| Academic libraries in the public institutions for higher education in Puerto Rico have incorporated services adapted to the advances of the technologies of information and communication (TIC), to the changing academic programs and the population to which they serve. This investigation concentrates on the virtual reference service in libraries and aimed to describe the process of interpersonal communication among librarians offering virtual reference services, through a chat platform, to undergraduate students in academic libraries of a public educational institution. Through case studies, interviews and document analysis, the objectives were achieved in respect to: the interpersonal communications of the librarians offering said service; manner in which answers to questions were provided in real time; practices used to attain interpersonal communication with students.;The findings demonstrated librarians did, in fact, establish communication with the students, considering the characteristics of a virtual information service, Question Point/Ask a Librarian, and the organization and framework of said service to respond to quick communications in real time. Two documents supporting these remote reference services were used: Guidelines for Implementing and Maintaining Virtual Reference Services (RUSA, 2010) and Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers (RUSA, 2013). Through RUSA 2010, it was possible to emphasize the importance that personnel in charge of these reference services develop abilities and certain competence in their work. The RUSA 2013 allowed documenting the process of the interpersonal communication between librarians and students. Some approaches used by the librarians to succeed in the interpersonal communication through a chat, offered by the QuestionPoint service, were used individually, even when it was offered in association with libraries of the same educational institution. |
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