Like e-mail and chat reference service, text reference service is provided digitally and all the transactions can be captured by the software that supports the service. At the time of the study, My Info Quest was using Alta Rama SMS Reference as the gateway software to connect patrons’ text messages with a Gmail account, and librarians were receiving and answering questions via e-mail. Therefore, all the text reference questions and answers were recorded and stored in the e-mail account.

My Info Quest was launched in late July 2009. By the time of the data collection, the service had been running for twelve months. Transcripts from each month were considered a monthly cluster, making twelve clusters in the study population. Systematic random sampling was employed to select four clusters as the study sample, which ended up consisting of 3,103 questions. Both quantitative and qualitative content analysis was conducted on the sampled questions. The results are presented in the following section. In this paper, transcriptions of text reference questions are entered verbatim, without attempt to correct spelling or grammar.

The unit of analysis in this study was an independent question in a text reference transaction that represented a distinct information need. A follow-up question asked to provide clarification was not considered an independent question. For example, a patron asked an initial question about the new health care bill—“I was curious as to what are the details and terms of the new health care bill,” and then sent a follow-up question “does the new health care bill require all Americans to have health insurance and if not there will be a penalty” to further specify his or her information need. In this transaction, the follow-up question does not represent a new information need; it functions as an attempt to better specify the original need. Therefore, it is not considered an independent question.

As an emerging venue for reference service, texting is rapidly gaining popularity among library users. Within one year of its launch, My Info Quest text reference service has averaged more than 750 questions per month. The fact that close to 40 percent of the patrons were repeat users is also strong indication of its high user retention rate. Such popularity may be attributable to the wide use of cell phones and the convenience of texting as a communication channel. However, the limit of 160 characters per message restricts the amount of information conveyed via texting. Therefore, as the study shows, most patrons use text reference for ready reference questions, whose answers are usually brief and straightforward. This finding is consistent with what has been reported in the literature—text reference questions are of the short-answer variety. Since this type of questions seeks a specific piece of information, they are mostly unambiguous and do not involve a comprehensive reference interview. In this study, almost three quarters of the transactions contain only two messages and more than 95 percent contain five messages or less.

Given patrons’ obvious inclination to use text reference for ready reference questions, text reference librarians should be familiar with reference and information sources on the web and how to effectively search and locate information within them. While the majority of ready reference questions take just a few minutes to answer, some of them may take hours of research.²³ This is attested to by findings of this study where only close to 60 percent of the questions were responded to within 10 minutes. As for the rest of the questions, some were submitted during service off hours, and some others could simply be too difficult to answer in a few minutes. When encountering such difficult questions, it is important that librarians have a repertoire of strategies they can resort to to handle the questions as efficiently and effectively as possible. For example, as soon as patron's question is determined to be unanswerable within the promised response time, the librarian may immediately send a message notifying the patron that it might take longer than expected to receive the answer, or may offer the option to e-mail patron the answer if there are other questions in queue. A solid knowledge base of web information sources and a network of colleagues to seek help from are critical in handling text reference questions. Thus, an easily accessible cheat sheet containing useful sources on the web and information on how to consult colleagues will be of help to librarians providing text reference service. For instance, such a cheat sheet may include links to library policy/procedures, frequently used reference resources on the web (both general and subject-specific reference sources), a list of texting lingo, and tools like URL shortener or a character counter that could help librarians compose their messages concisely.

When answering text reference questions, it is important to be aware that not all cell phone users have mobile web, and that these patrons most likely choose to use the text reference service because of that lack. Therefore, it is best to answer the questions with specific information rather than by simply pointing patrons to a web source. Admittedly, sometimes the information needed for ready reference questions can be too long to fit in one or two messages (e.g. lyrics, recipes), or too difficult to find (e.g., “how many states allow the use of tasers on juveniles?”). However, unless it is absolutely necessary, it is preferable to compose the answer with information rather than with URL(s). For instance, lyrics and recipes can be written in short texting lingo and sent in separate text messages. If patrons do not have unlimited texting or libraries use a vendor that charges per message sent, the cost of texting can be a concern. In that case, librarians can lead with a URL referral and offer patrons the option of receiving the answer in multiple texts.

