“I’m Writing a Sermon…”

“I’m writing a sermon…” prefaces most of the questions that come to the Pitts Theology Library Reference Desk from alumni. Candler School of Theology alumni regularly return to the library to inquire about the resources and databases that remain available to them through Emory University Libraries in their new ministerial settings. In addition to these one-off reference interactions, Pitts librarians also engage with alumni through a variety of means, including outreach and events, instruction, and graduation preparation and celebrations. During the academic years of 2019–20 and 2020–21, however, alumni needs and requests increased and transformed as public libraries closed in-person services and university campuses were limited to currently enrolled students and faculty. This paper will explore the evolving needs of seminary alumni brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Pitts witnessed and managed an uptick in requests for access to collections, library spaces, and online databases.

Impact of COVID-19 on the use of the academic library

PurposeThis study examines differences in library use patterns (in-person visits, online use, reference transactions, library resource and services use) pre-COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 pandemic through multiple data sets.Design/methodology/approachUsing library statistics collected during 2017/2018 and 2020/2021 and student responses to a biennial library use survey distributed in 2018 and 2021, the potential impact of the pandemic on users' behaviors was explored.FindingsLibrary use statistics and the biennial survey responses demonstrate that users' overall library use was impacted by COVID-19. Both the library's gate count and students' frequency of library visits showed a dramatic decrease. The use of virtual support to patrons increased during COVID-19 as reflected by the increase in email and chat reference interactions and virtual consultations.Practical implicationsAs students return to the physical classroom, observing library use via various data will help inform how well use of the library rebounded or if there are changes in users' behavior that suggest the need for the promotion of library services or an expansion in alternative services to support users.Originality/valueThis article highlights the importance of continuously obtaining various data sets to observe trends and changes. By observing multiple data points, some changes are aligned across data, whereas other changes or patterns are different. While impact on physical library use may be obvious, library use before and during the pandemic will help guide and inform how academic libraries should be prepared for hybrid environments post-pandemic.

Help-Seeking Behaviors in Research Data Management

Investigations on the help-seeking behavior of academic library patrons have to date primarily focused on the undergraduate experience, most often in the context of reference interactions. This study seeks to explore the help-seeking behaviors of a different audience - faculty in the natural and physical sciences at an R2 land-grant university. Eighteen faculty in the natural and physical sciences at the University of Idaho were individually interviewed using an in-depth qualitative interview format and all transcripts were coded and analyzed using an open transcript data visualization tool created at the University of Idaho Library. Responses revealed that faculty are seeking help from colleagues; peers outside the university, via connections formed in graduate school or professional circles; and through DIY solutions like "just googling it," but less often through university resources and programs. Using the results of this project as a starting point, we will explore how libraries might better understand the help-seeking behavior of research faculty, with an eye towards developing services and sources that better meet faculty research needs.

Graduate Assistants Trained in Reference May Not Consistently Apply Reference Interview and Instructional Strategies in Reference Interactions

A Review of: Canuel, R., Hervieux, S., Bergsten, V., Brault, A., & Burke, R. (2019). Developing and assessing a graduate student reference service. Reference Services Review, 47(4), 527–543. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-06-2019-0041 Abstract Objective – To evaluate the effectiveness of a reference training program for graduate student employees that seeks to encourage use of reference interview and instruction techniques in virtual and in-person reference interactions. Design – Naturalistic observation with qualitative content analysis. Setting – A large, public research university in Montreal, Canada. Subjects – Three graduate students in Library and Information Science employed by the university library to provide virtual and in-person reference services. Methods – After completing a training program, the three participants provided virtual and in-person reference training for two consecutive semesters. They self-recorded their desk interactions in a Google form. These self-reports, along with their online chat transcripts from QuestionPoint, were the subject of this study’s analysis. Focusing on the QuestionPoint data, the authors coded the transcripts from these participants’ online reference interactions to reflect the presence or absence of a reference interview and various instructional techniques in their responses to patrons. Also, all in-person and virtual questions were examined and categorized as being either transactional or reference questions. Reference questions were further categorized as basic, intermediate, or advanced questions. Main Results – Of the chat transcripts analyzed, 49% were classified as containing reference questions rather than transactional questions. At the desk, 21.9% of interactions were coded as reference questions. Taking the two semesters together, 232 of 282 virtual reference questions were considered basic, while 41 were labelled intermediate, and 9 classified as advanced. Similarly, of 136 desk reference questions, 120 were classified as basic, 14 as intermediate, and 2 as advanced. In their coding of chat transcripts, researchers indicated whether the interaction contained no reference interview, a partial reference interview, or a complete reference interview. Virtual chat transcripts from both fall and winter semesters showed that no reference interview took place in 77.3% of interactions. Authors noted evidence of partial reference interviews in 19.3% of fall transcripts and 21.5% of winter transcripts. Complete reference interviews took place in 3.4% of fall and 1.2% of winter transcripts. Additionally, authors found that 65.5% of chat transcripts contained elements of instruction, with Modelling and Resource Suggestion being the most prevalent forms. Conclusion – Because the graduate students used complete or partial reference interviews in a small number of their virtual reference questions, the authors of this study determined that more emphasis ought to be placed on reference interviews, particularly virtual reference interactions, in future training programs. Graduate students employed instructional strategies in observed virtual reference interactions, a promising trend.

