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Volume 3, No. 1

Coordinator's Corner: Current News, Thanks, and Looking Ahead

The devastating financial news out of Columbus over the past couple weeks has hit everyone hard. Hopefully, in the end, libraries will not see these proposed cuts enacted. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who handles sessions on Ohio's statewide online reference service: public, academic, special, and AfterDark librarians. Your dedicated efforts are what make our service possible.

July 1 is the first day of KIN24x7's current grant year. As we look ahead, this year will see an emphasis on advocacy, recruitment, and collaboration. Look for these themes to be revisited in the coming months.

Thanks and Excelsior!

Don Boozer
KnowItNow24x7 Coordinator

A Sampling of KIN24x7 Survey Comments from June 2009

The following are a sample of comments, both kudos and constructive criticism, from the Patron Surveys from June. Where applicable, the agent who served the patron is included in parentheses. Congratulations and keep up the great work!

  • Constructive Criticism
    • QUIT BEFORE I EVEN ASKED A QUESTION
    • The librarian had a quick answer. I, too, can do a google search. I was looking for help with something more specific.
    • the librarian i had kept sending me the same article even when it was not helpful and when i told the person that it was not what i needed he/she did not reply but ignored me. i am not satisfied at this moment and i have never experienced this before. Usually the program is very helpful.
    • Simple google search provided me with the same information the librarian was able to give to me. I thought the librarian might be able to find additional resources.
    • he or she left in the middle of my inquery
    • even though website was down that I needed, I would have appreciated the librarian trying to find at least one other resource to answer my question. she was very eager to close the connection quickily....thanks
  • Kudos
    • That librarian is so nice!!!I wish my friends were moe like that!!!:):) (Librarian84)
    • It's great that you offer this after hours.
    • thanks so much! the librarian that helped me was excellent (: they helped me with a lot and i got so much information on what i needed to find! thanks so much i greatly appreciate it 100% (Librarian16)
    • This is a excellent service for everyone, students, professors teachers, instructosrs, seniors, children and the list could go on and on. Thanks
    • This helps me save time and I know where to begin once I get to the library. Not all information is found on the internet. Thanks (Librarian204)
    • :)You need more librarians like Librarian23:)
    • yes; this person ad. simon i thin k was the best!(: very helpful.
    • they help you alot and i understand it better than my actual teacher tells it (ad.valerie)
    • I love connor!!! He is super sweet and helpful!
    • First time using and ad-sam was extremely helpful since I am on a deadline and this resource saved me hours of research and time...Thank you (ad.sam)
    • yes, librarian03 was VERY helpful! he/she got the exact info that i needed! i will be back again if i need more help! hope i have librarian03!!!!!!!!! :)
    • thanks so much! the librarian that helped me was excellent (: they helped me with a lot and i got so much information on what i needed to find! thanks so much i greatly appreciate it 100% (librarian16)
    • This is a excellent service for everyone, students, professors teachers, instructosrs, seniors, children and the list could go on and on. Thanks
    • This helps me save time and I know where to begin once I get to the library. Not all information is found on the internet. Thanks (librarian204)
    • :)You need more librarians like Librarian23:)
    • yes; this person ad. simon i thin k was the best!(: very helpful.
    • This is a wonderful service! I truly appreciate being able to connect to a skilled person to answer my questions that would take me hours to research. Thank you! (librarian88)
    • thank you very much to the person helping me tonight...I went to another site (CIA) before this one and oh my goodness it was so overwhelming. But I was given a link to site thatwas less chaotic. I cannot say enough how much I appreciate this. Thanks again (ad.verity)
    • The response to my question was quick and helpful. I also liked the wait time being posted. I'm not a fast typer but the agent waited patiently for my responses and did her best to research my question. Your survey questions were also very good as they were not vague questions worded to make the service look good or the question seem unimportant. I will definitely use this service again when needed.
    • This is the first time I have ever used or even know about the service. I was very pleased with the results. Because of work, I often don't get around to dealing with information that I would find in a library. It was nice to be able to chat with someone. Thank you! (ad.chris)
    • Ozzie did a good job in helping me with a very specific topic. I was not aware of this service and stumbled upon it from my library's website. I will be recommending this to everyone!
    • Very nice librarian. very nice. funny and awesome. keep rocking librarian 54
    • Wonderful! This website has saved my academic career once again! (ad.ian)
    • My librarian was awesome! Not only did she answer my question, she went above the call of duty and helped me find scholarships for each school im applying to college for!! I give her an A+. Thanks. Keep up the great work! (Carrissa)
    • Ad.Conner was very helpful and very friendly!! love the 24/7 feature!! thx
    • your librain 80 is a wonderful person and helped me alot this past week

Statistics: June 2009

We also look at the individual accounts who were the Top 50 Answerers for June 2009. The list includes all facets of our service: public librarians, AfterDark librarians, and OhioLINK librarians:

Library TOTALS
Cleveland Public Library - Gen Ref 230
Cleveland Public Library - Literature 152
Cleveland Public Library - SciTech 139
Cleveland Public Library - SocSci 117
Cleveland Public Library - History 106
ad.mckenzie 66
ad.valerie 62
ad.andie 55
ad.bentley 55
ad.jonas 55
Logan County District Library 54
Cleveland Public Library - Business 50
Cleveland Public Library - Gen Ref (2) 49
ad.alex 45
ad.rjohn 43
ad.connor 41
ad.paul 41
ad.jeanne 39
ad.sam 38
ad.ric 35
ad.stuart 34
Worthington Libraries 34
ad.chris 33
ad.holly 33
ad.verity 33
ad.kay 31
ad.chuck 30
Lorain Public Library System 30
ad.amy 29
Columbus Metro Public Library 29
ad.anndon 27
Ashtabula County District Library 27
Akron-Summit County Public Library 26
Cuyahoga County Public Library - Parma Hts. 26
Twinsburg Public Library 26
ad.bertram 25
ad.davis 25
ad.maxine 25
ad.simon 25
Columbus Metro Public Library (2) 24
Columbus Metro Public Library (3) 24
Katie (Owens Community College) 24
Ryan (Columbus State Community College) 24
ad.noah 23
Cleveland Public Library - Fed Gov't Info 23
ad.tony 22
Cuyahoga County Public Library - Garfield Hts. 21
Cuyahoga County Public Library - North Olmsted 21
ad.gayle 20
ad.paul2 20

Since July is the first month of our new grant year, here is a brief review of last year's grant cycle stats: July 2008 - June 2009 saw a total of 109,233 sessions handled on KIN24x7. This is an almost 17% increase over the previous year!! Congratulations to every KIN24x7 librarian for making this possible.

ONLINE RESOURCES OF THE MONTH: National Holidays

In addition to our own Independence Day, July contains a number of other national holidays. Check out this month's resources to get (re-)acquainted with just a few of these celebrations:

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/.

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.

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