Digital Reference Courses

Several reference courses have been reported in the literature on digital reference education. Harris (2004) and Abels and Ruffner (2005) offered courses solely focused on digital reference, whereas Smith (2003) discussed a web-based reference course which

contributes to the enhancement of students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes as future digital reference librarians (Smith, 2003).

The digital reference course developed by Harris (2004) was a two-credit summer course titled “An Introduction to Digital Reference”. The course objectives were (p. 117):

o To review the reference interaction with attention to search models and

conducting reference in a digital medium;

o To read scholarly articles on digital reference;

o To familiarize students with online sources and conducting online searches; o To practice reference in an asynchronous environment; and

o To practice reference in a synchronous environment.

During this course, students learned models of searching, reference interview techniques and considerations, and a brief review of online sources as well.

QuestionPoint was used to let students practices both synchronous and asynchronous reference. The class evaluation indicated that the course was rated as excellent or very good by 95% of the students. Seventy-nine percent of them rated the practice opportunity as excellent or very good, and more than half reported the level of intellectual challenge of this course as above-average comparing to other courses taken. A median of 12.5 hours was spent on this course and all the students considered it valuable. Comments from the students centered on the need for more time to practice and absorb what they learned.

In the redesign of this course, Harris decided to add more theoretical context and split it into two sections. The first section will cover the theory of digital reference,

presence theory (Short, Williams, and Christie, 1976)” (p. 118), and “media richness theory (Daft and Lengel, 1984) from the CMC literature” (p. 118). In the second section, the focus will be shifted to the practice of digital reference, including “active learning in asynchronous and synchronous reference via the use of e-mail and chat software” (p. 118). Since the redesigned course was still in the planning stage as of Harris’s (2004) writing, it was not known then how it proceeded and how students evaluated it.

In collaboration with LSSI (now Tutor.com), Abels and Ruffner (2005) developed an online workshop for chat reference training at University of Maryland. This workshop was delivered three times in 2003-2004 and results of the first two offerings were

reported in their article. The goal of this four-week online work shop was to explore the feasibility of teaching librarians to use sophisticated chat software without face-to-face instruction, and identify effective online training techniques for chat reference services. Participants were engaged in a step-by-step learning process through four modules:

o The virtual reference environment: familiarity with WebCT, virtual reference

principles, practice and professional resources;

o Technology & software: understanding of software options and features;

introductory use of simple and VRT software;

o Quality control: identification of “best practice” and beneficial use of

transcripts; and

o Role playing: application of skills in simulation, self-assessment.

Evaluative methods for this workshop included participants’ overall satisfaction with the course, their perceived effectiveness of and preferences for specific training techniques, their completion of hands-on exercises, and their confidence level in

conducting chat reference services. The findings indicated that 87% of the participants completed the exercises; 90% rated the course content as good or excellent; over 90% indicated satisfaction with various aspects of the workshop and the same number of participants agreed that the teaching techniques were effective or very effective.

Based on the findings, Abels and Ruffner concluded that “successful participants need some computer experience, a flexible approach to technology issues and a positive attitude toward online training” (p. 24), and suggested asynchronous training methods to be incorporated for online courses for chat reference.

While Harris (2004) and Abels and Ruffner (2005) discussed their breakthrough efforts in developing courses solely dedicated to digital reference, Smith (2003) provided a series of insights on how web-based reference courses facilitated learning of digital reference. The course she taught was an online reference course which intended to “give students a framework for navigating the digital information landscape” (p.155). Aspects of the course related to digital reference included “experience with text chat, experience in email reference, exposure to librarians with real-world experience, experience in using digital resources, experience in creating digital resource, electronic journal club as a form of continuing education, and confronting issues in provision of digital reference service” (p.156).

Besides the extensive covering of digital reference in this course, Smith identified the similarities between being an instructor of an online course and being a digital

reference librarian. Seven points were made in this regard.

o Public (permanent) performance: online class sessions are archived and

accessible; so are digital reference transcripts.

o Creating a learning environment: the content and organization of online

classes are designed to support the learning objectives; digital reference collections are created to help users understand the “information landscape”.

o Media management: different media are adopted in both online teaching and

digital reference service.

o Time management: online classes are organized in a more flexible way and

the communication is not restricted in a specific time; digital reference service is provided at times that are convenient for users.

o Computer-mediated communication: both online instructors and digital

reference librarians need to learn to compensate for limitations of the current digital communication media.

o Partnership: the archive of online class sessions can be shared with other

faculty member and teaching assistants; transcripts of digital reference can be used in staff training.

No class evaluation was reported in this study. Only the narrative of a student about the value of her experience with the course was provided.