Reference stats reporting of Chatbot transactions

[Spears,Laura]

Dear Colleagues,

I wonder if anyone is reporting "chatbot" reference transactions in with your reference numbers to ARL or ACRL?

The definitions below do not include these, and I wonder if anyone has been including them anyway?

I emailed ACRL Benchmark about this and they forwarded to the ACRL Survey Editorial Board - we shall see. Below are the definitions from both ARL and ACRL (2024).

Just curious about how practitioners are handling this - thanks!

Laura

Question 16. Reference Transactions. Report the total number of reference transactions. 

A reference transaction is:

An information contact that involves the knowledge, use, recommendations, interpretation, or instruction in the use [or creation of] one or more information sources by a member of the library staff. (ARL 2024)

67. Virtual Reference Services

A virtual reference interaction is a question that is received and responded to in electronic format and conforms

to reference interactions in that it is an information contact that involves the knowledge, use, commendation,

interpretation, or instruction in the use of one or more information sources by a member of the library staff. (ACRL, 2024)

Laura I. Spears, PhD.

Director, Assessment & User Experience

George A. Smathers Libraries

laura....@ufl.edu

352/562-6027

 

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8222-1207

 

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