Volume 4, Number 9

Coordinator's Corner: A Night Out

On Monday, February 28, I had the pleasure of participating in Library Careers Night at Kent State University. The event is sponsored by the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) and provides an opportunity for students to interact with library professionals as well as to gain some insight on their pending or current job search. According to Rhonda Filipan, attendance was up from last year to 130 participants. The evening was kicked off for the students by a talk on how to go about seeking employment followed by roaming among tables staffed by libraries and professional organizations.

Not only is this a good event for current and prospective SLIS students, it provides a great venue for the professionals in attendance to network. This was my third year participating as the Coordinator of KnowItNow24x7, and this is one of the only times each year where I can catch-up with some people in-person. I look forward to seeing the librarians from NASA Glenn each year with whom I invariably swap giveaways (some Space Shuttle erasers for KIN24x7 mood pencils this year). Bill Barrow of Cleveland State University and The Cleveland Memory Project is always a pleasure to talk with. His site is a great resource for NE Ohio history incidentally. In addition to other colleagues as well, I also had the opportunity to meet the new interim director of NEO-RLS, Patrick Finan (Director of the McKinley Memorial Library in Niles). This was also a chance to distribute KIN24x7 bookmarks and other items to the libraries represented at the event (as well as to Mr. Finan for use at NEO-RLS and his library). The library staff at their tables also took the chance to ask me questions about the service, the new texting initiative, and possibly joining the collaborative.

I also had the opportunity to meet a number of students, parents, and community members. A resident of Portage County was interested to hear about KIN24x7 statistics from that area. The father of one student asked if he could use KIN24x7 to ask questions like "How do you make a kamikaze?" (You bet! Turns out there are many types including this one.) A SLIS student told me about a session she had on KIN24x7 having to do with her hobby of plane spotting and that the librarian was able to guide her to a great website she was previously unaware of. I also spoke with students interested in becoming interns with KIN24x7.

If your library hasn't been involved with KSU SLIS's Library Careers Night in the past, it's a great experience. To see students excited about the profession and to reconnect with other professionals already in the field is refreshing. Thanks are due to the school for sponsoring this annual event.

Don Boozer
KnowItNow24x7 Coordinator

Recent Updates to KIN24x7 Provider Site and @KIN24x7 on Twitter

• Transcript for February 23 SparkRef Forum
• Summary of ALA Midwinter
• March 8 SparkRef Forum topic posted: Grassroots Marketing Tips (Share your ideas)
• ScienceCinema Gives You Searchable Videos from the U.S. Department of Energy
• January Transcripts of the Month from QuACK
• Twitter:
  • http://nyti.ms/h3AbJu The Dirty Little Secrets of Search ... An interesting NYT article on Google and searching
  • RT: thelibrarynews Screencast-O-Matic - Free online screen recorder for instant screen capture video sharing.: http://bit.ly/8tBSZv
  • RT: AshleeLClark Sign up for the @jcaccelerator newsletter at http://www.jobandcareeraccelerator.com/ in the upper right corner

A Sampling of KIN24x7 Patron Survey Comments from February 2011

The following are samples of constructive criticism and kudos from the Patron Surveys from February. Comments are posted below exactly as they were entered by the patrons:

Constructive Criticism (with editorial comments)

• I know you have to be careful about a lot of things. But I don't see any reason why your librarians should go by Librarian 136, instead of name like Maxine, etc. Most businesses and libraries who have women as employees have them give out their first names, even if it is a pseudonym.
  • Commentary: Within the chat, the patron also added "Also, librarian 136 seems like a number in a factory." Using actual names instead of numbers has been mentioned before (such as the Tips & Tactics section of the September 2010 newsletter), but here is a patron asking for a more human interaction. One library has even chosen to honor a past director by using her first name as their SparkRef display name. If you're still showing Librarian#, seriously consider editing your profile to display a "human" name. Check out the screencast if you're unsure how to do this.
• please stop using wikipedia as a source...it is bad! people can go onto that site and change anything they want to. It is unreliable, and I am sick of getting that site. My teacher told me and my class that we better not use that site. (My classmates don't like getting that site for results either.) The librarian (name redacted) is mean. She doesn't help at all. If the first link that she gives us doesn't work, she tells us to look it up on google. Then she logs off. She is rude too. Thanks for reading this complaint.
  • Commentary: This, too, has been mentioned before. While Wikipedia can be a great tool, it should not be proffered as an answer's source. If it is, explain "why" and that the External Links of an article can often be better than the Wikipedia article itself. Better yet, use Wikipedia behind-the-scenes to get a quick understanding of a topic, use the External Links or proper keywords, and then provide authoritative resources from database or websites on the patron's topic.
• I did this for a short report in a class to get my MLIS. The first 2 times i was not happy, as the Academic Librarian did not even try to help me--just wanted to pass me to a public library. This time I got someone in a public library & they were very fast & helpful.
  • Commentary: Librarians should do their best to assist all patrons they accept on the service. KIN24x7 librarians can see this patron's positive experience here - Nice job, Librarian122!
• I asked the librarian about know it now texting. I wasn't able to get through because I needed to text the word KNOWITNOW to 66747 (all one word). I was typing it as three separate words. You guys might want to share this with staff so that if customers are having trouble getting through they will know the problem.
  • Commentary: Be sure you know how the texting works to be able to explain it to patrons if they ask, both online and in-person. Check out the webpages here and here as well the SMS Manual.

