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Chat Transcripts in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic : Analysis of Chats from the AskAway Consortia Sobol, Barbara; Goncalves, Aline; Vis-Dunbar, Mathew; Lacey, Sajni; Moist, Shannon; Jantzi, Leanna; Gupta, Aditi; Mussell, Jessica; Foster, Patricia; James, Kathleen

Abstract

Objective – During the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of post-secondary institutions in British Columbia remained closed for a prolonged period, and volume on the provincial consortia chat service, AskAway, increased significantly. This study was designed to evaluate the content of AskAway transcripts for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years to determine if the content of questions varied during the pandemic. Methods – The following programs were used to evaluate the dataset of more than 70,000 transcripts: R, Python (pandas), Voyant Tools and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). Results – Our findings indicate that the content of questions remained largely unchanged despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the related increase in volume of questions on the AskAway chat service. Conclusion – These findings suggest that the academic libraries covered by this study were wellpoised to provide continued support of patrons through the AskAway chat service, despite an unprecedented closure of physical libraries, a significant increase in chat volume, and a time of global uncertainty.

Item Metadata

Title
Chat Transcripts in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic : Analysis of Chats from the AskAway Consortia
Creator
Sobol, Barbara; Goncalves, Aline; Vis-Dunbar, Mathew; Lacey, Sajni; Moist, Shannon; Jantzi, Leanna; Gupta, Aditi; Mussell, Jessica; Foster, Patricia; James, Kathleen
Date Issued
2023-06-15
Description
Objective – During the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of post-secondary institutions in British Columbia remained closed for a prolonged period, and volume on the provincial consortia chat service, AskAway, increased significantly. This study was designed to evaluate the content of AskAway transcripts for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years to determine if the content of questions varied during the pandemic. Methods – The following programs were used to evaluate the dataset of more than 70,000 transcripts: R, Python (pandas), Voyant Tools and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). Results – Our findings indicate that the content of questions remained largely unchanged despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the related increase in volume of questions on the AskAway chat service. Conclusion – These findings suggest that the academic libraries covered by this study were wellpoised to provide continued support of patrons through the AskAway chat service, despite an unprecedented closure of physical libraries, a significant increase in chat volume, and a time of global uncertainty.
Subject
COVID-19 (Disease)
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2023-06-29
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0433815
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85171
Affiliation
Library, UBC; Non UBC
Citation
Sobol, B., Goncalves, A., Vis-Dunbar, M., Lacey, S., Moist, S., Jantzi, L., Gupta, A., Mussell, J., Foster, P. L., & James, K. (2023). Chat Transcripts in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of Chats from the AskAway Consortia. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 18(2), 73–92.
Publisher DOI
10.18438/eblip30291
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Other
Copyright Holder
Authors
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International