Volume 2, No. 12

Coordinator's Corner: Looking Forward, Looking Back

Since this is the last newsletter for our current fiscal year (see here for news of the approved 2009-2010 grant), I thought this would be a good time to take a look back at the past year and to look ahead to the next.

This past year has been extrememly eventful: The implementation of the new Spark/Openfire platform, the continuing partnerships with organizations both inside and outside of our state, the formation of the Quality Assurance Committee for KnowItNow24x7 (QuACK), the beginnings of making KIN24x7 more local, and much more. It has been exhausting at times, but looking back, everyone can be proud of what we all have accomplished in 2008-2009. I would sincerely like to thank those librarians who are providers, who answer all those thousands of patrons' questions throughout the year. This includes public librarians, AfterDark librarians, academic librarians, and special librarians. You can take pride in being an integral, vital, and necessary member of this statewide service. Thank you very much!

Looking ahead, I don't see any slowing down. In the 2009-2010 fiscal year, we have a number of initiatives to look forward to. The monitoring of instant messages from AOL, MSN, and Yahoo! will be in full-swing thanks to the AfterDark librarians, the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, and Washington County Public Library. Greene County Public Library will also be joining that group as an official KIN24x7 IM library this summer. We are also looking for more libraries to take advantage of having their own IM accounts as an alternative contact for their local patrons and others. (For more on IM-through-Spark, check out this link.)

Furthermore, we now have the ability to create custom KIN24x7 "local queues" for libraries to place on their websites. Using one of these links, local patrons will connect to their local library when it is online during regular hours. Afterhours, patrons will seamlessly be routed to other agents in the KIN24x7 network. This is an important step in allowing local libraries to serve local patrons and to gain benefits from being part of the statewide virtual reference service.

Additionally, in 2009-2010, I would like to see current provider libraries become more vocal advocates for KIN24x7. Only around 20% of all public libraries in Ohio answer questions on KIN24x7. It is a similar percentage in the OhioLINK libraries and participation in KIN Academic. This means that when 80% of Ohio libraries' patrons use KIN24x7, they are being served by libraries other than their own.

Reciprocity is at the heart of library service, but, as the saying goes, "Many hands make light work." The more libraries we have to handle patrons, the less of a load any one library has to shoulder. During the upcoming months, I encourage every librarian and administrator of KIN24x7 answering libraries to tout their library's participation to patrons, community leaders, and colleagues and to ask non-provider library directors and librarians in their area why they are not participating. In the past, the rationale many libraries used to put off participation in KIN24x7 was that they had to serve their local patrons first. With the capabilities now available through the Spark/Openfire platform, this justification is not as viable. The themes of grassroots advocacy, recruitment, and participation will be revisited throughout the next year.

I has been an honor and privilege to be KIN24x7 Statewide Coordinator this past year, and I look forward to working with you all in the months ahead.

Excelsior!

Don Boozer
KnowItNow24x7 Coordinator

Resources from our Oregon Colleagues

Caleb Tucker-Raymond, Lnet's statewide project manager, hosted the 2009 Oregon Virtual Reference Summit on May 8. Caleb is passionate about improving virtual reference service and sharing expertise among librarians and, towards that end, has posted videos online of the speakers at the Summit. I encourage KIN24x7 librarians to take a look.

One of the most interesting talks is by Anna Johnson (Mount Hood Community College) who discusses using screencasting as a virtual reference tool. The series of "lightning talks" include Emily-Jane Dawson and Steve Roskoski's presentation on "being friendly in chat."

Thanks for sharing, Caleb!

Statistics: May 2009 - AfterDark

This month, we highlight the vital contribution of the AfterDark librarians to KIN24x7. For those who may not know, the AfterDark librarians are those KIN24x7 agents who answer patrons' questions after the majority of other librarians have closed up shop for the day and gone home. This is just when the AfterDark librarians get started. There are currently 53 AfterDark agents plus the AfterDark Coordinator, Noah Himes. Noah works out of the Northeast Ohio Regional Library System (NEO-RLS) in Warren, Ohio, and is assisted in his supervisory role by Morgan Paul. An interesting fact is that 80% of AfterDark librarians also work as daytime KIN24x7 agents.

AfterDark librarians handle between 20% and 25% of all the sessions on KIN24x7. In addition to serving Ohio residents, however, NEO-RLS also contracts with Lnet to enable Oregon to provide 24x7 virtual reference service as well. (Check out this blog posting from a satisfied University of Oregon student after her session with KIN24x7 AfterDark's Chris (ad.chris).)

