As technology continues to advance, libraries in Europe and America continue to improve upon their virtual reference services by employing new Web technologies and applying them to existing services. West African academic libraries have begun providing resources electronically to their users but still typically lag behind in the services they offer. This research investigated virtual reference services offered by 79 academic libraries in ten West African countries. It was found that less than 40% provide any virtual reference service including phone, fax or email, and almost none take advantage of more advanced technologies such as chat or text messaging. (Contains 2 tables.)