title: Implementation and evaluation of an virtual intelligent agent.
abstract: Reference librarians at the National Library of Medicine answer over 100,000 client questions annually. Although many answers are the NLM Web, clients may have difficulty finding them. Using intelligent virtual agent software, the NLM launched Cosmo, the Customer Service Owl (http://wwwns.nlm.nih.gov/). Cosmo uses natural language pattern matching to answer common questions. Early evaluation shows Cosmo can answer 25% of questions asked, but some users mistake the service for chat reference or a search engine.
authors.affiliation: National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ahmed
mesh_terms: D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D007999:Library Services; D009317:National Library of Medicine (U.S.); D009323:Natural Language Processing; D012984:Software; D014481:United States