Articles About Virtual Reference Services

A recent article touting the more successful virtual reference services experiences focuses on statewide initiatives. The article, Virtual Reference: Alive & Well, is written by Brenda Bailey-Hainer and references previous articles written by Steve Coffman and Linda Arret (To Chat or Not To Chat. Part I, Part II) which cautioned libraries to contemplate how best to serve the customer (chat, telephone, in-person, etc). All the articles provide very good information. Ultimately, we must determine if this service meets our customers' needs. If so, would this service meet the needs of other libraries' customers throughout the state? And if so, can libraries join together, pull our resources and offer this service to all residents of the state of Arizona. We hope to answer these questions by the end of the grant period.