Reference Interactions Research Articles

The Interaction Fidelity Model: A Taxonomy to Communicate the Different Aspects of Fidelity in Virtual Reality

Fidelity describes how closely a replication resembles the original. It can be helpful to analyze how faithful interactions in virtual reality (VR) are to a reference interaction. In prior research, fidelity has been restricted to the simulation of reality—also called realism. Our definition includes other reference interactions, such as superpowers or fiction. Interaction fidelity is a multilayered concept. Unfortunately, different aspects of fidelity have either not been distinguished in scientific discourse or referred to with inconsistent terminology. Therefore, we present the Interaction Fidelity Model (IntFi Model). Based on the human-computer interaction loop, it systematically covers all stages of VR interactions. The conceptual model establishes a clear structure and precise definitions of eight distinct components. As a communication tool, it helps teams to understand and discuss fidelity in VR. It was reviewed through workshops with fourteen VR experts. We provide guidelines, diverse examples, and educational material to apply the IntFi Model universally to any VR experience and propose foundational research opportunities.

Comparing generative artificial intelligence tools to voice assistants using reference interactions

This study investigates the ability of voice assistants and generative AI tools to respond to reference questions traditionally received by academic librarians. The authors created a sample of 25 questions based on queries received on the virtual reference service at their institution. They then created a rubric to evaluate the quality of the answers that the AI powered tools provided. The authors determined that the tools understand reference questions well and provide relevant answers but that the quality of the references provided, and the accuracy of the answers can be lacking. They suggest that more research needs to be done to understand the place of AI powered tools in reference services.

Campus entrepreneurs’ research habits and needs: a five-year study

PurposeThis study surveyed the entrepreneurship community on a large university campus in 2016 and in 2020 to identify and understand its information habits and needs. User needs can inform service design and assessment, as well as inform approaches to reference interactions. Librarians are encouraged to conduct similar surveys to better understand this niche population.Design/methodology/approachInvestigators employed repeated cross-sectional design, a longitudinal research approach that draws on samples of non-overlapping or minimally overlapping cases over time. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected using online survey instruments. Data collected included demographic information, venture characteristics, participation in institutional activities such as accelerator programs and credit courses, general startup research behaviors and needs, and details of a specific instance of business or market research as well as interaction with the library and access to training. Triangulation of semantic and episodic was applied to draw reliable conclusions about respondent behavior.FindingsIn both surveys, over half of respondents were students and 75% of respondents were engaged in startup activity, most at the early stages. While respondent demographics, type and purpose of information sought remained constant between the two surveys, awareness and use of the library rose on several metrics. Coding revealed insights into respondents’ attitudes toward and strategies for secondary business research. Information obtained during the research process had a moderate impact on their ventures. These findings informed the development of library research and instruction services, programs, and collections for entrepreneurs.Originality/valueThe repeated cross-sectional design of the study is unique and shows trends in the community over time. The mixed-methods approach provides a robust and nuanced portrait of the community. These findings informed the development and assessment of library research and instruction services, programs and collections for entrepreneurs.

“Lady can talk forever…”: Exploring caring discourse in bilingual librarianship

Care theory and critical discourse analysis were utilized to examine bilingual reference interactions extracted from 20 h of observations in a U.S.-Mexico border town public library. The researchers identified three types of caring discourse, including commiseration, soothing, and expressions of condolence. They also associated five conversation devices with caring discourse: humor, idiomatic expressions, interjections, lexical intensifiers, and whispering. Notably, librarians' infrequent production of elements of care were primarily in English regardless of community members' language choice. Further analysis revealed that linguistic expressions of care frequently masked unintentional, deficit-based perceptions about community members. Other salient themes that emerged include camouflaged community members' needs, clashes between intersectional and shared identity(ies), and librarians' dismissal of community members. Ultimately, bilingual caring discourse in this setting was often an interpersonal and institutional illusion.

