In Your Face: Our Experience With Proactive Chat Reference

Reference at our academic library, following an interval of protracted decline, recently went through a renaissance period following the evolution of our chat reference service. This change was brought about by a desire to more actively capture today’s digitally native students. Academic libraries have previously sought to increase usage of their reference services by a variety of methods, including physically roving through the library or offering satellite locations. In an attempt to mirror that approach in an online environment, we implemented a proactive chat widget that allowed us to “e-rove” to students throughout our library’s website and catalog. Our previous chat implementation was passive in nature, requiring students to seek out help, often prior to searching. This meant that students would need to seek out the chat button in order to use the service. The redesign of chat reference included a proactive widget that popped-up, getting the users attention and encouraging them to chat with a librarian. The transition to a proactive approach resulted in a staggering increase in the number of chats that occured. This dramatic increase resulted in both positive and negative effects for students and librarians alike. The philosophy of reference at our academic library calls upon librarians to treat each reference interaction as an instructional opportunity. A hallmark of outstanding customer service is the anticipation of patron needs, and actively offering assistance. The increase in chat volume often called into question our ability to provide adequate patron instruction and quality service. Our presentation will discuss the successes and challenges brought on by this change from a passive chat service to a proactive one. We will discuss topics such as: the quality (READ Scale) of chat reference questions that occured during this evolution, how the volume increase impacted librarian responsibilities and how the library reacted to each of these events. In an age where many academic libraries are seeing a decline in reference services, chat reference brings this service to the 21st century at lightning speed. By fine tuning their own chat references services, libraries can make research even more relevant for today’s student

Better than Bias: The Power of and Alternatives to Descriptions of News Media as Biased

Mis- and disinformation are rampant issues in our world today which has led to a huge increase in the number of studies researching the topic and its potential solutions. One area that has received attention is how to evaluate media sources and often times, how to evaluate bias in media. Despite past research largely not deciding a joint understanding of this phrase, it has persisted in the research field and in teaching practices. This dissertation had two primary goals: 1) better understand the power that perceptions of bias have on our ability to evaluate information 2) utilize three different methodologies that could replace the term bias in favor of more concrete and identifiable practices and criteria. Study 1 examines the power that perceptions have and specifically the relationship between source perceptions and epistemology. Studies 2 and 3 utilize agenda setting, framing and sentiment analyses to compare various media types to online partisan media. Findings from these studies have strong implications on the research field and how to better teach evaluation of media in today’s highly dynamic informational spaces

Criminal Justice and Criminology at the Core: Using a Sustainable Method for Constructing a Core Journal List

The desire to identify which journals are core to a discipline is important to librarians and departmental faculty alike. Whether for purposes of accreditation, decisions related to retention, tenure, and promotion, or the assessment of a library’s collection, core lists are highly valued resources. Applying a previously tested, mixed-methods approach, the authors created a five-tiered list of criminal justice and criminology journals from which 151 titles were identified as being core to the discipline. In an effort to assess the reliability of their results, the authors also compared the results of their study to a list created by criminal justice scholars

Digital Divide Issues Affecting Undergraduates at a Hispanic-Serving Institution during the Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Approach

Before COVID-19, digital divide research among college students was scarce, reinforcing the idea that technology access was nearly universal, with few demographic differences. Pandemic-era research found some technical challenges, but most studies were conducted nationally or at research-intensive (R1) universities, indicating a paucity in research among underrepresented populations, notably at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI). This mixed-methods study aimed to assess digital inequities and pandemic-related technological challenges at an HSI, with high percentages of low-income and first-generation students. This study also sought to determine if findings were consistent with national and R1 research. We surveyed a representative sample of 2188 undergraduates and conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 students. Results showed many students had inadequate technology. Just 79% had the optimal combination of smartphone plus laptop or desktop, with first-generation, low-income, Black, and older students significantly less likely to have this combination and often having to share devices within their households. Internet quality significantly affected all coursework-related challenges, as almost half of students with unstable internet reported trouble completing assignments compared to 20% with stable internet. Finally, results suggest the digital divide may be more prevalent at HSIs than at previously studied institutions, while also offering insight into how these challenges affect similar universities

In Your Face: Our Experience With Proactive Chat Reference

Reference at our academic library, following an interval of protracted decline, recently went through a renaissance period following the evolution of our chat reference service. This change was brought about by a desire to more actively capture today’s digitally native students. Academic libraries have previously sought to increase usage of their reference services by a variety of methods, including physically roving through the library or offering satellite locations. In an attempt to mirror that approach in an online environment, we implemented a proactive chat widget that allowed us to “e-rove” to students throughout our library’s website and catalog. Our previous chat implementation was passive in nature, requiring students to seek out help, often prior to searching. This meant that students would need to seek out the chat button in order to use the service. The redesign of chat reference included a proactive widget that popped-up, getting the users attention and encouraging them to chat with a librarian. The transition to a proactive approach resulted in a staggering increase in the number of chats that occured. This dramatic increase resulted in both positive and negative effects for students and librarians alike. The philosophy of reference at our academic library calls upon librarians to treat each reference interaction as an instructional opportunity. A hallmark of outstanding customer service is the anticipation of patron needs, and actively offering assistance. The increase in chat volume often called into question our ability to provide adequate patron instruction and quality service. Our presentation will discuss the successes and challenges brought on by this change from a passive chat service to a proactive one. We will discuss topics such as: the quality (READ Scale) of chat reference questions that occured during this evolution, how the volume increase impacted librarian responsibilities and how the library reacted to each of these events. In an age where many academic libraries are seeing a decline in reference services, chat reference brings this service to the 21st century at lightning speed. By fine tuning their own chat references services, libraries can make research even more relevant for today’s student

Dialogue with a conversational agent promotes children’s story comprehension via enhancing engagement

Dialogic reading, when children are read a storybook and engaged in relevant conversation, is a powerful strategy for fostering language development. With the development of artificial intelligence, conversational agents can engage children in elements of dialogic reading. This study examined whether a conversational agent can improve children's story comprehension and engagement, as compared to an adult reading partner. Using a 2 (dialogic reading or non-dialogic reading) × 2 (agent or human) factorial design, a total of 117 three- to six-year-olds (50% Female, 37% White, 31% Asian, 21% multi-ethnic) were randomly assigned into one of the four conditions. Results revealed that a conversational agent can replicate the benefits of dialogic reading with a human partner by enhancing children's narrative-relevant vocalizations, reducing irrelevant vocalizations, and improving story comprehension