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Virtual Reference Service: An Overview Diana Chan The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library Contents Trends in Reference Service Impact of the Internet What is VRS? Developments in VRS Usage Studies on Real Time VRS 1. Trends in Reference Service Anne Lipow- “Early signposts pointing the wrong way” Decreased circulation statistics Fewer walk-in users Staff can’t keep up Reference desk eliminated Outsourcing on the rise Reduced Reference service hours Search engines: automated reference librarian Need for large building and staff not clear Anne Grodzins Lipow, “Thinking out loud: Who will give reference service in the digital environment?” RQ 37(2) (Winter 1999), pp. 125-9. 2. Impact of the Internet In 2002: 73% of college students said they use the Internet more than the library Only 9% said they use the library more than the Internet for information searching. The Pew Internet American Life Project. (September 15, 2002). /html/journal/OCT02_Issue/article03.html (accessed September 8, 2005) INTERNET USAGE STATISTICS – The Big Picture 2. Impact of Internet “In the digital age, the biggest change is increased user expectations. Increasingly, user expect to be able to find everything online, full-text.” (1998) “Now both reference staff and patrons believe that an answer to almost every question can be found if the right combination of resources and search strategies is chosen from the multitude of Web resources and online services accessible.” (2002) Carol Tenopir and Lisa Ennis Impact of Internet In 2001, Carol Tenopir surveyed 70 major American research librarians about how their reference services changed because of electronic resources: 70 put email above telephone and fax as a communication method for reference inquiries 21 (30%) offered some form of real time VR 70 had real time VR in planning. Reference librarians spend more time per transaction… “A single tally cannot capture the varying dimensions and growing complexi