For the most part, reference services remain centered around the desk despite the increasing abilities of communications software. Rourke and Lupien studied a program at the University of Guelph that was designed to enable students to contact reference librarians through the use of MSN messenger and Virtual Reference software. The university wanted to enable access to reference librarians from a distance and wanted students to be able to ask questions from a computer rather than having to trek to the librarian to ask a question.
From this study, several conclusions were reached. The first was that students were much more formal over the virtual reference service which acted much like an email stream back and forth on a particular topic. Many students felt their queries weren't important enough to use the VR software and the IM service was much more popular. Despite this, students using virtual reference software were more likely to ask an interpretive or complex question than students using the IM software. Perhaps one of the more interesting conclusions was that students preferred the IM software, regardless of which technology was used to successfully answer their question. This meant that the results were in general less important to the students than the comfort level of the technology in question and most students probably felt more at home with IM software as it was similar to technologies they were already using with friends and relatives.
IM software may be an important way to get students who may be shy about asking questions in front of a class to voice their concerns or opinions. It is not as public and some students feel more confidant sharing their ideas through text than through speech. Having such software available to "speak" with a teacher or librarian would possibly boost the number of questions students would ask without putting them in the spotlight. In addition, it would be possible to enable some sort of virtual session so a librarian could be available to students at home. While students don't require as many distance learning opportunities in primary or secondary school, there may still be a need to communicate with a librarian outside of normal school hours. While it may not always be feasible to have personnel on hand, the abilities for students to gain assistance outside of the library is not to be dismissed lightly.
Rourke, L. & Lupien, P. (2010). Learning from chatting: How our virtual reference questions are giving
us answers. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 5(2), 63-74.
