Overview

"Digital versus Non-Digital Reference analyses the quality of commercial and tutorial services and how they compare to traditional library services. Edited by Jessamyn West - proprietor of librarian.net and the ""hippest ex-librarian on the Web"" according to Wired magazine - the book looks at library models and more consumer-oriented models, examining a variety of services that range from Ask Jeeves[registered] and Google[trademark] to the library's own reference desk and Web e-mail reference forms. Academic librarians and information specialists share their experiences - good and bad - in starting, assessing, and in working with collaborative reference tools and outsourcing reference services, and discuss the highs and lows of dealing with individual online services. Digital versus Non-Digital Reference chronicles the experiences and interactions of librarians with digital reference, including case studies, how-to guides, and philosophical essays. The book's contributors discuss their concerns about using the Internet as not only a reference tool but as a reference medium that most libraries find inevitable to some degree. Topics include the political ramifications of offsite or outsourced reference, the truth behind the assertion that ""it's all available online,"" cultural and/or language barriers to text-based reference services, and patrons' experiences with reference tools, from a librarian's perspective. This book is an invaluable resource for practitioners and academics on the appropriate assessment, technologies, and methods for successfully creating and operating human-mediated, Internet-based information services."

Full Product Details

Author:   Linda S Katz ,  Jessamyn C. West
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Inc
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 14.80cm , Height: 1.10cm , Length: 21.00cm
Weight:   0.272kg
ISBN:  

9780789024435

ISBN 10:   0789024438
Pages:   176
Publication Date:   20 September 2004
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface (Jessamyn West) SECTION ONE: THE OLD versus THE NEW Have(n’t) We Been Here Before? Lessons from Telephone Reference (M. Kathleen Kern) E-Mail Reference as Substitute for Library Receptionist (Susan M. Braxton and Maureen Brunsdale) The Internet Public Library as a Teaching Tool for Shockingly Traditional Reference Skills (Abigail Leah Plumb) Contact Us: Archivists and Remote Users in the Digital Age (Katharine A. Salzmann) Characteristics of E-Mail Reference Services in Selected Public Libraries, Victoria, Australia (Doreen Sullivan) SECTION TWO: HOW WE DO IT HERE Predicting the Success of Commercial AskA Services in the United States and Abroad (Jenny Baum and Kate Lyons) Wired New Jersey: Q and A NJ (Carol Van Houten) Library LAWLINE: Collaborative Virtual Reference in a Special Library Consortium (Scott Matheson) Planning for Multilingual Chat Reference in a Suburban Public Library System (Edana McCaffery Cichanowicz and Nan Chen) SECTION THREE: A FEW THINGS TO THINK ABOUT The Social Life of Digital Reference: What the Technology Affords (Mita Sen-Roy) The Case for Non-Intrusive Research: A Virtual Reference Librarian’s Perspective (Bruce Jensen) Index Reference Notes Included

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