I provided service on Information Island on a recent Saturday. My shift was scheduled from from 5 pm to 7 pm EST. Because of confusion as to what time zone the volunteer schedule is in (SL in one time zone, the school is in a 2nd, and I live in a third zone), I arrived at the service point when no one was scheduled there. I also did not leave my shift as scheduled at 7 as no one came to revieve me and a number of customers showed up at that time. When I arrived and no one was there for me to shadow, I imed for assistance and two greeters, Rolig Loon and Ankt Remblai took turns making sure I was on the right track. Rolig gave me a number of note cards on basic SL questions such as Making Money in SL, Changing your appearance and Moving the Camera. As in RL, questions tend to come in clusters. For awhile we are not busy and then there are multiple people to assist and then it is quiet again. From 5-6 I offered assistance to 6 avatars. At 6:03 I crashed and tried repeatedly to log in unsuccessfully until around 6:30. After I crashed I no longer kept track of the number of people to whom I offered assistance. I had one opportunity to use Babbler to translate to Portuguese, so it was beneficial that we had just covered this translation tool in class.
The potential is there for service to be as sound in SL as it is provided in RL. Our experiences with Chat at OCLS show us that great service can be given, but that it may take a longer time to provide the same level of service. Also, in chat service we have the option to co-browse which we can not (yet) have the ability to do in SL. I found that in SL, instead of quoting sources, I typically used my own SL experience to answer many of the questions. Since going to the Linden Knowledge Base would delay avatars getting their answers, I started qualifying my statements with “In my experience…” With experience perhaps I could be quicker to use Note cards for answering questions.
100% of the questions I was asked related directly to SL. How do you earn money, how do you know what language avatars speak before you speak to them, what is Info Island and what can you do there and my most complex question about setting up exhibits in SL. My first inclination is to say no the questions are not the same in SL and RL. However, while the specific topic of SL is not a typical subject for RL reference inquiries, the questions I encountered are similar to RL questions in the range of needs being met. Some result from simple curiosity, such as “What can you do on Info Island?”; others from basic needs, such as “How can you earn money on SL?” to some questions that are to meet more complex needs, such as how can my nonprofit set up an exhibit in SL that could include a documentary film as well as other resources on our environmental topic?”
The level of knowledge and experience needed to field these questions also varied depending on the complexity of the question. It was most fortunate that I had recently attended the class and completed the assignment on Exhibits as I could describe and give addresses for a number of exhibits which the customer said was exactly how she would like to get started on her search. This last question on exhibits was the least straightforward request that I received and the only one that required a true reference interview to determine the exact need.
After my SL reference experience was completed, knowing that 100% of my questions were related to Second Life, I wondered about the existing and future relationship of roles between Linden Labs and Libraries. It is good that we have an opportunity to practice reference in SL and explore what our role is and our potential and limitations are in virtual worlds. And it appears that we are totally free to answer questions about SL without any requirements or standards imposed from Linden Labs. So we have an environment in which we can learn. But in the long run should librarians be volunteering their time to fill the role of SL employees or should SL contract with libraries to fill this role? I also question, how can we market the presence of librarians in SL so that we can receive inquiries on other topics as well? What can we proactively offer that will draw SL users to us? For example, since a number of people on second life are interested in content creation and there are already classes available in SL and on YouTube, we could create and promote an exhibit on this topic and gather together the resources available on SL, YouTube, blogs, websites, blogs, and so on that cover this topic. That would enable us to reach other SL users and get them to start thinking of the library presence in SL as something that would have an ongoing role in meeting their information needs.
So,what are the most important skills for a reference librarian in SL? The skills needed are similar or the same as for traditional service with the added component of comfort in an online environment.
--Flexibility, acceptance of a diversity of avatars, welcoming towards a wide range of requests from serious to the seemingly silly, flexibility to the nature of SL in which there may not be a source about SL readily available to cite, and flexibility and tolerance towards the antics of SL characters.
--Knowledge of Second Life; not just the information resources, but the basics about inventory, profiles, clothing, money and travel.
--Access to note cards on common SL topics
--Chat experience
--Knowledge of Translation tool, Babbler
--Experience with the use of online resources-anything from SL Knowledge Base to databases
--Welcoming, friendly, good interview skills,
I have always considered a professional appearance an asset. You want to dress in a way that makes you both welcoming and credible. It was quite a challenge to build a small professional wardrobe in SL, and I wore what would be an appropriate RL outfit. About half way through my shift, however, I changed outfits because I was concerned that the more professional attire stood out in SL and that something more casual might be more welcoming.
I have to say that on my first visit to Info Island I was disappointed by the traditional desk in the non traditional virtual world. I realize you have to start somewhere and it is better just to get started. I also understand that we want people to know they can ask a question, and that this is an appropriate place to do so. But I think with some creative thinking we should be able to come up with something that has a less traditional flavor and sparks the imagination of both information seekers and of libraries and librarians.
Should there be continuous staffing at Info Island or should some people be on call in case needed? I would want to look at the statistics to make decisions about how to staff the service in SL. Without access to the statistics I would say that the busier hours should be staffed. If volunteers are available to cover the slower hours it would be more welcoming to have an avatar ready to help. As far as the suggesion that a buzzer be added to the des, if it was more practical for staffing purposes to use a buzzer and to have someone on call, I would like to see something that was much more exciting and high tech looking than a buzzer. Let’s not replicate the RL with this. What would be something that would perform the same function but would be interesting enough by its own right, have enough of a cool or wow factor, that it would be remembered as part of the service experience?
I think we would also want to consider how to market this service. By getting more customers would their be a greater number of non second life requests? I would like to see an experiment with mobile or roving librarians. The group name for these avatars could read “Ask me-Librarian” and each person encountered in SL with a request would be given a landmark to Info Island. Perhaps, since we are answering so many SL questions, Linden Labs would partner with us by providing Info Island staff a customized group name (color, lights, highlighting) that would really make the group name for Librarians stand out when service is being made available.
According the class presentation, 90% of requests at the Info Island Reference Desk are related to SL. If that remains to be true it seems unlikely that it would be cost effective to participate in either the plan in which you can make referrals to other libraries or the plan in which you would subscribe to have 24/7 reference services provided to SL residents. If a virtual world is an environment in which questions are being asked about topics other than about SL, and depending on funding , having a a service group such as Question Point provide the actual information service on an ongoing basis, may be the simplest way to set up and maintain daily service .
--Laurel Zenovka
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