FAST FACTS!
Want to provide 24/7 reference service to your patrons who may or may not come into the library but are out on the Internet?
You and your library are invited to join in a new exciting and innovative statewide service, called AskAway Illinois. Librarians all over Illinois and the world will provide online reference service to our library users.
· Software for the project is Question Point/24/7.
· Costs are very reasonable and are based on population.
· Participating libraries are required to contribute an hour of service.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Would I have to conduct chat sessions?
Ideally, but not necessarily. In the best of all possible worlds, you would be trained (or someone on your staff would be trained) to conduct chat sessions. However, there are some libraries that will be used just for email follow-up. They are usually subject specialty libraries – medicine, law, art, etc.
How Many Hours of Chat Would I be Expected to Contribute?
One hour a week on a consistent basis is the minimum requirement. Of course there are exceptions to the scheduling – trade-offs, etc. However, the skills you learn in chat reference to be proficient in chat reference need to be practiced. It is a great way to become a sharper and more knowledgeable library professional.
I am a school librarian/media specialist. I don’t have time to answer questions from a place outside my library. Can I still participate?
Indeed, your students will be thrilled to be able to chat with an online librarian when they are in the media center doing research for assignments. Librarians online will not do their homework for them, however. School libraries have used statewide services heavily in the past and students have benefited greatly from quality answers as opposed to surfing the net.
Who conducts the chat sessions if my library staff doesn’t?
Librarians all over Illinois will be staffing the service at different times. When there are too many questions for Illinois librarians to handle, the overflow will go to 24/7 Librarians – a cooperative. The same is true for times (middle of the night, holidays, snow days) when your library is closed. Your patrons can come into the service through the icon on your website. They will be answered by whoever is staffing at that time.
How Can Someone from Another Location Give My Patron from Smalltown, Illinois a Good Answer? How Will Another Librarian be Able to Answer Their Questions?
Many times the patrons have research questions that aren’t specific to your community or library. But if they do – how to renew a book, hours of the library, etc. – the librarians online are trained to find those answers and in many cases, they provide the patron will a whole new great impression of their local library!
I was working with the QuestionPoint project before. How is this different?
Now Illinois will be able to offer services round the clock any day of the year because they are joining 24/7 Reference. If you answered emails from QuestionPoint before and saw that many questions were mass marketing of books, this will be very different. You will be giving and getting real answers to real questions from library patrons who use your website.
How can I learn more?
Contact your system and speak to your library consultant. Get some training and information and provide your patrons with this cool new access tool.
For more information, contact your system or The Illinois State Library at oclc1@ilsos.net / 217-785-1532.
