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24 Hour Reference Goes Global: A Cooperative Approach to providing a Multilingual Reference Service

24 Hour Reference Goes Global: A Cooperative Approach to providing a Multilingual Reference Service. Susan McGlamery Global Product Manager OCLC Cooperative Initiatives mcglames@oclc.org. Languages other than English at home.

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24 Hour Reference Goes Global: A Cooperative Approach to providing a Multilingual Reference Service

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  1. 24 Hour Reference Goes Global:A Cooperative Approach to providing a Multilingual Reference Service Susan McGlamery Global Product Manager OCLC Cooperative Initiatives mcglames@oclc.org

  2. Languages other than English at home

  3. 18% of the U.S. population over 5 years old (47 million people) (US Census 2000) In 1990: 14% of the population (31.8 million people) Percentage of people who speak a language other than English grew 38% in the 1980s and 47% in the 1990s. Of the total population, 8.1 percent reported speaking English not very well or not at all. Speaks a language other than English at home (U.S.):

  4. Are libraries keeping up?

  5. Survey: QP and 24/7 libraries • 65 responses • 73.6% say population speaking languages other than English has increased • How many visit the library? • 60% say 5% or less • 20% don’t know

  6. 93.5% provide materials in other languages Books -- fiction 78.2% Books -- non fiction 80% Magazines 58.2% Newspapers 50.9% Databases 38.2% CD's 52.7% Videos or DVD's 72.7% Other (please specify) 20%

  7. Languages of the materials: • Chinese 47.3% • French 60% • German 49.1% • Japanese 41.8% • Korean 41.8% • Russian 45.5% • Spanish96.4% • Vietnamese 29.1% • Other (please specify) 32.7%

  8. Bilingual Staff: 34 of 59 say YES • Chinese 25.8% • French 41.9% • German 25.8% • Japanese 6.5% • Korean 9.7% • Russian 29% • Spanish83.9% • Vietnamese 12.9% • Other 25.8%

  9. 24/7 Reference Cooperative • Fail safe coverage • After hours and as back up • Separate cooperatives for academic and public libraries • Quality control • Subject experts (24/7 and Global Reference Network) • http://www.questionpoint.org/community/TransitionTaskForce/FAQ_247.htm

  10. Leveraging a global cooperative • 24/7 Reference acquired by OCLC (8/04) • QuestionPoint: libraries in 20 countries, serving patrons in 24 languages Global Reference Network • WebJunction: Spanish Outreach

  11. Language Issues • Software interface • Unicode compliant • QuestionPoint Librarian interface translated into 8 languages • Librarians needed to staff • Cultural issues

  12. Chinese Dutch English French German Japanese Korean Polish Portuguese Slovenian Spanish Turkish Current Patron Interfaces

  13. 24/7 Reference – Spanish language • U.S. bilingual librarians • Participants: California, Florida, Maryland, soon Wisconsin • Available approximately 50 hours per week live, otherwise by email

  14. LAPL - English

  15. LAPL - Spanish

  16. Spanish language interface

  17. Scripts in Spanish

  18. If no Librarians are available live…

  19. 24/7 Reference – next steps • Survey: Ability to offer reference help in other languages is more important than the delivery method used and the hours of service • Looking for partners to extend service • French, Chinese • Combination of chat and email reference

  20. Questions and Discussion Susan McGlamery mcglames@oclc.org

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