Who could have imagined the impact on librarianship of technologies such as online chat, text messaging, and RSS feeds? And the future is sure to bring additional advances. In this forwardlooking volume, the world's foremost reference experts including David Lankes, Marie Radford, Eileen Abels, and Sharon Morris guide librarians through new training and staffing models, look at these models' performance standards and evaluation tools, offer advice for serving new audiences, and help build collaborations and networks for reference service. In addition, the chapters -- all updated and expanded...

Designed for librarians and other information professionals who are planning or implementing digital reference services, this guide discusses the role of reference collections and staff in the new millennium. It also explores changing reference culture and technologies.

This comprehensive survey of current digital reference practice focuses on the theoretical and practical issues of digital reference in libraries and information services, with special emphasis on the theme of quality standards and evaluation. The book is divided into six parts. Part One identifies the need for digital reference services; Part Two covers the management of digital reference; Part Three: real-time digital reference services; Part Four: collaborative reference initiatives; Part Five: research in digital reference; and Part Six: evaluating digital reference. Topics covered...