Molecular Dynamic, Hirshfeld Surface, Computational Quantum and Spectroscopic analysis of 4-Hydroxy-1-Naphthaldehyde

aims: Computational Quantum and Spectroscopic analysis of 4-Hydroxy-1-Naphthaldehyde Background: Known also as 4-Hydroxynaphthalene-1-carbaldehyde, 4-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde (4H1NA) is a crucial precursor of many coordinating agents. A commercial compound called 4-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde (4H1NA) can be used to make a number of different sensors. In the development of many chemosensors, they operate effectively as a functionalized fluorescent backbone. Objectives: Molecular Dynamic, Hirshfeld Surface, Computational Quantum analysis of Naphthalde-hyde. Methods: The methods employed in the analysis of the compound involve the DFT calculations, using the DFT method and B3LYP/6-311++G (d, p) basis set with respect to its FTIR, NMR, and UV-Visible spectrum. The NMR chemical shifts of carbon and protons in CDCl3 were determined by the GIAO method. For the molecule of reference, HOMO-LUMO and Donor-Acceptor interactions were also taken into consideration. Investigations also looked into E.L.F., Fukui activity, and non-linear optical properties. Results: The investigation of compounds at their atomic level was analyzed using computational methods so that chemical, medicinal, and environmental research make use of them to make the molecule more in an improved form with distinguished properties. Strong interaction has been produced as a result of electron transfer from the oxygen atoms lone pair LP (2) to the anti-bonding orbital *(C3-C5) with a significant stabilization energy of 42.61kcal/mol. The attributes of the NLO molecule were calculated and found to be superior to those of the urea molecule, with linear and first-order hyperpolarizability situations. Our findings imply that the reference molecule can be a heavier contender for NLO as a surface material and could be considered a vital substance for medical purposes in the drug industry due to its maximum electrophilicity index. Conclusion: A commercial compound called 4-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde (4H1NA) can be used to make several different sensors. The compound has good structural and optical properties. They can be employed for a variety of optical limiting applications because of their unusual optical characteristic, which exhibits third-order non-linear behavior.

Exploring an automated method for the analysis of virtual reference interactions

PurposeThis study aims to determine if automated coding with regular expression is a strong methodology to identify themes in virtual reference chat.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a combination of manual and automated coding of chat transcripts for a period of two years to identify the categories of questions related to the new library system. This methodology enabled them to determine if regular expression accurately identified the topics of chat transcripts.FindingsThey discovered that regular expression is an appropriate method to identify themes in virtual reference interactions. This method enabled them to establish that patrons asked questions related to system changes in the weeks following their implementations.Originality/valueThis study highlights a new methodology for transcript analysis.

Student Preferences for Reference Services at a Remote Biological Station Library

abstract: During the 2020 and 2021 summer semesters, the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) transitioned to hybrid classes that were primarily distance learning with two-week inperson sections. The library offered both synchronous and asynchronous reference assistance over the summer term. An analysis showed that students favored using the UMBS LibGuide over synchronous virtual reference help via Zoom. Students further preferred face-to-face interactions over virtual formats, and their preference for LibGuide assistance may carry into the post- COVID-19 classroom. This finding suggests that students prioritize convenience and immediacy over personalized assistance in the Zoom platform. Thus, in providing reference assistance to student populations in the field sciences, balancing face-to-face interactions with convenience and immediacy should be a priority. Recommendations based on the success of the 2020 and 2021 field seasons were suggested for reference interactions in future field courses.

Conversational assistants in academic libraries: enhancing reference services through Bing Chat

Purpose This research aims to explore the integration of Bing Chat, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered conversational assistant, into academic libraries and its potential impact on reference services. Design/methodology/approach This study analyzes existing literature to investigate the integration of Bing Chat in academic libraries. This research focuses on its features, capabilities and implications for enhancing user experiences and addressing information needs. Findings The findings highlight that Bing Chat’s conversational interface facilitates more dynamic and context-aware reference interactions, fostering user empowerment and personalized learning pathways. The integration of Bing Chat with existing library resources enhances resource discovery, navigational assistance and engagement with visual content. However, challenges related to accuracy, privacy and algorithmic bias require careful consideration. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature by providing an in-depth exploration of Bing Chat’s integration into academic libraries, emphasizing its transformative potential for reference services. This study addresses ethical and social dimensions associated with AI-driven tools in library environments, offering insights into ensuring fairness, privacy and user trust.

