PVCC Puma Press: December 2006

The PVCC library has joined forces with the Maricopa Community College District Libraries to form a coalition of online librarian assistance 24 hours a day, every day.

Thanks to PVCC’s Librarians Online program, students can utilize a virtual reference desk and chat with a live human librarian as needed.

Beginning in 2001 as a pilot program assembled by PVCC Library Division chair, Shelle Witten, Librarians Online reached 177 students in its initial semester. Now, with the support of librarians across the District, the service has attracted over 900 students since the beginning of the Fall ’06 semester.
v The software program used by LOL allows students to log on to the PVCC library website at http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/library/ and click on the icon at the left side of the screen that reads, “Click here to chat with a librarian.”

That brings users to a screen where they fill in the fields for their names, email addresses and questions or topics. All information is kept confidential and if an email address is submitted, then a log of the entire chat conversation is sent to the user’s account for future reference.

Upon submitting one’s information, the program connects the user to the first available librarian who begins the session with introductions, then addresses the query via the chat window. The screen also shows a browser controlled by the librarian, so students can observe as they are guided through the Internet to their answers.

However, progress may be impeded by software incompatibility.

“It’s clunky,” says Witten referring to some of the software limitations present within the program. “Software is always an issue.”

One of the primary issues with the program is browser compatibility, meaning that the use of the wrong Internet browser leads to minor complications.

The chat function will still work, so users will receive all the assistance they need. However, if a student is using an Apple computer or an Internet browser other than Microsoft Internet Explorer, then the student is likely to only be able to chat with the librarian. “There are better programs, but none with the 24-7 feature,” says Witten.

Ultimately, Witten suggests that students are in better hands using this LO than anything else on the Internet. “It’s better than Google,” she says. “Anything retrieved on LO is going to be credible and it’s going to be accurate.”