Rapid growth and development of information and communication technologies has revolutionized the reference services by giving rise to a new service: Digital Reference Desk. Given the broad presence of internet and information networks, digital reference desk (DRD) has come to find a special place in libraries. In DRD services, user’s needs are communicated to the library (and the special subject librarians) using a host of communication media. The present paper attempts to first investigate the importance and standing of DRD in special libraries and later offers guidelines for DRD software design with emphasis on reference service delivery via e-mail and web forms.

Collaborative digital reference services are one of the suitable services in libraries where two or more libraries act in a cooperative or group manner to provide reference services using one of the forms of digital reference services. In this type of service, the user sends a request to a library that is a member of the library network. The library receiving the question will do this if it is able to provide an answer; otherwise, it presents the question to another library that is a member of this network and has the ability to answer this question. The current study was conducted to study the feasibility of Collaborative Digital Reference Services in Iran’s top university central libraries. Several researches have been conducted inside and outside the country in connection with the topic of the current research. Reviewing the researches shows the fact that creating a collaborative digital reference service is necessary for universities and large centers. In Iranian researches, feasibility in terms of human resources, equipment and budget of digital reference services in libraries has been emphasized. In foreign researches, the review of collaborative digital reference services in terms of structure, patterns, software, hardware, features and services and human resources, evaluation and satisfaction of these services in libraries has been considered. Among the researches carried out inside the country, no research has investigated the possibilities and conditions of creating a collaborative digital reference in the central libraries of top level universities in Iran. Regarding the development of collaborative digital reference services in the world and the role of universities in meeting the educational and research information needs of users, as the most important knowledge production and dissemination centers in Iran have not yet turned to these services at the highest level.

In terms of purpose, this research is applied research and in terms of nature, this research is descriptive survey. The population of the study was composed of managers (13 managers from 13 central libraries) and reference librarians (42 librarians from 13 central libraries) from Iran’s top university central libraries (13 libraries). Two researcher-made questionnaires were used to collect data from mangers and librarians. In order to assess the validity, the questionnaires were sent to 9 Library and Information Science professors, KMO test was another method which was used for measuring the validity of the questioners, which indicated 0.93 for managers’ questionnaire and 0.90 for the librarians. So, the two questionnaires were determined to be valid. To estimate the reliability, Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated which showed 0.76 for managers’ questionnaire and 0.79 for that of the librarians. SPSS was used for the analysis of the collected data.

The overall average obtained for the level of familiarity of the librarians of the studied libraries with the skills needed to provide digital reference services in general is 3.53, which is higher than the average of 3.00. However, in the skill of "familiarity with network hardware issues and problems", the situation was reported to be slightly lower than average, and librarians' skills are needed to be supported or improved in this field. Findings also showed the libraries do not have some of the required software and hardware facilities to provide the digital reference service. Only 23.08% of libraries (libraries of Shahid Beheshti University, Allameh Tabatabai University and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad) use independent software for the question and answer with the user. The existence of independent digital reference software in only 3 central libraries (out of 13 top academic libraries) seems far from expected. The electronic information resources coverage was acceptable. The analysis shows that Iran’s top university central libraries face with some problems in terms of their funding, but these problems are not significant.

If the central libraries intend to provide collaborative digital reference services, the conditions and equipment are available to some extent, and perhaps with careful coordination and planning and using unified and integrated software, they can establish fixed and specific platforms for providing remote services. In the studied libraries, due to the available facilities and tools, it may be possible to turn face-to-face interactions in libraries into effective remote interactions with the same quality as face-to-face interactions, especially during crises and when libraries are closed. Before taking action, due to the lack of coherent digital reference services in the studied libraries, it is necessary to form a specialized group and committee consisting of experts under the supervision of expert librarians and the cooperation of computer experts to provide cooperative digital reference services. Also, due to the lack of specific software in some of the studied libraries, it is better to budget and prepare a single software to provide collaborative reference services. In the next step, due to the lack of equipment and hardware facilities in the studied libraries, it is better to identify and prepare the necessary equipment and hardware facilities to provide these services. It should be noted that providing such new services requires a series of joint trainings; It is suggested that training courses be held for reference librarians in order to increase their level of knowledge and efficiency in the field of providing collaborative digital reference services by libraries. Advertising, promotion and marketing of services is more important than setting up the service itself. It is important to use advertising plans and programs to familiarize the users of universities in this field and it will make them know more about this service.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the role of the librarian had expanded to include reference service, and it has been part of the profession since then. New technologies change the way we search for information and what we expect from reference service. With the introduction of the computer and the Internet, libraries expanded the role of reference beyond the use of the mail, telephone, or the fax machine. Today, librarians not only help patrons at the reference desk but also in cyberspace. This new type of service, called digital or virtual reference, is quite new, but has quickly become popular because of demands by patrons to access information anytime, anywhere. This paper discusses issues related to the use of digital/virtual reference in academic libraries in the U.S.

Risk assessment according to ISO 31000 standard is a systematic and logical process that includes identification, analysis and measurement. The risk identification process involves determining the type and source of potential risks. Risk analysis involves determining the estimated level of risks in terms of indices such as the probability and potential consequences of the risk. The measurement involves comparing the estimated levels of risks with respect to the analysis criteria and eventually the risk ranking. The present study aims to assess (identify, analyze and measure) the risks of professional expertise of human resources at digital libraries according to ISO 31000 standard. The present research is an applied nature and to implement it, survey and analytic methods have been applied with Shannon Entropy to weight risks and fuzzy TOPSIS to evaluate them. Primarily the most important risks were identified using the relevant resources and the results of previous researches, a process which led to the formulation of a questionnaire consisting of 38 items. First the demographic characteristics were described and the central statistical indices (mean and median) as well as the dispersion index (standard deviation) were examined. Next, using the weighted average index to the criteria defined by Shannon's entropy method and their application in TOPSIS software, positive and negative ideal options were determined. In the risk assessment stage, risks were prioritized by comparing the distance of each one from the positive and negative ideal options. The content validity and reliability equals 0.955 according to Cronbach's alpha test. 18 professional expertise risks were identified. Risk of having the necessary knowledge about semantic web languages and tools with the minimum distance from the positive ideal point by the value (0.0103) and the maximum distance from the negative ideal point by the value (0.104), and the maximum coefficient close to (0.9103) ranked first. It means that this risk has the closest distance to the ideal positive point and is the most important.Risk of employees' ability to provide digital reference services ranked 18th with the minimum distance from the negative ideal (0.0114) and the maximum distance from the positive ideal (0/1043), and the minimum proximity coefficient (0.0982). That is, it has the maximum distance from the positive ideal option and is the least important. Among the 18 risks of professional expertise of human resources at digital libraries identified, the risk of "having the necessary knowledge about semantic web languages ​​and tools" is the first priority. This reveals that the human resources of academic digital libraries are not in a good position in terms of up-to-date knowledge and modern information technologies and the semantic web that underlies ontologies and linked data, etc.