Of chat reference

In each of the academic libraries at which I've worked, the administration and staff have gone to significant effort to provide virtual or "chat" reference service. At each of those two libraries, the response from library users has been decidedly underwhelming. Now it is possible that the limited times during which the libraries have offered this service, or a lack of publicity, or technical glitches, could be partially responsible for this. But it leads me to wonder whether there's really any patron demand for such a service, or if it's just a service in search of an audience, something that libraries feel compelled to do just because they can, and because all the cool libraries are doing it.

An article from the Spring 2004 issue of Reference and User Services Quarterly appears to support my sour thoughts on the subject. (Johnson, Corey. "Online Chat Reference : Survey Results from Affiliates of Two Universities". Reference and User Services Quarterly 43 (2004): 237-247.) Those interested in reading all the gory details can look it up in print, but here are the statistics that caught my attention:

Percentage of students and faculty who have used chat reference: 3.3%
Percentage of students and faculty who cite chat as their first choice for reference service: 4.4%

One of the reasons frequently cited for chat reference service is that library users with only one dial-up telephone line cannot call the reference desk for in-person telephone assistance while connected to the internet (and, presumably, using library catalogs or databases.) Is this likely to be a factor in the future? More and more people are using broadband internet which does not interfere with their use of a landline telephone; more and more will likely start using voice-over-internet services which permit voice telephone service to co-exist with internet connectivity; and wireless or cellular voice communication seems to be increasingly ubiquitous. How many people actually prefer conducting reference inquiries via awkward, abbreviated chat messages instead of speaking in person, if both options are available?

The survey in the article also suggested that 35.6% of faculty and students thought chat reference service would be the most widely used library service in ten years, but given my experience with rarely-used chat services and the vanishingly small percentage of users who say they have in fact used such services, I'm skeptical.