Building and Maintaining Digital Reference Services. ERIC Digest.

Digital reference services (also known as "AskA" services, as in "Ask-an-Expert") provide subject expertise and information referral over the Internet to their users. This ERIC Digest provides an overview of the growing digital reference movement and its implications on sponsoring organizations, and examines current practices in the creation and maintenance of such services. Following a brief definition of digital reference, discussion includes the evolution of digital reference; implications of these Internet-based question-and-answer services; how digital reference services work; and the six-step process of building and maintaining digital reference services. Includes a list of references and readings. (Author/AEF)