Fundamentals of Reference

Online Reference Service 73

Chat reference

Like phone and email reference before it, chat

reference offers the opportunity to expand reference

services to others in our user populations. Like most

aspects of digital librarianship, it is “the same but

different”—the same basic concepts are there,

but the applications are different and novel.

—David S. Carter, “Hurry Up and Wait”

You might say that chat reference is to e-mail reference what a telephone call is
to a voice mail message. Chat, like a telephone call, is in “real time.” There is
a person at the other end, and instead of talking
to the librarian, they are typing. Unlike e-mail
reference, which, like a voice mail message, is
static (the message is either written or a voice
recording), chat is dynamic, with the give and
take of a conversation. Chat requires the use of
some special software, and once that is installed
all that’s left to do is train the staff and establish
the hours of service.
As with e-mail reference, chat reference has
benefits and challenges. Some of the benefits of
chat reference are

1. Chat software programs offer transcripts of transactions, offering
   the patron a record of the information or website addresses
   provided. These transcripts can also be used for training purposes
   in the library.


2. Chat reference provides service at the time and place of need.


3. Chat reference allows patrons to ask questions they may feel
   uncomfortable posing in person.


4. Chat reference service can offer a “teachable moment” when the
   librarian is able to “push” a web page to the patron or co-browse
   with them.

Tammy Bobrowsky, Lynne

Beck, and Malaika Grant, “The

Chat Reference Interview:

Practicalities and Advice,”

Reference Librarian 43,

no. 89/90 (2005): 179–91,

provides actual chat

transcripts, tips from veteran

chat reference librarians, and

training suggestions.