Supercharged, Integrated, and On Demand

Supercharged, Integrated, and On Demand

• Online presentation given at the Amigos Online Conference: Reference @ Your Library, August 2010,
  • Speaker with Jody Bailey and Gretchen Trkay.
  • Abstract: Our presentation will consist of three 10-minute lightning round talks designed to highlight successful reference practices we have implemented at the University of Texas Arlington Library. Gretchen will describe “Paper’s Due Drop Inn.” a face to face service that integrates point of need reference with writing center help. The discussion will include usage statistics and user-satisfaction survey data. Rafia will showcase our Super-Charged LibGuides, which include integrated chat widgets, targeted federated search widgets for specific databases, RSS feeds of faculty publications, and both promotional and instructional videos. Jody will discuss using Screenjelly, a free screencasting service, to answer email or chat reference queries; she will also showcase the online video request form and describe how it was made. The on-demand service allows students to request a personalized how-to video, empowering them to self-identify impediments to their research process rather than limiting them to general-audience tutorials. All three of these topics reflect the ways in which we have used emerging technologies to proactively engage with customers at their point of need.