ABSTRACT

This paper is a continuation of a previous one in The Reference Librarian, exploring the advantages of a simulation (rather than expert system) approach to designing a system to relieve reference desk overload. Another paper examined the correlation between four expert systems and various reference models; it made several recommendations for future research. The ideas presented in those two earlier papers have now been implemented in a prototype system named REFSIM, which can be used by either client or librarian. REFSIM can simulate a reference librarian, a teacher of reference librarians and a client, singly or in combination. It has an expert-system consultation mode and several Intelligent Computer-Assisted Instruction (ICAI) modes.

The components and architecture of REFSIM are described in this paper. Details, including a sample transaction, are given for the expert system mode, which is to be used for consultation by library clients. An overview is supplied for two ICAI modes, which can be used to instruct clients or train reference librarians.