Accurate Interaction Energies of CO2 with the 20 Naturally Occurring Amino Acids.

We have performed a series of highly accurate calculations between CO2 and the 20 naturally occurring amino acids for the investigation of the attractive noncovalent interactions. Different nucleophilic groups present in the amino acid structures are considered (α-NH2, COOH, side groups), and the stronger binding sites were identified. A database of accurate reference interactions energies was compiled as computed by explicitly-correlated coupled-cluster singles-and-doubles, together with perturbative triples extrapolated to the complete-basis-set limit. The CCSD(F12)(T)/CBS reference values were used for comparing a variety of popular density functionals with different basis sets. Our results show that most density functionals with the triple-zeta basis set def2-TZVPP align with the CCSD(F12)(T)/CBS reference values, but errors range from 0.1 kcal/mol up to 1.0 kcal/mol.

Tracking student learning outcome engagement at the reference desk to facilitate assessment

PurposeThis paper presents a novel approach to associating patron interactions with specific student learning objectives (SLOs) incorporated into reference transactions in an environment where learning, as opposed to usage or user satisfaction data, is considered a benchmark of success.Design/methodology/approachAs part of the routine process of recording reference transactions into a tracking database, reference librarians associated each of their patron interactions with library programmatic SLOs they perceived addressed through the teaching they incorporated into the interaction. Reporting functions of the transaction database software were utilized to uncover notable patterns of teaching.FindingsThe most and least addressed programmatic SLOs were identified. The distribution pattern of SLOs addressed was found to be consistent over time. A correlation was found between the length of interactions and which SLOs were addressed in the interaction. Citation assistance was found to be often incorporated into complex research questions. SLOs addressed varied slightly by day of the week. The distribution patterns of SLOs addressed were found to vary greatly by the librarian.Research limitations/implicationsIt is difficult to verify the quality of tagging data. Strategies for addressing such concerns include ensuring participating librarians agree on the importance of creating reliable data and ensuring they have solid and similar understandings of the program's SLOs.Originality/valueThis project demonstrates that actionable findings can be derived from tracking the specific programmatic SLOs being addressed in reference interactions. Formal assessment projects and other targeted efforts to improve learning in reference interactions in response to such findings are suggested as positive contributions to the overall reorientation of academic libraries toward measuring successful librarianship in terms of student learning.

Exploring the Role of Repertoire in Library Reference Interactions


 
 
 
 Using experience to interpret a user’s information need is embedded in the process of every library reference transaction. Reference workers need to constantly grow and update their base of knowledge to have a deep understanding of a variety of resources and subjects (Miller, 2011). The expert reference worker not only has knowledge of specific subjects and resources, but also has an additional level of professional knowledge regarding the successes and failures of past reference interactions. In other fields, like design, bodies of knowledge iteratively built from previous experiences are known as repertoire. Designers develop repertoire over time by integrating information from previous situations into new ones (Goldschmidt & Porter 2010). Research shows that designers with broader and more diverse repertoires make better design decisions and demonstrate greater expertise (Salmon & Gritzer 1992; Wahl & Baxter 2008). Much like designers, reference workers often deal with problems that are complex and benefit from previous experience and expertise, as well as diverse and individual perspectives built into a reference worker’s personal repertoire. Our research aims to understand how, over time, reference workers collect and reflect on experiences to develop their repertoires to deal with complex inquiries and how diverse and extensive the personal repertory knowledge of reference workers is.
 
 
 

Broad chemical transferability in structure-based coarse-graining.

