Ask Me Anything!: Reaching out to Online Students in Higher Education through Librarian-Led Virtual Office Hours

Abstract

Offering students synchronous research and reference help can be a challenge for libraries that offer services at a distance. Virtual office hours can be a means of overcoming this challenge, allowing patrons the opportunity to seek timely point-of-need assistance. The author implemented a librarian-led virtual office hours pilot project at her home institution, Athabasca University. The program was initially received enthusiastically, but fewer and fewer patrons availed themselves of the service as the pilot progressed. This paper explores the implementation of the virtual office hours pilot project and its outcomes, and concludes with a discussion of how the pilot could have been more successfully carried out.

Keywords:

• Virtual office hours
• online office hours
• librarian-led office hours
• virtual reference