produces intriguing results

Bibliography

AskColorado Collaborative Virtual Reference. (2005) Usage statistics. Available at: www.aclin.org/reference/stats.html.

Bromberg, Peter. (2004) “[DIG_REF] Addressing Pranks.” Online posting. 27 July 2004. DIG_REF. Available at: www.vrd.org/Dig_Ref/dig_ref.shtml.

Greene, Louise W. and Thompson, Joseph. (2004) Teen Encounters with Virtual Reference Services Focus Group. Unpublished raw data. [Focus Group Transcript].

Lance, K. & Dickerson, D. (2005). “AskColorado’s First Year Online.” Fast Facts: Recent Statistics from the Library Research Service, Ed3/110.10/No. 223. March 28, 2005. Available at: www.lrs.org/documents/fastfacts/223_AskColorado.pdf

Mariner, V. “RE: [DIG_REF] Teen Use of Virtual Reference.” E-mail to Sharon Morris. 12 Oct. 2004.

Morris, S., Kurtz, L. & Greene, L. (04 Nov 8) Teens and Chat Reference: A Match Made in Heaven or … Presentation at the Virtual Reference Desk Conference, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Sweet, M. (2004) Personal Communication.

Thompson, J. (2004) Personal Communication.

Recommended Reading on Teens & Technology

Abram, S. & Luther, J. (2004). Born with the chip. Library Journal, 129, 34-37.

Gross, E. F., Juvonen, J., & Gable, S. (2002). Internet use and well being in adolescence. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 75-90.

Hine, T. (1999). The rise and fall of the American teenager. New York: Bard.

PBS Frontline. (2002). Inside the teenage brain. Retrieved October 2004, fromhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/

Pew Internet and American Life Project. (2001). Teenage life online: the rise of the instant-message generation and the impact on friendships and family relationships. Retrieved October 2004, from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Teens_Report.pdf.

Maczewski, M. (2002). Exploring identities through the internet: youth experiences online. Child and Youth Care Forum, 31, 111-129.

Recommended Reading on Teens & TechnologySimpson, A. R. (2001). Raising teens: a synthesis of research and a foundation for

action. Boston: Center for Health Communication, Harvard School of Public Health.

Tapscott, D. (1998) Growing up digital: the rise of the net generation. McGraw-Hill: New York.

Thurlow, C., & McKay, S. (2003). Profiling 'new' communication technologies in adolescence, Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 22, 94-103.

The Virtual Reference Desk. (1998). Guidelines for information specialists of K-12 digital reference services. Retrieved October 2004, from

http://www.vrd.org/training/guide.shtml

The Virtual Reference Desk. (1999). Facets of quality for K-12 digital reference services. Retrieved October 2004, from http://www.vrd.org/training/facets.html