Compared to top-down coarse-grained (CG) models, bottom-up approaches are capable of offering higher structural fidelity. This fidelity results from the tight link to a higher resolution reference, making the CG model chemically specific. Unfortunately, chemical specificity can be at odds with compound-screening strategies, which call for transferable parameterizations. Here, we present an approach to reconcile bottom-up, structure-preserving CG models with chemical transferability. We consider the bottom-up CG parameterization of 3441 C7O2 small-molecule isomers. Our approach combines atomic representations, unsupervised learning, and a large-scale extended-ensemble force-matching parameterization. We first identify a subset of 19 representative molecules, which maximally encode the local environment of all gas-phase conformers. Reference interactions between the 19 representative molecules were obtained from both homogeneous bulk liquids and various binary mixtures. An extended-ensemble parameterization over all 703 state points leads to a CG model that is both structure-based and chemically transferable. Remarkably, the resulting force field is on average more structurally accurate than single-state-point equivalents. Averaging over the extended ensemble acts as a mean-force regularizer, smoothing out both force and structural correlations that are overly specific to a single-state point. Our approach aims at transferability through a set of CG bead types that can be used to easily construct new molecules while retaining the benefits of a structure-based parameterization.

Pandemic Chat: A Comparison of Pandemic-Era and Pre-Pandemic Online Chat Questions at the University of Mississippi Libraries

This paper analyzes two datasets of virtual reference interactions via a library chat service at the University of Mississippi: one from the COVID-19 pandemic period 2020-2022, and another from the pre-pandemic period of 2017–2019. By comparing the chats’ length, distribution across days, weeks, and months, as well as word frequency analysis, it concludes that the pre-pandemic and pandemic chats appear to be fundamentally similar aside from a 16% drop in chat usage between the period from 2017–19 to the period from 2020–22.

Reference Service, Government Information, and COVID-19

The authors designed and distributed two surveys to answer the questions of whether the 2020 federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic affected academic librarians’ trust in government information, and whether it affected the way they use government information professionally. The results showed a limited decrease in trust in 2020, somewhat mitigated by the administration turnover in 2021. Many librarians already discussed considerations such as bias, authority, and disinformation when recommending government information to students, and others indicated they are more likely to do so going forward. They will also use or suggest more caution with government documents than before. Reference interactions do not always allow the necessary time and space for a nuanced conversation about the limits of government information, so libraries and academic institutions should look for other ways to improve student political literacy as well.

A Peer-led Database Training Program to Improve Reference Service

ABSTRACT Librarians at a medium-sized public university library established a peer-led database training program to improve each librarian’s familiarity and utilization of the Library’s specialized databases. The impetus for the training program was to reduce the number of chat reference referrals to subject specialists and instead to try to answer reference questions at the point of need. A pre-training survey identified which databases should be included in the training series and invited librarians to indicate for which databases they would be willing to be the trainer. Six databases were covered over the course of the Fall 2020 semester. A post-training survey garnered feedback on how the training series was received and also included suggestions for improvement. The post-training survey results indicate the series was viewed positively. All participants learned something new during the training sessions and felt more confident using the resources demonstrated when assisting users during reference interactions and research consultations. Participants reflected on why having colleagues conduct the training sessions rather than vendors was important. Most participants wanted to continue the training program going forward.

“I’m Writing a Sermon…”

“I’m writing a sermon…” prefaces most of the questions that come to the Pitts Theology Library Reference Desk from alumni. Candler School of Theology alumni regularly return to the library to inquire about the resources and databases that remain available to them through Emory University Libraries in their new ministerial settings. In addition to these one-off reference interactions, Pitts librarians also engage with alumni through a variety of means, including outreach and events, instruction, and graduation preparation and celebrations. During the academic years of 2019–20 and 2020–21, however, alumni needs and requests increased and transformed as public libraries closed in-person services and university campuses were limited to currently enrolled students and faculty. This paper will explore the evolving needs of seminary alumni brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Pitts witnessed and managed an uptick in requests for access to collections, library spaces, and online databases.

