Dr Jia Liu has been a research fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. During the research project, she was based at the Faculty of Information and Communication, University of Media, Stuttgart, Germany. Before this, she was an associate professor in the Department of Information Management, Peking University, Beijing, China.

• Introduction; Basics about digital reference services; Evaluating digital reference services; Views from the Western world: Evaluation by the German team; Views from the Eastern world: Evaluation by the Chinese team; Comparisons and conclusions.

Dr Jia Liu has been a research fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. During the research project, she was based at the Faculty of Information and Communication, University of Media, Stuttgart, Germany. Before this, she was an associate professor in the Department of Information Management, Peking University, Beijing, China.

• Introduction; Basics about digital reference services; Evaluating digital reference services; Views from the Western world: Evaluation by the German team; Views from the Eastern world: Evaluation by the Chinese team; Comparisons and conclusions.

Dr Jia Liu has been a research fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. During the research project, she was based at the Faculty of Information and Communication, University of Media, Stuttgart, Germany. Before this, she was an associate professor in the Department of Information Management, Peking University, Beijing, China.

• Introduction; Basics about digital reference services; Evaluating digital reference services; Views from the Western world: Evaluation by the German team; Views from the Eastern world: Evaluation by the Chinese team; Comparisons and conclusions.