In addition to the traditional duties of after-hours service, AfterDark's role has been increasing over the last year. AfterDark librarians are now assisting daytime libraries 9am-noon, Monday-Friday, and also on Friday nights. In the past, these times have been either very busy or sparsely staffed. With the addition of AfterDark agents, librarians staffing these times will have much-needed assistance. AfterDark librarians will also be a vital link in KIN24x7's instant messaging (IM) service. They will be monitoring the general KIN24x7 IM accounts for MSN, AOL, and Yahoo! when they are online. At other times, various public libraries will be staffing IM services for both their local patrons as well as being official KIN24x7 IM libraries. (Note: We're still looking for more libraries to take advantage of IM-through-Spark. Contact support@knowitnow.org for details.)

Below are the Top 20 AfterDark "answerers" for May 2009:

*These Totals reflect the sessions initiated by Ohio residents only.

As always, "Thank you!" to every KIN24x7 agent for your vital contribution to Ohio's statewide virtual reference service.

A Sampling of KIN24x7 Survey Comments from May 2009

The following are a sample of comments, both kudos and constructive criticism, from the Patron Surveys from May. Where applicable, the agent who served the patron is included in parentheses:

• Constructive Criticism
• they should not leave until the patient is done using the sight
• They did not give me information on what I needed,all they did was give me information on the subject in genral not what I needed.I was recomended to this site but I see it was a waste of my time.
• you need some people who know automotive things
• I typed hi and he left the conversation! I AM TICKED
• i was answered by a librarian and was then refered to another librarian. then i was told to wait I'd been waiting for ten minutes so i ended the chat
• He gave me a list of websites, but he left before I got a chance to tell him that he didn't answer my questions.
• You should talk more to the people than you do.
• I was in the middle of my research. I was not aware that I had a time limit!
• They said that the question was in the wrong category, then they told me to hold. After waiting for a few minutes, they ended the conversation on me without even any link or any evidence that they were going to leave without warning.
• [agent] said they did not give tutoring in response to my maths question. Then she left without giving me a chance to ask her if she could at least guide me to a useful web site resource.
• As this was my first time using the service, I was not sure what to expect. I was required to do this chat as part of a class at CSCC. The Liberian ended the chat without any warning and did not pay any attention to grammar, which was surprising. Not really sure if this service has any purpose.
• Most of the suggestions and information she gave me were ideas I had already tried. My question did not get answered. It probably would have saved her some time if she had asked me initially what I had done.
• you can't greet someone with "hold". that is rude!!!!
• Kudos
• This service is wonderful! I am just reconnecting to the library as a young adult and haven't had a card since I was a child. As someone who LOVES to do everything online I am incredibly impressed with how technologically connected the library system is! I loved being able to ask a question without having to call. Thanks so much! I am loving my card and the whole experience all over again! (Librarian141)
• I was favorably impressed. I used this service to help me develop a book review program, and I feel it saved me a great deal of time. Thank you. (Librarian80)
• ad.alex2 helped me a lot i have been trying to find this question for 2 days and i finaly found it THANK U!!!!!!!!
• Anndon i think was the librarian's name who helped me (or that was the chat name thing) and they were a FANTASTIC help! I was so desperate at 5:30 on a Sunday for a paper source and my library was closed so I had to brave eBooks alone I thought...but then librarian to the rescue! Thanks so much :)
• I will have a great report thanks to KnowitNow!!!!!!! (Librarian81)
• this is better than google.com i'll use it all the time (Librarian11)
• he or she was very helpful and explained more than my english teacher librarain16 is great but i do wish they would tell me their names... one did and i could talk to like a friend! :D
• Librarian 13 at Elyria Public Library was so awesome!! She helped me so much. I have never gotten so much help on here before!
• I have been searching for this for about two weeks and librain29 found it all in like 10 minutes
• Thank you, sincerely, for the work that you do; the professionalism, the polite response, the convenience of this service makes it exceptional. (Librarian148)
• i really thought that he got alot of websites to me fast and that this is an AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME sight (Librarian79)
• i felt like i could really talk to them because they acted like thet wanted to help me and not just that they had to:) (Librarian03)
• What an awesome service! The librarian I chatted with got my information ASAP. Thank you so very, very much! (Librarian82)
• Awesome service and much appreciated by me. I will continue my campaign to ensure that libraries are funded, librarians are paid. and help people understand how well educated they are that many people are unaware of the great resourse. (ad.jonas)
• I have been looking for information on a particular subject for awhile and your librarian was able to give me what I was looking for within 20 minutes! (Librarian01)
• Jodie (Librarian115) was very kind :) when the librarians are nice, it makes me want to come back, but when i do something like ask "are you bored" and get blown up at, then it doesnt really make me. and i really seriously did not know that i wasn't allowed to ask that cause sometimes at school when i use this website i will ask the person a question like that or something like "how is your day?" or something like that. but anyway, thanks for all the help you give people :)
• LOVE this service. Best state in the country because of this service alone. I'm glad my tax dollars pay for this!