For specific-search questions, there is usually not a definitive answer. Still, an informational summary can be helpful when provided along with the sources. For example, when answering the question “what is the easiest way I can build up my arms and legs?,” in addition to recommending that the patron talk to a doctor and pointing him/her to authoritative health sources, it would be useful to offer a brief summary of the muscle building techniques from the sources. An exemplar answer (272 characters in two texts) may be “eat quality foods—40 percent protein, 40 percent carbs, and 20 percent fat, use core and compound exercises in training like deadlift, squats, bench press, overhead press, rows, dips, pullups, get enough rest and drink plenty of water. From http://bit.ly/ea0Ky0. Best to consult your doctor.” It is helpful for patrons, especially those without access to mobile web, to get an immediate preliminary answer before they investigate the recommended sources to answer the question themselves. When it is unavoidable to refer patrons solely to a source, it is valuable to provide a phone number along with a URL (e.g., when referring a patron to an organization, provide both the phone number and the organization website) to accommodate the needs of those without mobile web. Basically, text reference librarians have to strike a good balance between being concise and being informative.

My Info Quest is a collaborative text reference service with participation by libraries of different types. Participating librarians take turns to cover the service and the user community consists of patrons of all member libraries. As indicated in the study, more than 13 percent of the questions were related to resources, services and policies at patrons’ local libraries, and therefore, it is crucial for librarians to be familiar with member libraries’ websites so that they can better help their patrons. Luo, in studying chat reference service competencies, determined that knowledge of other participating libraries’ resources in a collaborative chat reference project is one of the twenty-one essential competencies for chat reference librarians.²⁴ This conclusion also applies to collaborative text reference services where librarians answer questions not only from their local patrons, but also patrons of all the other member libraries.

As shown in this study, a small portion of the questions were found to be unclearly worded, out of service scope, incompletely answered, or repeatedly submitted. Varying practices may emerge if there is no clear policy in place to steer librarians on how to answer these questions. For example, some librarians simply ignore the questions that seem unclear, while others send patrons a message asking for clarification. As for out-of-service-scope questions, it is important to not only define what the service scope is and what constitutes an out-of-scope question, but also to clearly lay out the guidelines for answering such questions. Without the guidance of service policies and procedures, it is impossible to ensure consistent service quality. This leads to negative experiences by patrons. Therefore, when setting up a text reference service, it is vital to consider the different kinds of patron questions and establish clear policies to guide the question-answering practice.

One of the observations in the study was that sometimes questions were given duplicate answers. This is likely to be caused by two librarians covering two sequential shifts and attempting to answer questions submitted during the shift transition period. As mentioned earlier, text reference questions were received and answered via Gmail. Thus, there is no mechanism for librarians to claim questions and avoid duplicate answers. Recently My Info Quest librarians contrived a remedy for this problem. When a librarian logs into Gmail for their shift, they send a message to Gmail announcing that they are ready to take over the shift; thus, the librarian from the previous shift will be alerted and hence reduce the likelihood of double answered questions. As text reference service becomes more popular, more research should be conducted on the usability of text reference software so that librarians’ needs such as claiming questions can be met by properly designed software and text reference service can be delivered via a more efficient and powerful vehicle.

As the primary group of texting users, teens seem to be a major demographic among text reference users. Among the questions they ask, some are sex related. However, sometimes it can be difficult to tell whether teen patrons are genuinely interested in knowing the answers or are simply abusing the service by sending prank questions. At My Info Quest, librarians are encouraged to treat such questions as legitimate questions and assume that patrons are actually curious about them. Since such questions most likely come from teens, labeling them as inappropriate and refusing to answer them may create, if not reinforce, the rigid image of libraries in teen patrons’ minds, and discourage those with genuine interests from using the service. Given the popularity of texting as a communication venue among teen patrons, libraries should actively explore the potential of text reference service to attract teen patrons and to help them improve their information literacy. Meanwhile, more research is needed to study teen patrons’ perception and use of text reference service to develop a solid understanding of how to best assist them via the text reference avenue.

In conclusion, the main research question “what are the types of questions people ask when using a text reference service?” has been fully answered. The detailed question analysis presented in the study depicts the various types of information needs fulfilled by text reference service, and helps library professionals better recognize how patrons use text reference service to facilitate their information seeking process. Findings from the study will be beneficial to libraries that are interested in starting a text reference service. It is the authors’ hope that this study furthers the professional understanding of texting as a reference avenue and attracts more empirical research to examine text reference service from other angles such as software usability, text reference answers, user experience/satisfaction, comparison between different library environments and librarian preparation.