|
Press
Release Drafted for Distribution
Quality of
Digital Reference Study Funded,
Study to be
Conducted by
Information
Institutes at Florida State and Syracuse Universities
TALLAHASSEE,
Florida, June 5, 2001—The Information Institutes of Florida State
University and Syracuse University have initiated a study to assess
quality, costs, and impacts in digital reference service.
The study began in May, 2001 and will be completed in March,
2002.
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Dublin, Ohio and
the Digital Library Federation, Washington, D.C. are the lead sponsoring
organizations for the study. Other organizations that are supporting the
$150,000 study include: Multnomah
County Library System (Portland, OR), the Library of Congress,
University of Maryland, Florida State University, Mid York Library
System (Utica, NY), Cleveland Public Library, Bristol University (UK),
John Moores University (UK), Syracuse University, Reference and User
Services Association and the state libraries of Michigan, Pennsylvania,
and Florida.
The purpose of the study is to develop methods to
assess the quality of digital reference services, test and refine
measures and quality standards to describe digital reference services,
and to produce a guidebook that describes how to collect and report data
for these measures and standards. The
study will also explore organizational factors that may affect the
quality and cost of digital reference services.
Co-principal investigators for the study are R. David
Lankes, Director, Information Institute, Syracuse University (rdlankes@ericir.syr.edu),
Charles R. McClure, Director, Information Institute, Florida State
University (cmcclure@lis.fsu.edu), and Melissa Gross,
Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies, Florida State
University. Project
managers are Bruce Fraser at the FSU Information Institute and Joanne
Silverstein at the Syracuse Information Institute.
The complete study proposal and additional
information about the study are available at:
http://quartz.syr.edu/quality/.
Updates about project activities will be posted to this website
on a regular basis.
Preliminary findings from the study will be presented at the
annual Virtual Reference Desk Conference, to be held November 11-13,
2001 in Orlando, Florida (see
http://vrd.org/conferences/VRD2001/
for additional conference information).
Those wishing additional information about the project and/or
joining the study by supporting the study should contact McClure
directly.
-end-
- June 11, 2001 |
