Librarians Win Grant for Research on Virtual Reference

Two NCSU librarians are winners of one of two Emerald Research Awards granted this year. Associate Head of Research and Information Services Amy VanScoy (left) and NCSU Libraries Fellow Hyun-Duck Chung (right) received the award for their proposal "Better Business Reference Training: Evaluation of Virtual Reference Transcripts for Subject-Specific Training."

The $5,000 award is given by the American Library Association's Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) to individuals seeking support to conduct research in business librarianship. Recipients may be asked to present their findings at a public Business Reference and Adult Services Section (BRASS) event within two years of receiving the award. They are also required to acknowledge the Emerald Research Grant when publishing or presenting their research. The award will be announced at ALA's annual conference in Anaheim, California in late June.

The NCSU Libraries was one of the first research libraries in the nation to offer immediate, interactive reference services communicated in real time through instant messaging or "chat" software as well as by e-mail, phone, and in person. Launched in January 2001, the service allows library users to co-browse Web pages and databases together with librarians. Demand for the service has grown rapidly over the past few years, surpassing e-mail reference "traffic" and peaking on evenings and weekends.