Blogs for virtual reference? Why not? Pomerantz & Stutzman offer a few compelling arguments for using blogs to provide virtual reference in a collaborative environment. Much of this makes a lot of sense. For starters, institutions are already providing collaborative VR service, only they're doing it using expensive, proprietary software. A collaborative blogging model could almost open up VR services to smaller institutions who don't have the capital to invest in the software. Additionally, many of the advantages of using blogs in general are transferable in the VR context as well - searchability, permanent links and archives, and as the authors note, a database that stores the complete reference transaction, essentially making it an "information resource" itself which is, most notably, freely available on the Web.

As far as I'm aware (and my experience is limited since I haven't done any VR at all beyond e-mail reference, which isn't VR at all, is it?), while institutions are already successfully collaborating on VR, there is only ever a one-to-one relationship between the patron and librarian. That is - one question-asker is responded to by one question-answerer. What I like about the collaborative blog model is that there is no limit to the number of question-answerers contributing to the response. As the authors note,

So what we would ultimately have is a database of reference questions and multi-layered responses (that would, presumably, build upon one another), something like a Google Answers but with quality control. The authors also suggest that the blog could be opened up to the general Web public as well, encouraging anyone who has pertinent information to add to the exchange to jump into the fray, citing the Wikipedia model as a successful collaborative project that has managed to maintain a certain level of quality control.

My experience with Wikipedia runs from really good to abysmal so part of me is not happy with that comparison. My other issue with this prospect has to do with organizational integrity -- in many ways, it's OK for a free, unaffiliated, collaborative online service to have the occasional quality lapse, it's a little different when that service is being hosted by a library at a large academic institution (which is my sphere of reference). I can't see the constituents of an academic library being satisfied with a collaborative reference model that is dependent on nameless Web trawlers for information. And while I don't like the un-inclusiveness that this suggests, it might be the only way to run a collaborative VR project between academic institutions.

Pomerantz & Stutzman conclude their article promising to implement Lyceum (which is the open-source blogsphere developed by ibiblio.org) and report the results of that implementation thereafter. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who is already looking forward to hearing all about it.