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ERIC Number: ED457863
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2001-Aug-30
Pages: 24
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Assessing Quality in Digital Reference Services Site Visit Reports: State Library of Florida, Bureau of Library and Network Services and Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System.
Gross, Melissa; McClure, Charles R.
The Assessing Quality on Digital Reference team conducted two site visits at Florida Libraries in August 2001. The objectives of these visits were to: document how digital reference services are currently being planned for, delivered, and evaluated in libraries; understand how "quality" in digital reference is defined in these environments; identify current issues in the provision of digital reference surrounding technology, management, staffing and training, and costing and economic concerns; and determine the evaluation needs of libraries regarding digital reference services. Data were collected in in-depth interviews with key informants at each library. Each library chose the personnel they felt could best inform the research, typically including both managerial and professional perspectives. Each library received a copy of the questions to be covered in the interview in advance of the site visit and each was well prepared to meet with the interviewers. In addition to the pre-formatted questions, interviews included opportunities for respondents to raise issues and add topics to the agenda. In the course of these interviews several trends were documented that are developing as a common thread in the academic literature and in data gathered on site visits at libraries across the United States. Provided here are the site visit reports concerning the provision of digital reference services at the State Library of Florida, Bureau of Library and Network Services and the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System. These reports are followed by a description of how these findings fit into a larger effort to assess the quality of digital reference, produce evaluation tools, and determine how best to integrate evaluation efforts into digital reference services. (AEF)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Florida State Univ., Tallahassee.
Identifiers - Location: Florida
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A