ALA Midwinter 2009 Discussion Forum Planning

 

Forum Description

 

What is the role of reference collections today? What is the right balance between print and digital and how can the digital be presented so our users will actually find and use it? How do we create and organize e-reference "collections" drawn from multiple vendors with different interfaces and formats? Come and hear our speakers, and discuss with others your libraries' options and solutions to these and other questions on e-reference collections.

 

Sources

 

The VERSO Solution: A grassroots response to a surge in e-resources yields a new virtual reference shelf

 

 

Here is a recent article and a survey discussing students' reluctance to use e-books...might be an interesting sub-topic for our forum.

 

Cynthia L. Gregory, "But I Want a Real Book: An Investigation of Undergraduates' Usage and Attitudes toward Electronic Books," RUSQ 47.3 (Spring 2008). 

Sorry I can't provide a direct link; the Spring 2008 issue isn't posted on the RUSQ Web site for some reason.

 

2008 Global Student E-Book Survey sponsored by ebrary

 

Forum Structure

 

10:30-12:00 Sunday, January 25, 2009

Location:Convention Center 401/402

 

10:30-11:05 Introduction (5 minutes) and Speakers (15 minutes x 2)

INTRODUCE FORUM AND SPEAKERS

 

11:05-11:40 Discussion in groups

JOIN A GROUP AND TAKE NOTES?

 

11.40-12:00 Report back and wrapup

LEAD REPORT BACK AND WRAPUP SESSION; TAKE NOTES ON REPORT BACK.

 

HANDOUT ATTENDANCE SHEETS

COUNT ATTENDEES

 

WRITE UP FORUM DISCUSSION NOTES AND POST FOR ATTENDEES AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES

 

Forum Discussion Questions

 

 

Print Reference Sources:

 

Are print resources obsolete? Should we continue to order them?  Why?  Why not?

 

Have you conducted any use studies of your print reference collection lately?  Can you share the results?

 

What do you think is the right balance between electronic and print reference sources? What is the current balance in your library?

 

Electronic Reference Sources:

 

How do you provide access to your electronic reference collection? (catalog, portal, product such as Reference Universe?) How successful do you find this approach?

 

How do you facilitate patron discovery of electronic reference sources? (browseable electronic reference collection? subject or course-specific web pages? subjecting to google-like searches? other ways?)

 

Do you integrate access to electronic and print reference sources so that key print tools for a particular subject/discipline aren't overlooked?

 

Do you integrate free and purchased reference resources? Why? Why not? How do you do it?

 

Do you find that your patrons are willing to use electronic reference sources?  If not, how can we better promote these resources?

Are electronic reference sources valuable even if our users DON'T use them?  For example, librarians may use Reference Universe all the time.

 

What other features would you like to see in electronic reference sources?

 

Examples:

Multimedia (graphics, sound files, videos)

Web 2.0 functionality (tagging, blogs,  RSS feeds, discussion forums)

Customization options for librarians, faculty and students

Better inter-operability between different publishers and third-party products such as catalogs, portals, metasearch engines.

Do users currently use such features if available in reference sources? Do you think our users expect these features?

 

What are the major problems associated with electronic reference sources? (user acceptance, cataloging, access, archiving, perpetual access, pricing model, etc.)

 

What message should librarians send to the major publishers of online reference sources? What are our priorities? (interface, platform standardization, variety of pricing models, long term access, etc.)

 

Discussion Forum notes