Martha Portree, R. Sean Evans, Tina M. Adams, and John J. Doherty
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Dedication: Martha Portree died tragically on July 7, 2007, just days after she completed her work on revisions to this paper. Her enthusiasm and wicked sense of humor sustained us throughout this project, even during the most trying times, and her sly editorial pen lent much needed focus to this paper. As her co-authors, colleagues, and most importantly, her friends, we dedicate this article to her memory. The three remaining uses of “therefore” and any excessive commas are no fault of Martha’s and would likely not have escaped her pen! Theory is increasingly important as libraries transition traditional reference practices to online learning environments. This paper suggests and explores the boundaries of a new theory of reference interaction in the online environment that is grounded in online learning theories and the educational theory of transactional distance. The paper examines an operational definition of the librarian’s instructional intent in e-mail reference service, considering it the level of customized content in canned, instructional messages at institutions that provide e-mail reference service. This definition is tested statistically, suggesting that when a canned response is edited for content by the responder more instruction is likely to occur and transactional distance is overcome.
Online reference services lack a general theory that reflects the learning that occurs in interactions between the librarian and the user. Rather, discussions of online librarian–user interactions are based on the theories and practices that have defined face-to-face interactions such as the reference interview. For example, as reference services transition to an online environment, especially through “Ask A Librarian” e-mail services, so too has the reference interview. There is a need to develop new reference theories, especially in relation to online services. Such new theories need to emphasize the role of the learner and the learning experience within the context of the online learning environment.
This paper is an attempt to define the boundaries of one new reference theory. We frame an asynchronous e-mail reference service within distributed education theory, and in particular within the sociocultural learning theories of transactional distance and interaction. It should be noted, however, that our purpose in defining this theory is not to initially prove that instruction is taking place via e-mail or asynchronous reference services. We think that it is possible that instruction can happen in this medium and does not necessarily require a back-and-forth interaction between the librarian and the user; an interpretive case study by Doherty learned that librarians in a particular e-mail service recognized the limits to asynchronous interactions and instinctively sought to build in an implied interaction.1 This implied interaction, where instruction can be said to be intended by the librarian, is what we wish to evaluate in this paper.
It is our contention in this paper that such instructional intent is reflected in how much the librarian customizes the canned response of this particular e-mail service to better meet the needs of the user. We tie this customization into educational theory, especially theories of online learning and online learning environments. We offer a definition of librarian-to-learner interaction that we call instructional intent as the level of customized content in a librarian’s reply to an online question, and then seek to test this statistically.
Online Reference Services
The library literature on online reference services, particularly synchronous services such as chat and instant messaging, assumes that technology can be used as a tool to transition practices such as the reference interview to the online learning environment without the need to apply a critical lens to such practice in the first place.2 Janes notes that reference is generally “independent of any specific technology” while conversely noting that any definition of online reference implies a dependence on technology.3 We argue that this dependence on technology could be used to transform reference services beyond just “services, values, users, and all the rest.”4 Examining our dependence on technology can and should generate much needed conversations on the critical aspects of librarianship in general, and reference services in particular.
The catchall terms “online reference” or “digital reference” refer to the technology-dependent trends in reference services. From these terms, our literature has developed a focus on how traditional services can be transferred to the Web without fully taking advantage of the inherent benefits of the technologies being used. For example, let us examine Ross, Nilsen, and Dewdney’s reference interview quick tip.5 They begin with a patron suggesting a source to the librarian by asking something such as “Can I have an almanac?” They suggest ignoring that question to ask “What specifically are you looking for?” This is a standard of traditional reference practice that, though well-meaning, sounds like a challenge to the user. Indeed, it is liable to make the questioner feel like the reference supplicant described by Samuel Green in 1876, who discussed the need for instructing users in catalog systems because of their lack of knowledge.6 Ignoring the original question devalues the experience that the patron brings to the reference interaction by assuming that they do not know what they want. In an online learning interaction, which does not have the time and face-to-face components basic to an effective reference interview, it is essential to build upon the student’s prior knowledge in order to allow them to better learn what we are trying to instruct. As noted later in this essay, such a focus on building upon prior knowledge is inherent in constructivist approaches to online learning.
Rather, in an online interaction, we would suggest providing the user with the content requested, and then going an extra step: “Here you are. So you are probably looking for some statistics? If that doesn’t contain quite what you were looking for, let me know, I’m happy to help you find articles and other resources that may answer your question.” This provides an opening for more assistance without assuming that a patron cannot be expected to know what he or she wants and may prompt an immediate response from the patron for more assistance. This example agrees with Doherty, who, on the basis of his interpretations of the practices of librarians in an e-mail reference service, defines the process of responding to online reference questions similarly to those of the reference interview: evaluation, pre-searching, answering (here the provision of an answer to the question as asked), and suggestions (here providing the user with further options, assistance, suggestions, and instruction).7
For these reasons, we prefer to maintain an emphasis on technology in any definition of online reference. In this paper, online reference is defined as the provision of help resources such as FAQs, electronic databases, and other electronic content and/or asynchronous or synchronous computer mediated communications (CMC) such as e-mail or chat.8 This definition further engages peripherally in CMC theory, with the understanding that CMC–based reference services allow for an examination of such concepts as social presence and media richness.9 CMC theory is defined as communication that occurs via computer-mediated forms, such as e-mail between two or more individuals. In this paper we are focused on a single form of digital reference service: the e-mail interaction. We suggest, however, that the speed with which libraries have moved online, especially through services provided through the Internet, has resulted in a social disconnect between library users and librarians and a lack of focus on instructional interaction. However, by framing this discussion within distributed education theory, and in particular within the theories of transactional distance and interaction, we can add a lens missing from the literature.