Kudos (Agent who helped the patron is in italics) Keep up the great work!

• I like how this process work kind of scare to give it a try but now that I did I will probably use it a lot more? (ad.alex - AfterDark)
• First time i have used this service and he seemed very helpful. He is going to email me search terms. (Bill - Owens Community College)
• I liked it that the librarian would let me know when they were looking and reading and not just silence. Very helpful! Will use again! Thanks (ad.stuart - AfterDark)
• Nice interaction, technology worked well, no problems. Alison very helpful. (Alison - Oberlin College)
• Peter was very helpful, and very nice!!! thanks for all of your help!!! (Peter - Marietta College)
• Margret is very helpful!! Thank you for helping me Margret!!! (Margaret - Orrville Public Library)
• Know it now really helped me with my school project. I will most likely be back for anything else. It was a great help! :) (ad.dj - AfterDark)
• I thought it would only be a two-second conversation but was pleasantly surprised to find out the librarian really wished to help me find other sources. (Librarian04 - Cleveland Public Library)
  • One more for Librarian04: Just that this is a great service as I am using the online services more often.
• I have worked in libraries for 14 years and have quite a bit of knowledge about reference work. This experience was excellent. The librarian was attentive and thoroughly answered my query. Thanks so much! (ad.gayle - AfterDark)
• This is an amazing service. I have been conducting internet searches for this topic for several weeks with little success. The librarian connected me with three great sources within a few minutes. The sources contained the exact information that I needed. Thank you. (ad.verity - AfterDark)
  • Another for ad.verity: Since I could not find what I was looking for, I thought I would give it a try and it was definitely a good experience! Thank you for having such caring librarians in our system!
• I really do love using this because its really good! I hope this helps a lot of students. (Librarian132 - North Olmsted Branch, Cuyahoga County Public Library)
• She was wonderful. Even after I received error messages and i was ready to give up, she had other suggestions. (Ozzie - Sinclair Community College)
• Bette was great. Quick to get me to right resources and how to use them. Kudos! (Bette - Wright State University)
• I found out about the 24/7 line when I took a computer class at the library. this is the first chance I had to use it. It's very it cool. thank you (ad.ian - AfterDark)
• I think the chat service is extremely valuable, because it allows for us to access library resources if we can't make it to the library on campus. Thankyou! (Mary - Cuyahoga Community College)
• This is a fabulous service with immediate response time. Thanks for offering it. (Librarian128 - Garfield Heights Branch, Cuyahoga County Public Library)
• It worked! I would have had to make a long distance phone call from where I am and this was a GREAT feature! (cfpl1 - Canal Fulton Public Library)
• This service is GREAT!:) Keep up the good work. (Librarian03 - Cleveland Public Library)
• the person tht i just had which was libraian 101 was awsome she is the best!!!!!!!!!! (Librarian101 - Akron-Summit County Public Library)
• (I visit the online library 2-3 times per week) Greg was awesome!! (Greg - Rio Grande Community College)
• The page sent perfectly answered my question and I was amazed as how fast the librarian was able to locate and push the URL to me. Excellent service! Thank you. (Librarian133 - North Royalton Branch, Cuyahoga County Public Library)
• Megan @ Oberlin was very knowledgeable and quick! (Megan - Oberlin College)
• The Librarian was very helpful and friendly! Thank you! (Librarian130 - Mayfield Heights Branch, Cuyahoga County Public Library)
• Librarian116 is aaammmmaaazzzziiinnnggg (Librarian116 - Geauga County Public Library)
• Julie was very responsive and is highly professional. Thanks! (Julie - Urbana University)
• I want to tell you that this is a great site and it is wonderful to have someone there when you need them--immediately! And the researchers are get and very helpful. I want to thank ad. Tony and Bently for their help this evening...they really save the day for me. (AfterDark librarians)
• i like youre website a lot its really great keep up the good work ps. i came to this website because i heard it was really awesome and it is (Librarian84 - Cleveland Public Library)
• I actually 'stumbled' across this. Librarian was actually able todirect me to the actual state code number I needed and had been looking for, and the news reports I need to find out who won a contract. great job!!! (Librarian02 - Cleveland Public Library)
• Librarian16 i think it was is wonderful and very helpful! i would totally want to use this aagain and have her! (Librarian16 - Worthington Libraries)
• Please do not EVER get rid of KIN24X7!! I cannot tell you how valuable the services were when I was in college, up late at night trying to finish a paper! (Librarian04 - Cleveland Public Library)
• I appreciate the help, Margaret gave me info I was not able to find on my own. Thank you very much. (Margaret - Orrville Public Library)

(Remember, if you are a KnowItNow24x7 librarian, you can sign up for an account on the Provider site to access all transcripts and survey comments.)

