Providing Chat Reference Service: A Survey of Current Practices

Matt Marsteller and Paul Neuhaus, Carnegie Mellon University Libraries

This survey examines the provision of chat services in your institution. It attempts to gather a variety of data that can serve as a baseline for further studies. If you are not the individual leading your institution's chat reference effort, please forward this survey to the appropriate person. We hope you will take the time to complete the survey and continue to assist us in gathering feedback about chat service!

Chat service refers to online, interactive, remote transactions with patrons. Chat operator means the library staff who answers the patron queries during chat services.

  1. Which category best describes your institution?

    University Library
    College Library
    Community College Library
    Public Library
    Other (please specify):

  2. What is the estimated user population that your institution serves?

  3. What chat service/vendor does your institution use?

    AOL Instant Messenger
    EGain
    Human Click
    LivePerson
    LSSI
    Other (please specify):

  4. Does your institution offer chat services as a member of a consortium?

    Yes No
    If "Yes", can you tell us the name of the consortium?

  5. Excluding any training provided by the chat service/vendor, how many hours did your institution devote to training each chat operator on average?

    None
    1-2 hours
    3-4 hours
    More than 4 hours

  6. How many chat operators does your institution have?

    Under 5
    5-10
    10-15
    15-20
    Over 20

  7. What is your institution's yearly expense for the chat service? (e.g., vendor charges, office space, publicity, etc., excluding salaries)

    Under $2,500
    $2,500-$5,000
    $5,000-$7,500
    $7,500-$10,000
    Over $10,000
    Don't Know

  8. What is your institution's yearly expense for chat operators' salaries?

    Under $10,000
    $10,000-$20,000
    $20,000-$30,000
    $30,000-$40,000
    $40,000-$50,000
    Over $50,000
    Don't Know

  9. Does your institution expect to change services/vendors in the next year?

    Yes No

    If "Yes", please indicate the rationale (Check all that apply)

    Service with more options
    Less expensive service
    Technical problems with current service
    Simpler interface to operate
    Other (please specify):

  10. How long has your institution offered chat services?

    1-4 months
    4-8 months
    8-12 months
    Over one year

  11. When is the chat service provided? Please indicate the days per week and the specific hours per day (e.g. 1:00-5:00 p.m.)

    Sunday       Yes No    Hours:
    Monday      Yes No    Hours:
    Tuesday      Yes No    Hours:
    Wednesday Yes No    Hours:
    Thursday     Yes No    Hours:
    Friday         Yes No    Hours:
    Saturday     Yes No    Hours:

  12. Does your institution expect these hours to change in the next year?

    No change
    Increase
    Decrease

  13. How can patrons access the chat service link? (check all that apply)

    Library's home page
    Library's Web Site: Reference Services Page
    All pages of the Library's Web Site
    Other (please specify):     

  14. Chat service is available to? (check all that apply)

    Users of the Web Site
    Affiliates of the institution
    Citizens and affiliates of your service area
    Other (please specify):     

  15. Does your institution have written policies regarding chat services? (e.g., hours, description of patron base, etc.)

    Yes No

  16. How many employees work in your library system? (Full-Time Effective or FTE, excluding students)

    Under 25
    25-50
    50-100
    100-200
    Over 200

  17. What is the average number of chat queries your library system receives each month?

    Under 25
    25-50
    50-100
    100-200
    Over 200

  18. Please describe the status of the chat operator(s). (Check all that apply)

    Reference Librarian
    Other Librarian
    Paraprofessional
    Student
    Other (please specify):  

  19. How many persons staff the chat service simultaneously?

    One
    Two
    Three
    Four
    Five or more

  20. For each chat operator, the number of hours devoted to reference services per week:

    Stayed the same
    Increased by 1-2 hours
    Increased by 2-4 hours
    Increased over 4 hours

  21. Did your institution hire additional personnel to staff the chat service?

    Yes No

    If "Yes", how many?   

  22. How often are chat sessions affected by technical problems?

    Never
    1-2 times/month
    1-2 times/week
    Daily

  23. In the following questions, please compare chat services to in-person, telephone, and email reference interactions according to whether it is:  Much Better; Better; Same; Worse; Much Worse

    A. The chat operator's ability to guide the reference interaction:

    Chat compared to In-person:     

    Chat compared to Telephone:     

    Chat compared to Email:     

    B. The chat operator's ability to answer the question fully with available, on-hand resources:

    Chat compared to In-person:     

    Chat compared to Telephone:     

    Chat compared to Email:     

    C. The chat operator's ability to answer the question fully in the time allowed:

    Chat compared to In-person:     

    Chat compared to Telephone:     

    Chat compared to Email:     

    D. The chat operator's ability to provide reference in real time:

    Chat compared to In-person:     

    Chat compared to Telephone:     

    Chat compared to Email:     

    E. Overall quality of chat services as a tool for providing reference:

    Chat compared to In-person:     

    Chat compared to Telephone:     

    Chat compared to Email:     

  24. Who uses your chat service?

    A. Faculty:     

    B. Graduate Students:     

    C. Undergraduate Students:     

    D. K-12 Students:     

    E. General Public:     

    F. Other:     

    If other, please specify:  

  25. How valuable is the chat service for providing reference services?


  26. Is the chat service worth the money that your institution is spending?


  27. May we contact you if we have further questions?

    Yes No

    If "Yes",
    Name:  
    Phone:  
    Email:  

  28. Do you have any additional comments you would like to provide?

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey!


May 2001 -- http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~matthewm/survey.html
Matthew R. Marsteller, matthewm@andrew.cmu.edu and Paul Neuhaus, neuhaus@andrew.cmu.edu