VIRTUAL REFERENCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA FEFDL - 1998 BACKGROUND * FEFDL created by LSTA grant - Oct. 1998 * $13,000 * First LSTA awarded to UF in over a decade * Maintenance of site now in job descriptions of 3 staff members * Close to 700 pages * Finally have statistics Who is connected now? Statistics for September ENHANCEMENTS TO FEFDL * 1990 Census data has to be updated * RefeXpress available at UF * FEFDL needed more publicity COMPONENTS OF GRANT * Virtual Reference ($10,00) * Update Census Data for 67 counties and 402 cities in Florida ($3,000) * Conduct a usability study of FEFDL ($3,000) * Send promotional packets to 735 libraries ($5,000) * Travel to LSTA workshop ($1,000) VIRTUAL REFERENCE AT UF * RefeXpress - real help - right now * Available 44 hours a week * No restrictions (yet) on service * Limited publicity until we are sure of complete coverage and quality of service * Positive responses to service How is it staffed? * Voluntarily staffed with strong encouragement from director * Documents librarians now cover 6 hrs. or more a week * New schedule each semester - request hours * Currently there are 25 librarians and 2 staff members - keeps increasing * Use email for schedule changes TRAINING * Initially trained by NetAgent - not geared to libraries * Training now is in-house * Hands-on - must be limited Only have three seats Schedule training during off hours How RefeXpress Works * Live demo not possible on a Sunday * Walk you through the screens used by both the library staff member and by the patron * Statistics * End with lessons learned What the librarian sees What the patron sees Click on Go! Request Screen My question Phone Rings Back to patron screen Joe is online Joe pushes site to patron Evaluation pops up Instant messaging feature Joe chats with Bob Email Function Gather statistics A week of chatting at UF A week of email at UF My favorite chat session LESSONS LEARNED * Experience is the best teacher * Stressful, intense, different * Must provide information in short bursts * Must engage the patron immediately * Privacy is not an issue * Not embraced by all staff How Docs Will Do It * Begin with limited hours using already trained staff * Use buddy system to train new staff * Provide service at reference desk; better use of staff with declining statistics * Explore joint service with Reference during evening hours What's in a name? * Service needs a name * Can't send publicity packets or design logo for web page until we know what to call it * Maybe be most difficult part * Give me your input! Choose your favorite * DocsXpress * Doxtalk * Govgab * DocsDirect * DoxNow * DepositoryDirect * DirectDepository Or give me your ideas QUESTIONS?