TY - JOUR
T1 - “I've Already Googled It, and I Can't Understand It”
T2 - User's Perceptions of Virtual Reference and Social Question-Answering Sites
AU - Kitzie, Vanessa L.
AU - Connaway, Lynn Silipigni
AU - Radford, Marie L.
N1 - Funding Information: This research was funded by the Institute for Museum of Library Services (IMLS) and part of a larger project entitled, Cyber Synergy: Seeking Sustainability through Collaboration between Virtual Reference and Social Q&A Sites. The project was funded by IMLS for the period of 10/01/11 to 9/30/14, in the amount of $250,000. The co-PIs on the project were Marie L. Radford, Lynn S. Connaway, and Chirag Shah. For more information, the project website can be accessed via the following link: http://www.oclc.org/research/activities /synergy/default.htm. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 American Library Association. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - For librarians to continually demonstrate superior and high-quality service, they must meet the needs of current and potential users. One way that librarians have met the needs of users is by expanding their service offerings online via virtual reference services (VRS). This expansion is particularly critical in the current time of COVID-19. To provide high-quality VRS service, librarians can learn from social question-answering (SQA) sites, whose popularity reflect changing user expectations, motivations, use, and assessment of information. Informed by interviews with 51 users and potential users of both platforms this research examines how strengths from SQA can be leveraged in VRS, and what can be learned from SQA practices to reach potential library users. This study represents one of the few comparisons between VRS and SQA that exist in the literature.
AB - For librarians to continually demonstrate superior and high-quality service, they must meet the needs of current and potential users. One way that librarians have met the needs of users is by expanding their service offerings online via virtual reference services (VRS). This expansion is particularly critical in the current time of COVID-19. To provide high-quality VRS service, librarians can learn from social question-answering (SQA) sites, whose popularity reflect changing user expectations, motivations, use, and assessment of information. Informed by interviews with 51 users and potential users of both platforms this research examines how strengths from SQA can be leveraged in VRS, and what can be learned from SQA practices to reach potential library users. This study represents one of the few comparisons between VRS and SQA that exist in the literature.
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U2 - https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.59.3/4.7721
DO - https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.59.3/4.7721
M3 - Article
SN - 1094-9054
VL - 59
SP - 204
EP - 215
JO - Reference and User Services Quarterly
JF - Reference and User Services Quarterly
IS - 3-4
ER -