Current Opportunities for the Effective Meta-Assessment of Online Reference Services

The author suggests that current conditions are nearly ideal for the effective meta-assessment of online reference services (ORS), in part because expected patterns and modes of service have not yet been established for emerging and evolving online environments, and in part because the distance between theory and practice regarding reference service in general is at its perigee. Meta-assessment is defined as the deliberate examination of the elements, basic conditions, and needs of a thing (service, event, system, and so on) that transcend particular instantiations of that thing. Meta-assessment does not assess particular programs but rather the conditions under which all online reference services must exist. Meta-assessment occupies the conceptual space between the philosophy of reference (i.e., the examination and articulation of first principles) and the assessment of a particular reference service program. The basic conditions for the evaluation and assessment of ORS are articulated and explored. The impact of rogue ORS (i.e., ORS that are not affiliated with any particular digital library) on the process of meta-assessment is examined. Several parameters of the basic conditions for reference service in any form and any environment are enumerated. Although the widespread recurring assessment of specific ORS may be a few months off, the window of opportunity for the effective meta-assessment of ORS in general may be closing.