Les Techniques documentaires

(2006) - The SwissInfoDesk Experiment

Collection Building, vol. 5, n° 4, 2006, pp. 134-138  

The SwissInfoDesk Experiment: the Building of a Website Subject Gateway as a Contributive Part of a Virtual Reference Desk

Résumé

Virtual Reference Desks are new online services developed by libraries and this paper aims to give the example of SwissInfoDesk, the VRD of the Swiss National Library set up in 2003. The main approach is a focus on how SwissInfoDesk is built, maintained and developed, considering user's interests with a proposed list of topics on Switzerland. The most significant differences between SwissInfoDesk and other VRDs are the multilingual aspects (the site is in four languages) and the link between a directory of selected Swiss official websites and the reference desk itself. The user can search by himself or address his request to the desk. SwissInfoDesk illustrates the ongoing changes in reference work and the new dimension of communication between information specialists and information-seekers.