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University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Reference Interview and Instruction in Reference Training

This guide accompanies the U of I Library graduate assistant training session.

Reference Interview in Chat

You will also conduct a reference interview when you're doing chat reference. Here are some things to keep in mind:

  • It will be slower than an in-person or phone reference interview.
  • You will not have non-verbal or vocal cues to help you.
  • You will have to give more detailed instructions when helping the user get to a resource.
  • You'll have to check in with the user more frequently as you search since they don't have any cues either.
  • You still need to incorporate teaching into your chat reference interactions.