Chat in library reference services

As part of my studies this semester in Information Sources and Services, I’m reading Reference and Information Services by Cassell and Hiremath. At the end of its first chapter, among articles the authors recommend for further reading, I was interested in “On the Origin of Queries: Where Chat Reference Begins,” by Dempsey, Warner, Lux, and Rich.

Cassell and Hiremath identified several virtual platforms where reference transactions can take place, including “e-mail, chat reference, IM, social media, or videoconferencing” (2023, p. 5) The article by Dempsey, et al. piqued my interest because of my own preference for text-based communication platforms. I am autistic and “existing evidence suggests that autistic people may prefer written modes of contact” (Howard & Sedgewick, 2021, p. 2266).

Some recent periodicals position this tendency as characteristic of Generation Z (Balan, 2024; Collins, 2024). I offer myself as proof, however, that a tendency to view the telephone as intrusive is not confined to a single generation. I will be happy if text-based business exchanges can completely supplant having to use the telephone.

Dempsey, et al. looked at chat-reference services offered by academic libraries at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois, the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green,Ohio.

Among information in this article that was interesting to me was the fact that “Chat traffic on library web pages accounted for the majority of chats” (Dempsey, et al., 2022, p. 86). It was difficult to embed chat widgets within databases, because “chat presence in third-party databases is difficult to manage and dependent on investments from third-party vendors to develop and support chat functionality” (Dempsey, et al., 2022, p. 91).

While reading this article, I looked for the placement of a “Librarian Chat” widget on the website for UCM’s own James C. Kirkpatrick Library. This is a bright-red widget that was available on the page where I looked up “Origin of Queries.” Once I clicked on the article, however, it brought up a pop-up screen that did not have a widget for “Librarian Chat.”

An important factor toward chat services being used was a “consistent, ubiquitous” presence (Dempsey, et al., 2022, p. 87). “UIC’s chat widget is an ever-present, customized fixed-position ‘Chat with a Librarian’ bar that ‘follows’ a library user throughout the entire library website, including within the discovery layer” (Dempsey, et al., 2022, p. 88).

One additional piece of information that was interesting to me was an argument that librarians need to know where and how a patron initiates chat because this “provides actionable information about their information needs and context for seeking assistance” (Dempsey, et al., 2022, p. 91). The article suggested further research to “assess the extent to which chat providers take note of the referring URL” (Dempsey, et al., 2022, p. 91).

Altogether, I found the article very interesting to read, and would like further studies to consider how chat-based reference compares in frequency to other modes of inquiry. Can it, for example, reduce a reliance on contacting the library via telephone?

References:
Balan, D. (2024). Why Gen-Zers keep their phones on ‘Do not disturb.’ Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/un-numb/202405/why-gen-zers-keep-their-phones-on-do-not-disturb

Cassell, K. & Hiremath, U. (2023). Reference and information services: An introduction (5th Edition). ALA Neal-Schuman.

Collins, A. (2024). How ‘Phone Anxiety’ divides Gen Z, Millennials and Boomers. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/how-phone-anxiety-divides-generations-1898877

Dempsey, P.R., et al. (2022). On the origin of queries: Where chat reference questions begin. Internet Reference Services Quarterly 26(2), 73-94. https://research-ebsco-com.cyrano.ucmo.edu/c/pbwc2c/viewer/pdf/rtowuufy3v

Howard, P.L. & Sedgewick, F. (2021). ‘Anything but the phone!’: Communication mode preferences in the autism community. Autism 25(8), 2265-2278.