Importance of digital reference desk in special libraries and guidelines for design of digital reference desk software with emphasis on reference services

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.