Coding into the Great Unknown: Analyzing Instant Messaging Session Transcripts to Identify User Behaviors and Measure Quality of Service

Sarah Maximiek is Subject Librarian for Political Science, Public Administration and Government Documents; Erin Rushton is Subject Librarian/Coordinator of Digital Reference Services; and Elizabeth Brown is Scholarly Communications and Library Grants Officer, all at Binghamton University, SUNY; e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. The authors would like to extend their gratitude to their past and current colleagues who helped with the transcript coding project: Nancy Abashian, Abigail Bordeaux, Katharine Bouman, Tina Clemo, Angelique Jenks-Brown; and to Alesia McManus and Dave Vose for their assistance on the project. © Sarah Maximiek, Erin Rushton, and Elizabeth Brown After one year of providing virtual reference service through an instant messaging (IM) service, Binghamton University (BU) Libraries, under the purview of its Digital Reference Committee (DRC), undertook a study of collected session transcripts. The goals of this work were to determine who was using the IM service and why; if staffing for the service was adequate and met our in-person reference standards; and if improvements to the libraries’ existing reference services were needed.