Impact of COVID-19 on the use of the academic library

PurposeThis study examines differences in library use patterns (in-person visits, online use, reference transactions, library resource and services use) pre-COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 pandemic through multiple data sets.Design/methodology/approachUsing library statistics collected during 2017/2018 and 2020/2021 and student responses to a biennial library use survey distributed in 2018 and 2021, the potential impact of the pandemic on users' behaviors was explored.FindingsLibrary use statistics and the biennial survey responses demonstrate that users' overall library use was impacted by COVID-19. Both the library's gate count and students' frequency of library visits showed a dramatic decrease. The use of virtual support to patrons increased during COVID-19 as reflected by the increase in email and chat reference interactions and virtual consultations.Practical implicationsAs students return to the physical classroom, observing library use via various data will help inform how well use of the library rebounded or if there are changes in users' behavior that suggest the need for the promotion of library services or an expansion in alternative services to support users.Originality/valueThis article highlights the importance of continuously obtaining various data sets to observe trends and changes. By observing multiple data points, some changes are aligned across data, whereas other changes or patterns are different. While impact on physical library use may be obvious, library use before and during the pandemic will help guide and inform how academic libraries should be prepared for hybrid environments post-pandemic.

Colour blind: Investigating the racial bias of virtual reference services in English academic libraries

The face-to-face academic reference interview, while once the only means of accessing the services of professional reference librarians, is in the process of being almost entirely replaced by a range of online reference services. While such virtual reference services (VRS) provide convenient and instant access to guidance and support from librarians, they also potentially allow responding librarians to let their unconscious biases impact the service provided based on the racial or ethnic belonging of the user. This email-based observation study seeks to investigate whether there is evidence for implicit ethnic bias or discrimination displayed in virtual reference interactions conducted at academic libraries in England. Findings from the data analysis of a total of 158 received responses demonstrate trends of some unequal service provision provided to users based potentially on ethnicity or race, as well as an overall lack of adherence to professional guidelines on best-practices for academic reference interactions. While the results of this study point towards the need for greater adherence to professional guidelines generally, it becomes clear that the guidelines themselves must do better at engaging and explicitly thematising the impact of race and ethnicity on library service provision in order to ensure that such guidelines are actively anti-racist rather than merely race-neutral.

Computational Investigation Identified Potential Chemical Scaffolds for Heparanase as Anticancer Therapeutics.

Heparanase (Hpse) is an endo-β-D-glucuronidase capable of cleaving heparan sulfate side chains. Its upregulated expression is implicated in tumor growth, metastasis and angiogenesis, thus making it an attractive target in cancer therapeutics. Currently, a few small molecule inhibitors have been reported to inhibit Hpse, with promising oral administration and pharmacokinetic (PK) properties. In the present study, a ligand-based pharmacophore model was generated from a dataset of well-known active small molecule Hpse inhibitors which were observed to display favorable PK properties. The compounds from the InterBioScreen database of natural (69,034) and synthetic (195,469) molecules were first filtered for their drug-likeness and the pharmacophore model was used to screen the drug-like database. The compounds acquired from screening were subjected to molecular docking with Heparanase, where two molecules used in pharmacophore generation were used as reference. From the docking analysis, 33 compounds displayed higher docking scores than the reference and favorable interactions with the catalytic residues. Complex interactions were further evaluated by molecular dynamics simulations to assess their stability over a period of 50 ns. Furthermore, the binding free energies of the 33 compounds revealed 2 natural and 2 synthetic compounds, with better binding affinities than reference molecules, and were, therefore, deemed as hits. The hit compounds presented from this in silico investigation could act as potent Heparanase inhibitors and further serve as lead scaffolds to develop compounds targeting Heparanase upregulation in cancer.

Leveraging Student Research Consultants to Support Reference Services: A Case Study Comparison of Services Before and During the Pandemic

The pandemic affected all aspects of daily life, including how library reference services are provided. This case study reviews and analyzes the sudden changes in the training and responsibilities of student research consultants (SRCs) who had to switch from in-person to online reference services. The university library at Cal State LA uses a peer-research model with SRCs providing the first tier of reference interactions. In this study, we examined the number and the duration of reference transactions, the READ Scale distribution, usage of reference services, and the ratings of the reference service during the pre-COVID and COVID periods. In fall 2020, study results showed an overall decline of reference interactions with changes in duration, READ Scale distribution, and researcher type. We hope other libraries can learn from our experiences.