Another example comes from the management of a virtual reference service, provided
by the library of Middlesex University in England (Butterworth, 2004). Allowing
reference queries to be submitted in a search box allowed users to expect, by analogy
with a search engine, an almost instantaneous response; impossible, given the nature of
the service. Changing the interaction to take the form of a posting to a discussion list
thread gave a more realistic expectation of the likely time scale for response. In this
case, expectations are managed by the interface itself, through a metaphor rather than
an explicit explanation. Freeth (2002), in a healthcare library setting, recommends
management of timescale expectations for electronic mediated searching by “strategic
slowing” of responses to some search requests.
This has the advantage that expectations are managed by a more direct, and
arguably more “natural”, means than one which relies on some form of user training
and awareness-raising. Such methods are never well-accepted, particularly when they
may give rise to the perception that the digital library is “complicated” or “difficult”,
when compared with the essentially training-free search engine environment. Finding