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The article provides information concerning the use of virtual reference services (VRS) for libraries, as well as the introduction of a series of assertions and questions acknowledging that the foundation of reference is a conversation for learning, in the U.S. The author infers that over several years an intensive effort has been underway to better understand reinvent reference in a digital age. Even in the settings of a virtual reference cooperative that used referral systems, the fundamental content-loaded process was seen as one librarian and one patron.

One of the valuable offerings of librarians in the digital age is the human intermediation of information needs. In physical libraries, these reference questions are answered, and few artifacts remain from the transaction; therefore, the knowledge created through the work of the librarian leaves with the patron. Due to the medium of communication, digital reference transactions capture the knowledge of information professionals. There are hundreds of digital reference services generating knowledge every day; however, the lack of a schema for archiving reference transactions from multiple services makes it difficult to create a fielded, searchable knowledge base. The development of such a schema would allow researchers to develop tools that practitioners can employ. In turn, this would create a collaborative environment for digital reference evaluation. The goal of this work is to outline the steps needed to develop this schema, present the results of a survey of digital reference services, explore some of the pitfalls in the process, and envision the future uses of this Digital Reference Electronic Warehouse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Assessing Quality in Digital Reference project is a first step toward understanding the cost of digital reference services in libraries. This article presents three measures isolated by project participants as being most useful for their immediate needs: total cost of providing digital reference service, the cost of digital reference service as a percent of the total reference budget, and the cost of reference as a percent of the total library or organizational budget. In addition, it reviews selected outstanding issues in the ongoing question of how to determine the cost of reference services in libraries and offers direction for further study toward a general cost model for information services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the Digital Reference Research agenda developed as a result of a three-day symposium at Harvard University. It shows how the research agenda ties directly to digital reference and library practice and argues that research and practice must connect on a meaningful level in order to prevent unusable research and untestable practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the fallacy that real-time and asynchronous digital reference software are fundamentally different. Instead the author argues that the only real difference is lag time, and that this difference does not support the separation of digital reference functions. An attempt is made to create a unified model for digital reference and digital reference functions. Lastly, the author presents some practical considerations for libraries seeking to purchase digital reference software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on work from two studies in progress related to assessing digital library reference services and developing standards that support such services. The paper suggests that two types of standards--utilization and technical--should be considered together in the costing, statistics, and measures for digital reference services. The digital reference community has the opportunity to embed quality standards and assessment data into software and infrastructure by linking utilization and technical standards early in the evolution of digital reference markets. Such an approach would greatly enhance the collection and analysis of a range of cost data related to digital reference service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outlines some of the ideas on how reference and users services will function in digital environment as its relates to K-12 digital reference service. Discussion on the K-12 digital reference service; Impact of the Internet on reference service; Advent of digital libraries; Changing roles of reference librarians.

The Internet has brought libraries to a crossroads. The nature of collection, service, and information organization is changing rapidly. There is considerable anxiety about changing roles and responsibilities in this new digital environment. While a great deal of research and development is occurring in both collection development (such as NSF's Digital Library Initiatives) and information organization (metadata), little attention has been paid to how reference and user services will function in this new digital environment. This article outlines some of the thinking in this area as it relates to K-12 digital reference services. These services answer thousands of questions every week and have addressed many issues involved in providing human-intermediated information and referral services via the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]