Statistics: Texting Update (Plus Monthly Top 20)

As of the end of February (2/28/2011), the statewide texting initiative was exactly two weeks old. In that time, we had 118 incoming text messages through the service. The breakdown looks like this:

• Texts to knowitnow (statewide): 89
• Texts to statelib (State Library of Ohio's local account): 16
• Texts to lane (Lane Public Library's local account): 9
• Texts to ohiolink (statewide): 4

We've had five libraries sign-up for (or express interest in) providing a local texting service through KIN24x7. Libraries are still very much encouraged to consider this local option for active KIN24x7 libraries.

Librarians, for the most part, are handling the text messages well. There have been some unanswered texts which means they were accepted in SparkRef but not answered. If you accept an SMS Question, please be sure to click the URL and answer the question if required. Some questions won't need a response (i.e., if it's simply a "Thank you"), but you won't know this until you click the URL. If you have not watched the screencast or read the SMS Manual yet, make sure to do so as soon as possible.

As for questions from patrons, it's been interesting to see the variety. For example:

• What antibiotic is often used for naegleria fowleri?
• Is there a CNN affiliate in Cincinnati?
• what are the hours for the buckeye library in medina county?
• When will the 2011 Fortune 500 list be announced?
• Where can I find NEJM VIDEOS for clinical procedures?

One of the most interesting (and unexpected) developments was the awareness that patrons are more than happy to have an interaction with the librarian through text. It's certainly not as extensive as a chat, but a couple texts back and forth to qualify a request or provide more information has been fairly common so far. This has not appeared to be a problem for either patrons or librarians to handle, judging from the texts. If possible, one should still respond with one text if it is a factual answer being given, but if it involves readers advisory or another similar topic, the librarian should not be reluctant to try and elicit this information from the patron via text messaging.

Keep up the great work, publicize our new statewide keyword, and consider offering your patrons a local texting service through KIN24x7.

Now, as usual, here are the top twenty organizations or institutions handling sessions this past month:

Top Twenty Answerers: February 2011
Institution/Organization	Total sessions handled by...
Total for NEO-RLS AfterDark	3119
Total for Cleveland Public Library	1265
Total for Cuyahoga County Public Library	464
Total for Akron-Summit County Public Library	309
Total for Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County	210
Total for Columbus Metropolitan Library	174
Total for Lorain Public Library System	96
Total for Orrville Public Library	70
Total for Logan County District Library	63
Total for State Library of Ohio	61
Total for Columbus State Community College	58
Total for Lane Public Library	57
Total for Worthington Libraries	57
Total for Greene County Public Library	51
Total for Oberlin College	42
Total for Sinclair Community College	42
Total for Geauga County Public Library	41
Total for KnowItNow24x7 (Statewide Coordinator)	40
Total for Bowling Green State University	38
Total for Clark County Public Library	38

 

For additional statistics, visit the Statistics page of the KIN24x7 Provider site.

Online Resources of the Month: Science Marches On

The month of March is best known for its celebrations of St. Patrick's Day and (sometimes) Easter, but there are number of science-related observances that often get overlooked such as Pi Day (March 14 = 3.14), the birthdays of Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879) and Joseph Priestley (March 13, 1733), and the vernal equinox (late March). In light of these, this month's online resources present some great science resources online (Plus don't forget Ohio Web Library's Science Online!)

• TED: Ideas worth spreading at www.ted.com - Not strictly a "science" resource, the TED talks provide a forum for interesting speakers on a myriad of topics. Well worth exploring and sharing with patrons. As a science example, check out this talk from Brian Greene on string theory.
• Imaginging the Tenth Dimension at www.tenthdimension.com - A truly mind-bending excursion into the world of the multiverse. (The media-rich version is the best way to go.)
• National Science Digital Library at nsdl.org - "NSDL is the National Science Foundation's online library of resources and collections for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and research." A great wealth of resources.
• Nikon Small World Competition at www.nikonsmallworld.com - Stunning photographs of the natural world usually invisible to the naked eye. Check out the 2010 winner: A mosquito heart
• Inside a Cell at learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/insideacell/ - From the University of Utah, this animated look inside a cell can serve as a teaching aid.
• BioVisions at Harvard University at multimedia.mcb.harvard.edu - Fascinating (and accurate) computer animations of what goes on inside a cell.

(If you are a KIN24x7 librarian, feel free to post suggested online resources here.)

KnowItNow24x7 Staff

Don Boozer, KnowItNow24x7 Statewide Coordinator
Brian Leszcz, KnowItNow24x7 Web Services Coordinator
Noah Himes, AfterDark Virtual Reference Service Coordinator
Morgan Paul, AfterDark Virtual Reference Service Specialist
Megan Mitchell, OhioLINK Liaison and Reference Librarian, Oberlin College
...and supervisors and agents across Ohio at KnowItNow24x7-participating libraries!

The KnowItNow24x7 Newsletter is published monthly and highlights news, resources, and statistics for providers and fans of Ohio's 24x7 virtual reference service. Email your comments, questions, advice, helpful resources, and other contributions to support@knowitnow.org.