Costing reference: Issues, approaches, and directions for research

Melissa Gross; Charles R. McClure; R. David Lankes

doi:10.1300/J120v46n95_11

Costing reference: Issues, approaches, and directions for research

Melissa Gross, Charles R. McClure, R. David Lankes

School of Information Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Assessing Quality in Digital Reference project is a first step toward understanding the cost of digital reference services in libraries. This article presents three measures isolated by project participants as being most useful for their immediate needs: total cost of providing digital reference service, the cost of digital reference service as a percent of the total reference budget, and the cost of reference as a percent of the total library or organizational budget. In addition, it reviews selected outstanding issues in the ongoing question of how to determine the cost of reference services in libraries and offers direction for further study toward a general cost model for information services.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	173-186
Number of pages	14
Journal	Reference Librarian
Volume	46
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1300/J120v46n95_11
State	Published - 2006

Keywords

Cost studies
Digital reference
Information service evaluation
Reference services standards

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Library and Information Sciences

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10.1300/J120v46n95_11

Cite this

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title = "Costing reference: Issues, approaches, and directions for research",

abstract = "The Assessing Quality in Digital Reference project is a first step toward understanding the cost of digital reference services in libraries. This article presents three measures isolated by project participants as being most useful for their immediate needs: total cost of providing digital reference service, the cost of digital reference service as a percent of the total reference budget, and the cost of reference as a percent of the total library or organizational budget. In addition, it reviews selected outstanding issues in the ongoing question of how to determine the cost of reference services in libraries and offers direction for further study toward a general cost model for information services.",

keywords = "Cost studies, Digital reference, Information service evaluation, Reference services standards",

author = "Melissa Gross and McClure, {Charles R.} and Lankes, {R. David}",

note = "Funding Information: Research for this paper was performed as part of the Assessing Quality in Digital Reference Services conducted by the Information Institute of Syracuse at Syracuse University and the Information Use Management and Policy Institute at Florida State University and funded by OCLC, The Digital Library Federation, and a wide range of library organizations. The authors would like to thank all the participants in this study for their support and participation.",

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AU - McClure, Charles R.

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N1 - Funding Information: Research for this paper was performed as part of the Assessing Quality in Digital Reference Services conducted by the Information Institute of Syracuse at Syracuse University and the Information Use Management and Policy Institute at Florida State University and funded by OCLC, The Digital Library Federation, and a wide range of library organizations. The authors would like to thank all the participants in this study for their support and participation.

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N2 - The Assessing Quality in Digital Reference project is a first step toward understanding the cost of digital reference services in libraries. This article presents three measures isolated by project participants as being most useful for their immediate needs: total cost of providing digital reference service, the cost of digital reference service as a percent of the total reference budget, and the cost of reference as a percent of the total library or organizational budget. In addition, it reviews selected outstanding issues in the ongoing question of how to determine the cost of reference services in libraries and offers direction for further study toward a general cost model for information services.

AB - The Assessing Quality in Digital Reference project is a first step toward understanding the cost of digital reference services in libraries. This article presents three measures isolated by project participants as being most useful for their immediate needs: total cost of providing digital reference service, the cost of digital reference service as a percent of the total reference budget, and the cost of reference as a percent of the total library or organizational budget. In addition, it reviews selected outstanding issues in the ongoing question of how to determine the cost of reference services in libraries and offers direction for further study toward a general cost model for information services.

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Costing reference: Issues, approaches, and directions for research

Abstract

Keywords

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