wherein the author asks her readers to provide the answer to the ultimate VR question

We did an IM reference pilot @ my library this summer. It went something like this:

• launched June 6th, wrapped up August 5th;
• set up handles through AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, and ICQ;
• provided IM reference 11am-3pm, Monday-Friday;
• had 9 project participants doing IM (one at a time) from their computers & the reference desk computers (depending on how the schedule worked out) using Trillian;
• received an average of 2 questions per week (but tried not to feel discouraged about the number given that it was the summer, after all);
• received 100% positive feedback from users, zero negative feedback;
• took a LOT of getting used to on the part of the IM reference librarian;
• did very little PR for the pilot: Web page, added info on the service to our e-mail signatures (we do a rigourous email reference business), added online status buttons to our Web page (wanted to add them to our home page; couldn’t on account of the icons not being on our server and, therefore, our homepage being proxied in the library. Not cool. Must figure out way to get around this;), and post on our library blog.

Right now, I’m doing a bit of a post-mortem of the project and trying to come up with some recommendations (I love this one). Right off the bat, I can say that we will probably launch an ongoing service in the Fall. Also right off the bat, I can say that the service will be well used and students will probably love having the ability to IM us rather than just calling or e-mailing us. And, finally, right off the bat, I can tell you that the most difficult thing for us is going to be the logistics of staffing. I’ve been trawling the VR literature for staffing models used in regular ol’ virtual reference, to, you know, call upon best practices and engage in a bit of evidence-based librarianship. But, I am having no luck.

So, tell me, how do you staff your VR service (IM, chat, whatever)?

we’re thinking about using trillian come fall too. we just put to bed our docutek virtual reference service, as the cost didn’t justify the use the service was seeing. we think that trillian/IM will be better used. but like you, we’re trying to think about the staffing issues. we’ll probably end up just having the person on the actual desk be the person on the chat service, since our desk isn’t incredibly busy with people.

Just have people at your reference desk do it. That is what we do at Morrisville State College Library.

Fortunately my library is part of a consortium so the hours are spread over a larger staffing group. I am the VR person for my institution and do one 2 hour shift a week. From experience I have found doing VR at the ‘in-person’ reference desk to be very difficult. My preference is to keep an occasional eye on what’s happening around me to pick up on body language of students who may not come to the desk but may welcome an offer of help away from the desk. I also like to do a little bit of roaming around the OPACs which again is not conducive to VR duties. When I’m doing VR my attention has to be much more focused on my screen (especially as we do not have speakers on our computers). Scheduling is a real challenge. Our VR hours last year were in the afternoons and some evenings. We were surprised at how many [turned-away] requests came in the morning.

At the PL where I work, IM reference is part of desk duty, and we’re on most of the time the library is open. We put IM on “away” when helping a walk-in or telephone patron. We usually get 10-15 people a day IMing us; about half of them have legit library questions, and the other half are prank calls or errors. We use the block button without mercy or remorse when IMers are rude or abusive. So far, we’ve publicized the service mainly to younger teens, but we’ll be marketing it more to high schoolers and adults this fall.

Staffing was the issue that forced my institution to pull the plug on our V-ref service effective this fall. At first the seat was shared between four of our campus libraries but support from each soon waned forcing the largest library to take over all shifts (9:00am-9:00pm during the school year, 9:00-4:30 over the summer). Questions have been sparse overall but folks looove the service, and there were a few staff who loved providing the service. It’s pretty sad to see it go….

V-ref was part of the evening desk duty (4:30-9:00pm) but it proved to be difficult to juggle the online questions with the living and the breathing. Patrons would just sidle up alongside the computer and ask for help, thinking that you were just emailing your buddies. We had the signage, but it still took away from the in-person service.