Online Reference comparison

For my next assignment in my LIS class, I needed to compare the experience of using two online reference services: Know-It-Now and the Kent State University library’s Ask A Librarian. To compare the services, I asked them the same reference question I used for my previous assignment: finding information about home brewing.
First a little background. Know-It-Now (KIN) is maintained by the State Library of Ohio. It offers 24/7 live chat reference. The site is staffed by librarians around the state who take one hour shifts during normal library hours, and then a group of librarians who work from home during the night. Kent State’s Ask A Librarian (AAL) service is available during the same hours that the reference desk at the Main Library is open. I learned this from their website so I don’t know much more about the service.
Speaking of service, a comparison of my experiences. I tried the chat option from AAL since it would be the most similar to the service offered by KIN. I signed in to the service around 6:30 PM to see the status showing AWAY. I typed in my question, assuming that the librarian would eventually return to the computer, and then began to read the information about the service. The first thing that I noticed was that it took two clicks and some scrolling to find out what hours for the AAL are. This is because the service is offered “Whenever the Main Library Reference Desk is open,” and this information is not on the AAL site. I think it would be beneficial to have this on the same page. I was also struck by the section titled “IM and Phone Reference Tips.” The guidelines asked that all question pertain to known items or quick reference look-ups. This greatly restricts the type of questions a person can ask, and made me wonder if I would receive a response to my question would be. I didn’t have a chance to find out, because around 7PM, the status of the chat box changed to offline, and no answer had been offered.
KIN, in comparison, was very prompt. I signed in and waited about a minute before the librarian on the other end answered. I asked my question and they offered to look for some websites. One was a site I had already visited, but the other was new to me and contained very useful information. The librarian also suggested I check my local library, and even suggested some search terms when I asked. The conversation ended with the librarian telling me to come back when I had another question.
It is obvious that AAL and KIN are designed for two different user groups. While public libraries do have limits to the type of questions that people can ask, these are guided by reference policy and not by the medium. The AAL service seemed to offer quick help for users while implying that more detailed requests would need to be made in person, while KIN made me believe that the librarian would attempt to offer any question presented.

Information Search

The following is an information awareness report I created about my recent attempt to learn about the art of home brewing.

During a conversation with a co-worker, I learned that he brewed his own beer in his apartment. I like to cook, perform home and bicycle maintenance and generally work with my hands, and prefer to make as many of the products that I use at home as I can, so I was immediately interested. This is a topic I know nothing about, so I began a search for information.

I began by questioning my co-worker and discovered he has brewed beer for many years. I asked him the following questions:

“How did you first become interested in brewing beer?”

“Where did you find information?”

From these two questions I learned that he became interested after meeting people who brewed their own beer and he sought their advice about how to start brewing beer. He had also read books about brewing and he recommended two that he knew were available at the library: Brewing the World’s Great Beers by Dave Miller and Clone Brews by Tess and Mark Szamtulski.

To find the books that were recommended, and to see what other titles were available, I searched the catalog of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. After finding the two suggested titles, I performed the following searches:

brewing beer

clone brews

Belgian style ale

This search returned over 100 titles, many of which focused on brewing beer. The books ranged from a Dummies book to titles that focused on a specific style of brewing. Since I also had access to it, I then searched CML’s Premium Resources, a collection of online databases, with the following search:

brewing beer

This search yielded 86 articles, but scanning the first 20, I did not find one that was actually about brewing beer. I didn’t really expect to find much from this resource, an introductory article at most, so I turned to Google.

I performed the following search on Google:

brewing beer how-to

The first hit was the site www.howtobrew.com. Maintained by John Palmer, it is actually a book on brewing beer that can be read entirely on this site. The detail was astounding; a very scientific approach.

My initial information search was very satisfactory. I feel like I now know that finding information about this topic is easy and that I have my choice of either print or electronic resources. This has encouraged me to begin reading about brewing, formulating new questions and conducting additional research. I do not believe that there are any validity issues with my sources. The books were recommended by a knowledgeable person and were both in their second edition. The website is the top hit on Google, showing that it is a popular first place to start for brewers. The author is clearly displayed and a copyright placed on the content. I used the search link:www.howtobrew.com in Google to find out that 110 sites link to this website and nearly all of them are also about brewing.

I feel like my information needs have been met for the time being. Since brewing is a complicated task, a detailed review of my information sources will be necessary in order to evaluate any gaps in my knowledge. Also, because this is a process, performing the actual steps and attempting to brew will certainly reveal gaps, and hopefully yield beer.

Documenting this process has shown me that if I know someone who is knowledgeable in an area, I am inclined to consult them in order to begin my search for information. If I perceive my information needs to be complex or detailed, I would rather start with the library catalog than the internet, though I was happy to find and use a good internet source.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I am a student in Kent State's Masters of Library and Information Science program. I am maintaining this blog as an assignment for a class: Access to Information. Hopefully I will continue writing in it after that. The main focus of the blog will be libraries and librarianship, with occasional dabbling in food, music, bicycle maintenance and other topics. Thanks for reading.