The report presents data from a survey of 116 directors, deans and other high level officials of academic libraries about how they feel about their library’s virtual reference service. The report presents data on the type of service provided, the service provider, if applicable, library staff time expended on the service, the overall satisfaction level with the service, as well as future plans for the virtual reference service.
Data in the report is broken out by many personal and institutional characteristics of the survey participants including but not limited to college Carnegie class or type, public and private status, enrollment levels as well as for various personal characteristics such as age and gender of the survey respondent. The report includes 35 tables and10 charts or diagrams.
Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
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43.75% of participants with fewer than 2,000 students reported providing synchronous reference services, while that number increased to 68.75% for 2,000-4,999 students, 76.92% for 5,000-10,000 students, and 84.62% for more than 10,000 students.
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Research universities in the sample had a mean of 9.58 librarians who worked on the virtual reference service in the past year.
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Overall, the libraries in the sample spent a mean of 57.26 staff hours on the virtual reference service in the past month.