Virtual Reference Adventure


The Adventure Begins...

Things You'll Need
Along the Way

A Plan picture
Basic Skills
Training
Partners
Marketing
Policies
Evaluation
Interview Skills
InfoLit
Awareness

About this site...

Planning Your Experience...

A committee! Whether you are in charge or participating, you'll need to do your homework, finding out what other libraries are doing and how the service is working. Will you “go it alone”? Form a consortium? Join an existing consortium? Lots of other libraries are providing chat reference and can share experiences with you—why not ask them? Start with the resources on this page and explore the possibilities. What happens next?

  1. You decide to write lots of policies and procedures.
  2. It's time to recruit staff for this new service.
  3. Oh no...your library budget is cut unexpectedly!
Advice for the trip

Your Lifelines...
 
Steve Coffman, Going Live: Starting and Running a Virtual Reference Service, ALA Editions, 2003.
RUSA Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining Virtual Reference Services
Think About Ask Yourself More to Explore
Take a Break
Developed by the Statewide Virtual Reference Project, Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act.

Last Modified: April 18, 2006