[Libs-Or] L-net Notable Transcript Award: Alice LaViolette

[Stephanie Debner]

L-net, Oregon's Statewide Digital Reference Project (
http://www.oregonlibraries.net), recognizes Alice LaViolette at the Oregon
State Library for her excellent digital reference work while staffing the
service in March 2012. Alice’s transcript is online at

http://www.oregonlibraries.net/notable

In this transcript, the patron came in looking for information on his
great-grandfather and the great-grandfather's service during World WarII as
part of a school assignment. Alice asked several clarifying questions to
determine if the patron was looking for more general information about
World War II, or information more specific to the great-grandfather’s
experience.  Using an ancestry database, Alice found images of his WWI and
WWII registration cards, which she emailed to the patron.  She provided the
patron with information found in the database, to confirm that she had
found the correct person, then attempted to find an Oregonian obituary to
further confirm the accuracy of the information she had found.  When the
patron asked if Alice could find out what battles the ancestor had fought
in, she suggested that the patron could request military service records,
either by writing to the WWII National Personnel Records Center (for which
she provided the address) or requesting them online from the National
Archives.  The patron asked for more information about his ancestor, so
Alice searched the 1930 Census, where she found out some more information.
The patron was able to use this to confirm that all of the information that
she had found was about the right person.  At the end of the chat, Alice
emailed the transcript to the patron, so he would have all the information,
and closed the conversation in a friendly and professional manner.

The Quality Team was impressed with the caliber and amount of resources
that Alice used to help the patron and to verify that the information
located was correct.  Throughout the interaction, she also provided context
for the resources offered, to help the patron understand what he might find
useful on the various sites.  She conducted an excellent reference
interview, was very responsive to the patron’s requests for more
information, and had a professional and approachable demeanor throughout
the chat.

As an expression of our appreciation, Alice was presented with flowers and
a certificate at the Oregon Virtual Reference Summit. Please join us in
congratulating her!



The L-net Quality Team

Stephanie Debner, Portland Community College Library

Barbara O’Neill, Washington County Cooperative Library Services

Emily Papagni, Multnomah County Library
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