This collection of papers is from the Virtual Reference Desk (VRD) conference held in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2004. The papers have all been updated and developed for this book. As the VRD conference is one of the leading forums in the world for the discussion of digital reference services, this volume has a stamp of authority from the beginning.
It claims to be “cutting‐edge” and a text that all those involved in reference and information should read. Does it live up to this claim? Yes, it does, if you are interested in what technology is, and what it can and will do for enquiry and information services. It has a very wide possible audience, ranging from the library and information student wanting an overview of digital reference services, to the practitioner involved in answering enquiries using digital technology, and to the manager developing a virtual enquiry and information service or knowledge base.
The breadth of this book is the reason why it will be of interest to so many information professionals. It is divided into four parts covering: the future for chat‐reference; training for and staffing of digital services; the evaluation of digital services; and innovative approaches to digital reference – there are ten chapters. The papers making up these ten chapters are based on a wide range of research and professional activity undertaken mostly in the US and Canada in academic and public libraries. There is, however, one chapter covering the experience of collaboration between Danish public and academic libraries running an “electronic reference service” and another from the angle of creating a knowledge base at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Library, on the retirement of the long‐serving librarian. Although there are no examples of digital reference from Britain, the wide range of subject content does give this book a breadth of coverage, which is applicable to library and information professionals wherever they are based in the world.
To help the reader navigate round this text there is a detailed contents page, which gives a comprehensive summary of the subject coverage. This is further complemented by a four‐page introduction, which describes each chapter in more detail. There is also a fairly comprehensive index and information about the editors and contributors. The latter indicates the authority behind the individual papers. At the end of each chapter there is a list of references, useful for readers wishing to extend their knowledge.
I found some chapters of this book compulsive reading. The first chapter discusses the different ways in which teenagers use technology to access information and use library services. The internet is a big part of their lives. Do we use this knowledge to tailor our reference services to this age group? Chapter 4 on the staffing of chat‐reference also poses some interesting questions. How do you develop a staffing model for “libraries with limited staffing flexibility”. The experience of the public librarians in Orange County, Florida, in Chapter 9, will also be all too familiar. Faced with declining reference questions, they decided they to get out “from behind the reference desk”, and use wi‐fi technology to develop and change their approach to information service delivery. This is an example of one of the strengths of this text. It combines academic papers with chapters giving “practical application and guidance”.
If you wanted to read one book on digital reference services and their impact on the future of reference services, this could certainly be the one to choose. It is authoritative, being based on peer‐reviewed papers from the VRD conference. The layout of the different chapters renders it easy to read and the navigation tools, the index and contents page, are a help to the reader. Its breadth and depth of coverage means it has an appeal to the widest possible audience. However, in my opinion, this text's greatest selling point is the way in which it makes a reality how technologies such as “online chat, text messaging, and RSS feeds” can and will change “the world of the virtual reference library”.
