The British Columbia Digital Library

Digital Library Construction Tools: E-Reference Services

Scope: International, national, regional  and selected local Internet/Web-based virtual (digital or electronic) reference service points and resources. These include both live (real-time or synchronous) and asynchronous services such as e-mail.

See also Digital Content in British Columbia's Libraries Software.

Bibliographies, Conferences, Discussion Forums, Educational, Publication, Standards, and Weblog Resources

• Assessing Quality in Digital Reference. Syracuse, NY: Information Institute of Syracuse. Includes a downloadable Adobe PDF  document, Statistics, Measures and Quality Standards for Assessing Digital Reference Library Services: Guidelines and Procedures by Charles R. McClure et al. Date accessed: 2004-03-22. Date added: 2004-03-22.
• Collaborative Live Reference Services. Bernie Sloan. Date accessed: 2004-03-21. Date added: 2004-03-21.
• Digital Reference [Weblog]. Stephen Francoeur. Part of: The Teaching Librarian. Date accessed: 2004-03-22. Date added: 2004-03-22.
• Digital Reference Education Initiative. Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services. Sponsored by the IMLS, DREI is part of the Virtual Reference Desk. Summary: " The Digital Reference Education Initiative (DREI) seeks to bring together the collective expertise of practitioners, library educators, and digital reference software developers interested in issues of education and training in order to develop core competencies, and educational approaches to digital reference. DREI's main goal is to create an adaptable collection of core competencies, standards, tools, and training materials that may be used in various library and other information industry settings, and to provide access to these materials through this site." Date accessed: 2004-03-21. Date added: 2004-03-21.
• Digital Reference Services Bibliography. Bernie Sloan. Date accessed: 2002-10-09. Date added: 2002-10-09.
• Draft Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining Virtual Reference Services. Chicago, IL: MARS [Machine-Assisted Reference Section] Ad Hoc Committee on Virtual Reference Guidelines, May 2003. Date accessed: 2004-03-22. Date added: 2004-03-22.
• IFLA Digital Reference Guidelines. The Hague, Netherlands: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Date accessed: 2004-03-21. Date added: 2004-03-21.
• NISO Workshop on Networked Reference Services. Washington, D.C.: National Information Standards Organization. Variant title: Invitational Workshop On Networked Reference Services. The workshop was held April 25-26, 2001 in the Library of Congress the Web site includes the agenda and presentations. See also: Final Report of the NISO Workshop on Networked Referenced Services. Date accessed: 2002-10-07. Date added: 2002-10-07.
• The Virtual Reference Desk. This site is a resource centre for digital reference services and acts as a clearinghouse for Internet/Web " Ask-A" services. The VRD also hosts the DIG_REF discussion list and sponsors an annual conference. Date updated: 2003-02-10.

International, National,  and Regional Service Points

• Global Librarian (Hosted by Surrey Public Library, BC, Canada). " ...an around-the-clock e-mail reference service offered by Surrey Public Library [British Columbia] in partnership with Vaughan Public Libraries in Ontario and Southampton City Libraries in the U.K. and Eastern Regional Libraries in Australia." Alternate Canadian URL: http://www.vaughanpl.com/ask.html Date accessed: 2003-02-10. Date added: 2003-02-10.
• Global Reference Network. Hosted by the Library of Congress. Continues: Collaborative Digital Reference Service (CDRS). The Library of Congress describes the GRN as a " collective of libraries and librarians formed to provide professional input on issues such as digital reference 'Best Practices' and policies." The Library of Congress and OCLC collaborated in establishing the QuestionPoint digital reference service that was an outgrowth of CDRS. Site includes links to resources in support of digital reference services. Date updated: 2002-10-07.
• QuestionPoint see Global Reference Network.
• Virtual Reference Canada. Ottawa, Ontario: Library and Archives of Canada. A free, collaborative e-mail reference service introduced in December 2002. Any Canadian library, archives or museum can register as a member and access the database and provide support in the form of answers. Date accessed: 2002-12-13. Date added: 2002-12-14. Date updated: 2003-02-10.

Local Service Points see Collaborative Live Reference Services by Bernie Sloan

Virtual Reference Software

• Virtual Reference Toolkit (Vendor: Library Systems & Services [LSSI], LLC). This is a hosted Web-based service based on technology developed and deployed by companies such as the Toronto-based WebHelp. Date updated: 2003-02-26.

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