E-Mail Reference: Who, When, Where, and What Is Asked

This article begins by summarizing national findings of e-mail reference services in academic and public libraries. It next describes types of e-mail reference services as well as commonalities, differences, appearance of the question form, audience, and turnaround time for selected Colorado librari...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Reference librarian 2001-06, Vol.35 (74), p.55-73
Main Author: Lederer, Naomi
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
USA
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article begins by summarizing national findings of e-mail reference services in academic and public libraries. It next describes types of e-mail reference services as well as commonalities, differences, appearance of the question form, audience, and turnaround time for selected Colorado libraries. The article then focuses on giving a detailed overview and analysis of two years of Colorado State University's e-mail reference experiences. The number, type of question, who/where the questions come from, and to whom the questions are sent are examined. The unexpected uses of the service are identified. Lastly, broader issues to do with e-mail reference services are discussed. This article is based on a presentation given at the Internet Librarian2000 conference.
ISSN:0276-3877
1541-1117