ONLINE RESOURCES OF THE MONTH: Online Videos for Readers

With the prevalance of online videos, there is now literally something for everyone on the Internet. This month, the focus in our Online Resources is on videos for readers. There are a number of places now where readers can see their favorite authors in interviews, be "in the audience" at booktalks, or even check out "commercials" for fiction and nonficiton, including:

• @Google Events at www.youtube.com/atgoogletalks - This page from YouTube (owned by Google since Nov. 2006) provides a collection of talks and performances by authors, musicians, and political figures. Some of the authors featured in the Authors@Google series include Salman Rushdie, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Noam Chomsky, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Simon Winchester, and Mark Evanier, just to mention a few.
• BordersMedia at www.bordersmedia.com - As many times as we've heard libraries should be more like bookstores, it is comforting to remember that bookstores want, in many ways, to be more like libraries. This site from Borders provides a number of great videos and podcasts of author interviews, poetry readings, book discussions, and much more.
• Expanded Books at www.expandedbooks.com - Commercials for books? This innovative marketing approach to printed books is the work of Expanded Books. Fiction, nonfiction, and children's works are all represented. There is even embed code for adding these to a website. Authors as diverse as Eileen Goudge, Donald Trump, and Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, in addition to many, many others are available.
• Reading Rockets at www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews - This is an excellent resource for authors of children and teen works. Avi, Robert Sabuda, Rosemary Wells, Christopher Paul Curtis and many other are available.
• Simon & Schuster Multimedia at www.simonandschuster.com/multimedia - A number of publishers now have videos on their web sites. This is an example of a fairly extensive collection of video and audio files from Simon & Schuster.

If you have an online resource for any subject that you'd like to share with your KIN24x7 colleagues, post it at provider.knowitnow.org/node/352. You'll just need to login to the Provider page. Feel free to simply post links, a link and short description, or a link and full review of your resource. We'll highlight selected ones from the list here in this column in upcoming editions of the newsletter. Also, KIN24x7 agents are welcome to check out (or contribute to) the KIN24x7 AfterDark Wiki at http://afterdark.knowitnow.org/wiki/.

Reminder: Some Memorandums of Understanding Still Outstanding

Thank you to the forty-one institutions, departments, and/or branches who have already filled out and submitted their Memorandums of Understanding. As mentioned in previous newsletters, each public library (along with several special libraries and services) are being asked to fill out the new KIN24x7 Memorandum of Understanding to both confirm their existing participation and for KIN24x7 to have verification of each library's current commitment and contact information. Detailed instructions for filling out the MoU are at provider.knowitnow.org/node/348 and the document itself is available at the Documention page or by directly clicking here.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Don Boozer at support@knowitnow.org or 216.623.2960. Thank you for your cooperation.

Don't Forget Your KINwear!

Our store at CafePress is always open. You can buy golf shirts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, "thinking caps," and even teddy bears with the KnowItNow24x7 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, don your KIN24x7-wear with pride and say, "Why, yes, I am a KnowItNow24x7 agent." (They're great for gifts as well!)

KnowItNow24x7 Staff

Don Boozer, KnowItNow24x7 Coordinator
Brian Leszcz, KnowItNow24x7 Web Services Coordinator
Noah Himes, KnowItNow24x7 AfterDark Coordinator
Megan Mitchell, OhioLINK Liaison and Reference Librarian, Oberlin College
...and KnowItNow24x7 agents across Ohio!

The KnowItNow24x7 Newsletter 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.

If you or your friends would like to sign-up for KnowItNow24x7 updates, just go to updates.knowitnow.org and click on Sign up for the latest KnowItNow news.