Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Collaborative Virtual Reference Services: The Tri-College Libraries’ Experience Educause Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference January 17, 2003

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Copyright © Megan M. Adams and W. Mark Colvson, This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the authors. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Background –Long history of collaboration & cooperation –Similar types & sizes of schools –Mellon Foundation grants

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Process Buy-In –Library Administration –Patrons –Library Staff

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Process Institutional Differences –Reference cultures –Student cultures –Organizational priorities –Technical differences –Resource differences

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Process Overhead –Monetary costs –Intangible costs –Staff time costs –Workload

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Benefits/Costs of Collaboration Benefits –Shared financing –More staff participation –Shared workload –Improves other library services

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Benefits/Costs of Collaboration Costs –Overextended system administrator –Time commitment for meetings –Supporting users with diverse technical issues –Coordinating & maintaining the service

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Where are we now? Timeline Spring 2001Mellon Foundation grant Fall 2001Initial pilot project Spring 2002Secondary pilot project, testing Summer 2002Training, branding Fall 2002Live with VRL 2.0, increasing staff involvement

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Where are we now? Fall monthOpen 20 hrs/week VRL 1.0 & AIM No statistics kept Spring monthsOpen 20 hours/week VRL 1.0Kept stats No Summer monthsOpen 20 hours/week VRL 1.0Kept stats No Fall monthsOpen 39 hours/week VRL 2.0Kept stats

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Statistics

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Where are we now? In the works: –Funding for new server –Compensation for late-night service –LiveHelp links ubiquitous on web sites, in OPAC, in Blackboard

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Where are we going? Marketing! –Integrated into freshman orientation and instruction sessions –Press releases to student publications –Target specific groups (grad students, study abroad students, etc.)

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Where are we going? Increasing collaboration – QuestionPoint? –Oberlin group libraries in other time zones? –Other collaborations local/state partner with campus IT help desks

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Where are we going? Evaluation –Talk to patrons! –Satisfaction, usage, desirability –Will our patrons use LiveHelp enough to justify costs? Should we do it anyway?

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Yes, we should! –Shift from print libraries to digital libraries, multiple access points –Collections & services becoming digital –LiveHelp is a primary digital library service

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Questions? Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College

Megan Adams, Swarthmore College Mark Colvson, Bryn Mawr College January 17, 2003 Collaborative Virtual Reference Services: The Tri-College Libraries’ Experience Megan Adams, Mark Colvson, Educause Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference January 17, 2003