R U There? Looking for those Teaching Moments in Chat Transcripts

Abstract

The University of Kansas Libraries implemented its chat reference service in 2003 to provide research assistance to students, staff and faculty. To further extend our hours of service, we established partnerships with three other state academic institutions in 2004 and created the Kansas Academic Cooperative Chat Service. Usage statistics have shown that this is an increasingly popular service and is being used by students to get online library help.

For our poster session, we will present results based on our analysis of approximately 2,000 chat transcripts from 2005 and 2006 using the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. We have developed questions for each standard to determine if library staff are using chat interactions to instruct students how to find appropriate resources and provide them the tools to conduct research. Our evaluation of transcripts will provide insights into whether librarians are teaching students to determine what information they need, how to access it, use it and to evaluate it critically. In addition, an analysis will identify staff training needs and help us determine future strategic directions to improve our service.