Volume 1, No. 2

Coordinator's Corner: "Sumer Is Icumen In"

May is traditionally the beginning of summer, but for KnowItNow this month is typically the storm before the calm. We see students finishing up year-end homework projects, people planning for summer reading, and everyone getting ready for the balmy days ahead. After this flurry of activity, KnowItNow providers can sometimes find the opportunity to catch their collective breath during June, July, and August.
In light of this, I would like to suggest two items for "summer reading" to hone our skills in the practice of virtual reference librarianship. These online courses can be used to train new reference staff as well as serve as a refresher for veteran frontline staff. Take some time to look these over. They can be done in whole, or you can simply focus on the parts you'd like to brush up on.

• Virtual Reference Adventure (sponsored by ALA's Reference & User Services Association and developed by the Statewide Virtual Reference Project, Washington State Library) http://cs.ala.org/ra/vr_adventure
• ORE: Ohio Reference Excellence on the Web (sponsored by the Ohio Library Council) http://www.olc.org/ore/

April 2008 Statistics

Last month, we focused on individual KnowItNow providers. A number of libraries and organizations have multiple providers, so this month we take a look at combined "answerers." This chart shows the Top 20 "Answering" KnowItNow library and organizational providers (with all their providers' totals combined):

Cleveland Public Library (#1) and the AfterDark providers (#2) answered 64.9% of all the KnowItNow questions in April. To better see the contributions of #3 through #20, here is a chart without the top two "answerers":

Together, the #3 through #20 libraries and organizations answered 26.3% of the total questions on KnowItNow in April. There were also a number of libraries that almost made it into the Top 20. A few more questions answered, and that list will change.

Congratulations to all the providers and keep up the great work. KnowItNow would not exist without you!

As for the "asking" libraries, although the Top 5 stayed consistent, there were some changes from March 2008:

RESOURCE OF THE MONTH: Local History Resources

To paraphrase Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, "All reference is local." One of the challenges for KnowItNow providers has always been answering questions from patrons not in their immediate service area. After taking a look at this sample of projects from around the state, you'll be able to direct your KnowItNow patrons to helpful resources to answer their local history questions. Dedicated librarians, archivists, and others have made these photos and documents freely available online. Now, the answer to questions like "Do you have any information on the Mud Hens?", "Do you have some photos of Viktor Schreckengost?", or "Do you have any photos of the 1913 Cincinnati flood?" are just a click (or two) away:

• Black Swamp Memories (Northwest Ohio) blackswampmemories.org
• Cleveland Memory www.clevelandmemory.org
• Greater Cincinnati Memory Project memory.gclc-lib.org
• Ohio's Heritage Northeast ohiosheritagenortheast.org
• Sandusky County Scrapbook www.sandusky-county-scrapbook.net
• Toledo's Attic www.attic.utoledo.edu
• Worthington Memory www.worthingtonmemory.org

To suggest a Resource of the Month, please email comments@knowitnow.org.

State Library of Ohio Board approves LSTA grant to purchase databases

The State Library of Ohio Board approved a $1,467,414 federal Institute of Museum and Library Services LSTA grant request from the Libraries Connect Ohio partners (OPLIN, OhioLINK, INFOhio, and the State Library) to fund the purchase of databases for the Ohio Web Library. The new and renewed databases will be available July 1, 2008, and will be available at that time on kin.oplin.org in addition to the Ohio Web Library.
The Ohio Web Library will use the LSTA grant to purchase the following databases:
Access Science will be replaced with Facts on File's Science Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica will be replaced with World Book
Wilson Biographies Plus Illustrated will be upgraded to Wilson Biography Reference Bank.
Learning Express Library will be upgraded to include the Learn2 package of computer tutorials.
EBSCO MasterFILE Premier, Newspaper Source, Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, Regional Business News, Student Research Center, and Consumer Health Complete will continue as before, as will NewsBank, Oxford Reference Online Premium, and the ART Collection. Public libraries will also have access to NoveList through OPLIN. The American and English full text literature collections will also continue as before, since LCO actually owns this content now.
(excerpted from the State Library of Ohio news release)

Announcing KINwear!

We now have a store at CafePress where you can buy golf shirts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, "thinking caps," and even teddy bears with the KnowItNow logo on them. KnowItNow was the first virtual reference service available 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week anywhere and YOU are a part of that! At your next conference, workshop, or meeting, wear your KIN logo with pride and say, "Why, yes, I am a KnowItNow provider." (They're great for gifts as well!)

KnowItNow Staff

Don Boozer, KnowItNow Coordinator
Brian Leszcz, KnowItNow Website Coordinator
Noah Himes, KnowItNow AfterDark Coordinator
...and KnowItNow providers across Ohio!

The KnowItNow Newsletter (KIN) highlights resources and statistics for providers and fans of Ohio's 24x7 virtual reference service staffed by Ohioans for Ohioans. Email your comments, questions, advice, helpful resources, and other contributions to comments@knowitnow.org.

If you or your friends would like to sign-up for KnowItNow updates, just go to updates.knowitnow.org and click on Sign up for the latest KnowItNow news.