Here is the very brief transcript of my exchange with an online librarian:
Guest has joined the room
Kathi has joined the room
Guest: Hello, I would like to know where I could find some good resources to find airfare and car rental from Dayton, Ohio to Tampa, FL. Do you have any suggestions?
Guest: (the car rental would just be in Tampa)
Kathi: i can't give you recommendations, but you can just search
Kathi: for "cheap flights" in google
Kathi: try the tampa airport website
Kathi: they may have a link to car rentals
Kathi: if you like I can find that site
Guest: ok
Kathi: ok, let me look
Kathi: try this link (i'm not sure it will work) http://maps.google.com/maps?rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=car+rental+tampa&fb=1&gl=us&hq=car+rental&hnear=Tampa,+FL&view=text&ei=k6lQTI_vPIHlnAfgnYGQBw&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CD8QtQMwAA
Kathi: should be car rental near tampa
Guest: ok
Guest: thanks
Kathi: your welcome
Kathi has left the room
Guest has left the room
Response to Research Request Using KnowItNow Service:
I do realize that a librarian’s job is not to be a travel agent, but overall, I was a little disappointed with this reference transaction. Even though I found many of the same sites she recommends through my own search, I was not really impressed by the librarian's level of professionalism. There were several things I would have done if I were the librarian answering this question:
I would have:
-asked for more information from the patron to make sure I understood the question correctly and could answer it fully.
-used uppercase letters in my responses as would be expected from a professional .
-provided the promised website for the Tampa airport.
-known the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re.’
-asked the patron if there was anything else I could assist them with, rather than just leave the room without even saying goodbye.
I think these little details caught my attention because I have used this service before and received much more helpful and professional assistance from another librarian. Maybe I am just being picky, or maybe the research question I asked just didn’t promote a detailed response. What do you think?
Later this morning I will be repeating this search using another service, the Ask a Librarian service from Kent. I actually tried to do this the other day, but even though the librarian was online, they had an away message posted and never responded to my query. Hopefully I will have better luck today getting in touch with a Kent librarian. Stay tuned for a comparison of these two handy online reference services!
...
Ok, I just "spoke" with a librarian at Kent. Here is how it went:
meeboguest99368: Hello, I would like to know where I could find some good resources to find airfare and car rental from
imaksulibrarian: i would suggest one of the travel sites like expedia or orbitz
imaksulibrarian: i do not recommend either
imaksulibrarian: over the other
meeboguest99368: ok, thanks. Do you know whether they handle both airfare and car rental?
meeboguest99368: My husband has an interview there and we don't know anything about the
imaksulibrarian: they do
imaksulibrarian: at least expedia does
meeboguest99368: ok. Do you have any other recommendations for my search?
imaksulibrarian: i know expedia os pretty straight forward
imaksulibrarian: you enter the dates
imaksulibrarian: and the starting location/destination
imaksulibrarian: there are check boxes for airfare and rental cars
meeboguest99368: Ok, I'll give it a shot. Do you know any good places to get information about
imaksulibrarian: like things to do?
imaksulibrarian: that sort of thing?
imaksulibrarian: restaurants?
imaksulibrarian: i always recommend the visitor's bureaus
meeboguest99368: Well we might move there if he gets the job--so I was thinking more like maps, info about MacDill AFB, housing...
imaksulibrarian: here is the site for tampas
imaksulibrarian: http://www.visittampabay.com/
meeboguest99368: ok great, thank you so much
imaksulibrarian: np
imaksulibrarian: good luck
meeboguest99368: Thanks! Have a good day!
imaksulibrarian: you too
Response to Research Request Using Kent's Ask A Librarian Service:
I think this reference experience went much better than the one shown previously. The Kent librarian gave me some specific websites, rather than just telling me to do a Google search. I noticed that both librarians made it a point to say that they couldn't recommend one commercial service over any others and I appreciated that lack of bias. I also liked this conversation better because the librarian actually asked a couple of probing questions to find out what I was looking for. Both, however seemed to depend on prompting from me rather than their own initiative to narrow down my search.
One thing that really bothers me about both interactions is the lack of formal writing. If we expect people to regard librarianship as a profession, then we need to make sure that we are representing ourselves in a professional manner. Both of these librarians used lowercase in their messages, sent unfinished sentences, and had multiple typos. It made me wonder whether they were actual librarians or some unqualified part-time shelver they had placed at the helm. I know libraries are struggling to go on with smaller staffs and budgets, but if I wanted to talk to an informal college buddy on IM, I'd do just that. When I contact a professional, I want professional service, and I think most patrons feel the same way.
Your thoughts?
As casual as I generally am about messaging and the like, I have to agree with you that these minor details do make a difference in this setting. During my three live-chat sessions, two librarians used a somewhat informal style that seemed appropriate. I noticed right away when the third librarian was much more informal (very fragmented replies, texting abbreviations, etc.) and found that it did undermine her credibility a little bit. I'm not suggesting such librarians be required to use a very formal style, but I think capital letters and occasional punctuation go a long way.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in why you liked the non-biased approach. Would you find it helpful if the librarian thought a particular website was more user friendly over another?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments ladies!
ReplyDeleteCarol, I think if the librarian was very experienced and had done research on various travel sites, they would be able to present the pros and cons of each website, which I don't think would be biased.
In sharing information about commercial sites, I would expect them to follow the same professionalism they might follow if they were providing info on a controversial topic--providing the user with the tools they need to come to their own conclusions. I think librarians have to be careful not to sway or influence patrons, which would be very easy to do if we feel strongly about something. It's our job to provide the information, not make people's decisions for them, and what might make a site user friendly to us, might not be the same for them, so I think pointing out features of the websites would be more helpful.