1 Does it always make sense …? National Library of The Netherlands International collaboration and ‘global’ knowledge bases in electronic reference services

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Does it always make sense …?

National Library of The Netherlands

International collaboration and ‘global’ knowledge bases in

electronic reference services

A European, ‘other language’ perspective

Josje Calffhead user services division

VRD-conference Chicago November 11-12, 2002

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1. National Library of the Netherlands

2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases

4. Geographical aspects

5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB), National Library of the Netherlands, offers email based reference service since 1993

Software since mid-2002: Magic Total Service Desk (MTSD)

Chat-service starting in January 2003

National Library of the Netherlands (1)

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Ambition to support collaboration: Back office for ‘Dutch cultural heritage’:

public libraries reference-network Al@din Participation in consortium of academic

libraries using MagicTotal Service Desk Linking Dutch libraries to the global

reference community: QuestionPoint

National Library of the Netherlands (2)

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National Library and collaboration

Academic &Higher Education

Librariesusing MTSD

Al@dinAl@din©©

((public libraries)

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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Internet = new opportunities to reference services: new patrons, more questions, capacity problems

Collaboration is imperative to live up to expectations (e.g. 24/7) and to provide (cost)effective, efficient services

Collaboration … a must

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“Is the library open tonight?” “Do I have internet connection using my

laptop in the Reading Room?” “Can I order photocopies of this 17th

century manuscript?” “Is it possible to get color prints from the

microreaders?”

But... some questions are ‘local’

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No clear distinction between ‘ordinary’ information questions and ‘real’ reference questions

‘Local’ questions tend to recur more often than ‘other’ questions

Recurrent and ‘local’ questions & answers should be in our local knowledge base

Collaboration is not always an option

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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The usefulness of knowledge bases depends on the recurrence of questions

All extra efforts are a waste of time - if questions / answers are never re-used

Knowledge Bases

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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“Do you have any statistics on teen pregnancy on file?”

“Consumption of red wine is said to be twice as high as of white wine. Is that true? And what could be the explanation?”

“How many National Parks are there?”

Geographically ‘biased’ questions

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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90% of ‘our’ questions are in Dutch 50% of our clients prefer the answer to be

in Dutch as well We can handle questions in Dutch, but also

in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portugese

Language (1)

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Is collaboration in reference similar to shared cataloguing and inter library loan?

The role of language in reference is more important

Language (2)

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Questions & answers should be in the language in which they are most likely to reoccur

… and also in English - if relevant

Language & knowledge bases

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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Example from the QuestionPoint Knowledge Base

Q: Can you provide me with one or more reviews of this book: Geert Mak, “De eeuw van mijn vader”

A: This looks like a good review. Just click on this address and you’ll have it:

1: http://www.rnw.nl/taal/html/mak001123.htm ...

2: You can also go to the web and type in “ulbe bosma” ...

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History in Titles: online Dutch bibliography on European history

Q: mak eeuw vader

6 Reviews:

in Dutch, general, historical and literature journals

(all paper only)

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A high quality, library based knowledge base ... global ... on all subjects ... for all educational levels ... in all languages

...?

Is it possible?

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1: http://www.rnw.nl/taal/html/mak001123.htm ...

“De eeuw van mijn vader” mak

2: You can also go to the web and type in “Ulbe Bosma” ...

(3:) By the way … this is (the only) one in English

The world wide web and Google

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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2. Collaboration

3. Knowledge bases


5. Language

6. An example

7. Making sense...

Agenda

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Making sense … (1)

We should do both: Provide url’s from selected quality websites And also: information found in specialized

library materials, (licensed) databases, books et cetera

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Collaborate, but do it smart, and ... be more aware of language! be more aware of geographical aspects: the

best answers can often be given “on site”


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Smarter collaboration? Can we give our consortium partners access

to our own (local) knowledge bases, and vice versa?

Can we provide answers from our own specialized (licensed?) databases to clients of other libraries?


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Does it always make sense …?


Comments? Questions?

Josje Calff

[email protected]

http://www.kb.nl

Documents

1 Does it always make sense …? National Library of The Netherlands International collaboration and ‘global’ knowledge bases in electronic reference services