Let’s chat: the art of virtual reference instruction

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the instances of information literacy instruction within the virtual reference system of a Canadian university library. Design/methodology/approach Coding and analysis of a sample of chat transcripts over the course of one academic year have been used. Findings The analysis indicated that over 50 per cent of virtual reference interactions do not lend themselves to information literacy instruction. An average of 23.6 per cent of interactions included information literacy instruction and the preferred methods of instruction were modelling and resource sharing. Originality/value While previous studies have focused on information literacy instruction provided in a virtual reference setting, this study aims to identify not only instances of information literacy but also to better understand the nature of chat queries by codifying instances of a transactional nature. The results could lead to improved best practices for chat reference, enhanced staff training and varied promotion and delivery of not just virtual reference services but of other library services as well. A portion of this research project, including partial results for the Fall semester, was presented at the LILAC Conference in Liverpool in April 2018.

Reference Conundrum: The Broad Definition of Peer-Review

For years, the gold-standard in academic publishing has been the peer-review process, and for the most part, peer-review remains a safeguard to authors publishing intentionally biased, misleading, and inaccurate information. Its purpose is to hold researchers accountable to the publishing standards of that field, including proper methodology, accurate literature reviews, etc. This presentation will establish the core tenants of peer-review, discuss if certain types of publications should be able to qualify as such, offer possible solutions, and discuss how this affects a librarian's reference interactions.

Redefining Virtual

This article discusses how the unique nature of texting sets SMS apart from other virtual reference tools. Near-synchronous, near-virtual, anonymous, and ubiquitous, texting blurs the lines between virtual and in-person communication. Drawing on the experiences of librarians at SUNY Purchase College and other public and academic libraries, this article addresses challenges and misconceptions surrounding SMS reference and suggests best practices for SMS reference interactions and staffing. Librarians are encouraged to explore new techniques like “mobile reference” or the “reference haiku” and return to long-standing practices like “saving the time of the user” and telephone ready reference. By embracing a mobile reference mentality and framing SMS reference as a hybrid between telephone, IM, and face-to-face reference, librarians can improve the quality of reference services and serve patrons at their point-of-need.

Embeddedness Creates Opportunities for Enhanced Library Liaison Services and Relationships

A Review of: O’Toole, E., Barham, R., & Monahan, J. (2016). The impact of physically embedded librarianship on academic departments. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 16(3), 529-556. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pla.2016.0032 Abstract Objective – To examine whether liaison librarian interactions increase when librarians are physically embedded in their liaison areas. Design – Natural experiment using quantitative measures. Setting – A large, public university in the United States of America. Subjects – Liaison librarian reference interactions. Methods – This research is organized around four primary research questions that examine the effect of liaison librarian physical, co-located embeddedness on the following: 1) the frequency of walk-up reference transactions of the embedded location versus the service desk; 2) the frequency of reference and instructional transactions with liaison areas after the implementation of embedded services; 3) the frequency of walk-up transactions at embedded sites compared to the number of reference and instructional transactions after embeddedness began; and 4) liaison librarian participation in new collaborative or integrative activities with their liaison areas. Researchers used data collected between Fall 2012 and Spring 2014 and compared this to data collected in the pre-embedded period for Fall 2010 to Fall 2011. Data sources included the library’s locally developed reference services statistics tracking tool, individual librarians’ calendar appointment records, and librarian performance agreements. The analysis uses descriptive statistics. Main Results – Researchers discovered a decrease in the frequency of liaison librarians’ walk-up reference transactions at the service desk, as tracked by transactions per hour, occurring before the transition, during the transition, and after the transition to embedded librarianship. They note a decrease of 45% in the number of walk-up interactions at service points for the three librarians involved in the study from the pre-embeddedness service period during Fall 2010 as compared to Spring 2012. The data show this decline through Spring 2013 before rebounding in Fall 2013 and Spring 2014. They identified a median decline of three transactions per hour at the service desk from the pre-embeddedness to post-embeddedness periods. They identified an increase of 371% in the number of email transactions following the implementation of embedded librarianship as compared to the pre-embeddedness period. Telephone interactions declined overall during the research period, though they were already in decline before the transition to embeddedness began. The overall number of face-to-face reference appointments increased during the transition to embeddedness and continued to rise during the post-embeddedness period, with a 275% increase in the median number of appointments between pre- and post-embeddedness periods. The new embeddedness service did not have as significant an impact on the frequency of information literacy instruction sessions, with a small increase of 11.5% between the pre- and post-embeddedness periods, but it did spur the creation of online course research guides, which saw an increase of 54%. Regarding the third research question, researchers totalled the combined numbers of reference transactions by phone, email, and appointment, and compared those against walk-up interactions and also against instruction activities. In both cases, they did not discover any apparent impact of embeddedness and the frequency of these activities. The final research question addressed whether embeddedness led to liaison librarians having new collaborative and integrative activities with their subject areas. The researchers indicate that the liaison librarians “indeed experienced novel interactions with their assigned departments that fall into both categories” (p. 547). They highlight several types of activities experienced by the liaison librarians in the study, such as participating in the grant proposal process, assisting department projects, and involvement in student activities. Conclusion – This library’s expanded embedded library services led to an increased frequency of reference interactions, instruction opportunities, and opportunities for new collaborative and integrative activities between the liaison librarian and their subject area. This study reveals several opportunities for future research around embedded services as well as models of embeddedness, including opportunities to address impact and benefits of such services on the liaison areas.

Academic Reference and Instruction Librarians and Dweck’s Theories of Intelligence

This article introduces psychologist Carol S. Dweck’s entity and incremental theories of intelligence and explores the prevalence of these theories in academic librarians who participate in reference and instruction activities. Based on existing research, it is possible that implicit theories of intelligence could affect the ways in which librarians conduct information literacy and library instruction, as well as reference interactions. This article intends to provide a foundation for understanding if further research concerning theories of intelligence, instructional design and pedagogy, and reference practice in academic libraries is warranted.