Applying Information Competency to Digital Reference

Presented at the 67th IFLA Council and General Conference (2001), this paper presents a case for applying information competency (IC) standards to digital reference services at academic libraries. Practical reasons for applying standards or guidelines to e-mail and online chat reference services are given with some insight to the nature of digital reference interactions. The standards that arose from the information competency movement in academic libraries are described and offered as a touchstone for planning and designing digital reference services. The paper concludes with preliminary ideas for how IC standards could be applied to the provision of digital reference.