1. REFERENCE SERVICE OF THE FUTURE
ELS TEN KROODEN
UNISA LIBRARY

2. THE CHALLENGE: to provide a
RELEVANT
REFERENCE
SERVICE
to a
DIGITALLY-SAVVY GENERATION

3. DIGITAL REFERENCE SERVICE : Definition
A reference service initiated electronically, often in real-time using computers or other technological tools to access the Internet

5. Digital reference Asynchronous communication
Synchronous /real-time communication
VoIP
Collaborative DRS

8. Characteristics of the NetGen
Immediacy
Interactivity
Mobility
Personalization
in addition – multitasking; multimedia

9. Websites they use:

10. “SA wakes up to Web 2.0”

11. Social networking/ the Read/ Write Web
Wikipedia
RSS Feeds
Blogs
Social bookmarking/ tagging

14. How can we apply this to a DRS?

15. Become a Librarian 2.0

17. Promote digital reference
Increase real-time online communication
Use relevant technology
Introduce roving reference work

19. Train! Yourself! Be alert to new TRENDS in Libraries Technology
Science
Your users – at EVERY opportunity!

20. “May you live in interesting times”

21. Presented by Els ten Krooden tkrooe@unisa.ac.za
2007 Annual Research Symposium : 
New trends in the LIS environment
3 May 2007