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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 52| August 2001


Virtual Reference Workshop

Virtual Reference Workshop

Back Row Left to Right: Arto Rissanen (ACT), Fran Wilson (NLA), Maggie Patton (NSW), Janet Thorpe (Tas),
Anne Lipow (California, USA), Prue Mercer (Vic), Margy Burn (NLA), Nola Adcock (Parliamentary Library)

Front Row Left to Right: Margaret Allen (SA), Mary Broadhurst (SA), Carla Mellor (QLD), Ann Triffett (NLA)

On May 28 members of the Council of Australian State Libraries’ Reference Issues Working Group attended a workshop at the National Library conducted by Anne Lipow, Director, Library Solutions Institute and Press in Berkeley, California. Most States were represented apart from Northern Territory and Western Australia.

The workshop was loosely based on one Anne delivered to libraries in all States of Australia and New Zealand in May and June 2001 organised by AIMA Training and Consultancy Services entitled ‘Establishing a Virtual Reference Service: How to Bring the Library to the User’. Participants undertook some prior reading and preparation including investigation and evaluation of email, web based and interactive reference services provided both commercially and by libraries.

Anne addressed many issues including the challenges facing libraries today in delivering reference services to users, particularly those in rural and remote areas, the ongoing decline in reference statistics, particularly face-to-face and the proliferation of dot coms on the Internet competing with library services to meet the information needs of ‘virtual library users’.

Anne also discussed some of the online collaborative ventures amongst libraries developing in the USA and demonstrated an example of interactive software developed by Library Systems & Services (LSSI) used by these libraries to meet the changing and ever increasing expectations of users for immediate information. Further information about this interactive software, including a demonstration is available at www.lssi.com.

In the afternoon session, Anne facilitated a discussion among working group members of the feasibility of a collaborative approach to reference in Australian libraries. It was decided that the Reference Issues Working Group will further explore the feasibility of establishing a collaborative online reference service on a pilot basis and will present a paper to the Council of Australian State Libraries at its next meeting.
—Fran Wilson

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