Reference Training

There's a great resource for Reference Librarians on the web, put out by the Ohio Library Council; it's called ORE ON THE WEB.

ORE is an acronym for "Ohio Reference Excellence," and the site includes a series of modules, including one module specific to Virtual Reference.

Considering the educational technologies available to librarians and other educators, it's worthwhile to become proficient in Web 2.0, as well as other technologies and strategies that can be used to help remote users. More and more, our communications with those we teach are virtual, either over the phone or via e-mail.

* Several good pointers are provided in the aforementioned tutorial. Here is the best advice from the site:

* Type like you talk, in a conversational manner.

* Include an explanation of your search process or strategy in your responses when possible.

* Try to let the patron know what you are doing approximately every minute - so that the patron does not feel abandoned.

* Fully cite all resources quoted or used in responses.

For more information, check out Bernie Sloan's Digital Reference Services Bibiography, which includes more than 700 references to documents specific to online reference services.