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Volume 3, No. 8

Coordinator's Corner: Part of a Posse

As a member of the RUSA Virtual Reference Committee, I had the privilege of attending the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston in January and representing KIN24x7. For those who have attended an ALA event, you know it can be inspiring, overwhelming, and educational. For those who have not had the opportunity, I highly encourage you to go at least once to experience what it's like to be with several thousand librarians in one place.

Being involved with ALA is a great way to keep one's perspective on our service. Issues in virtual reference (VR) like keeping up with technology, dealing with rude patrons, funding, and others are not intrinsic to KIN24x7. All VR Coordinators and librarians have the same concerns. Misery loves company, I guess, but it's not just knowing others are in the same boat. I've also met enthusiastic VR advocates with exciting ideas about providing this kind of service. It's a great experience to be able to share ideas with and learn from people like Dr. Marie Radford, Joe Thompson, Julie Strange, Vince Mariner, Beth Cackowski, Kris Johnson, and many others (including, of course, Caleb Tucker-Raymond, our Oregon L-net partner). Being involved with a national organization provides opportunities to meet colleagues from all over the country, and, in Boston, I was able to renew existing friendships, as well as meet new colleagues, from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey, Florida, Mississippi, Illinois, and Georgia.

Many times, we get so focused on our own reference desks, our own libraries, and our own issues that we forget that we're part of a much larger whole. Those of you who have taken training from me may have heard me say that "You're not all lone rangers. You're part of a posse." This is true on a number of levels.

As a KIN24x7 provider, you are an integral part of a much wider statewide network. You're encouraged to get involved with your KIN24x7 colleagues and stay connected by IM'ing other librarians through SparkRef for assistance or guidance, and suggesting or writing articles for the Newsletter. Another great way to build the community is to post comments on the Provider site: to QuACK Blog entries, to newsletters (like this one), to Helpful Online Resources, etc. Every KIN24x7 librarian is strongly encouraged to have an account at the Provider site. If you know of colleagues who don't, encourage them to get one to take full advantage of the information there and to be able to contribute.

As an Ohio librarian or library staff member, you're an integral part of a much wider network. The Ohio Library Council is your statewide organization and is always looking for energetic, knowledgeable library staff members to get involved. Check out the Division pages online and see what areas interest you. Contact the Division Coordinators and ask about ways you could get active.

As a librarian or library staff member, you are an integral part of a tradition that stretches back to antiquity. Take pride in that! Get involved! Keep current on the latest library news with some RSS feeds to various blogs (and post comments to them). Try your hand at writing reviews, first for your local library's newsletter or website, then onto journals or other venues. Share your expertise with the library community by providing presentations (and posting them online), writing articles, or starting your own blog.

Local interests are, of course, of great importance, and actions there can have a dramatic, visible impact. However, venturing out into the larger world (actually or virtually) can allow you to return home with a renewed commitment to serve your local patrons and fresh ideas to do this even better.

Don Boozer
KnowItNow24x7 Coordinator

Introducing the KIN24x7 Interns

As of January 19, KIN24x7 is trying something new and welcoming three interns to our ranks of librarians. All three are current students of KSU SLIS. After training, they will be answering questions live on the service, initially on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings, as well as leave-a-message emails over the weekends. The goal of the internships is to provide each intern with a well-rounded picture of what KIN24x7 is all about.

Kristin Steel of Dayton, in her second semester at KSU SLIS, has extensive experience in serving the information needs of clients. She has worked as a student employee in a Children's Department of a library and a part-time junior high school teacher and has an M.S. in Information Resources Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology. Since 2007, Kris has served as the Supervisory Network Information Security Officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Ohio.

Amy Kleman of Centerville also has experience in serving the public as well as extensive computer skills. Amy has a B.A. in Finance from Wright State University and has been honored by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Rho Lambda, Alpha Lambda Delta, and the Order of Omega. She is currently a Library Associate in Information/Reference at West Chester Public Library.

Layla Arnold is currently living in Rochester, NY. She is finishing her M.L.I.S. from KSU SLIS online and also serving on the KSU ALA/ALSSO Professional Events Committee. She has a B.S. in History from SUNY, College at Brockport. In addition to extensive experience with technology, Layla also has experience with virtual reference with her participation in ChaCha.

Kris, Amy, and Layla will all be serving as "remote" interns, logging in from various locations. They will meet on a regular basis with the KIN24x7 Coordinator to review transcripts, ask questions, and learn more about virtual reference. If you see them online during your KIN24x7 shift, feel free to drop them an IM and say "Welcome!".

Report from the Field

Anne Hinton, Director of the Huron Public Library, sent an email on January 26 outlining her successful use of the downloads available at the KIN24x7 Marketing Materials page. She used a customized version of the PowerPoint at her local Rotary meeting and, according to Anne, "it went over well." She started the presentation with some of the facts from the Fact Sheet and included CLEVNET's role in KIN24x7. "Library users and supporters in our small town are proud of our association with CLEVNET and the services the library can offer as a result of that participation," Anne said. "There were a few good questions and a testimonial from a regular user of the OPLIN and CLEVNET databases." She and her staff had also printed some of the KIN24x7 bookmarks to have available as take-aways.

Anne did see that there were three fellow Rotarians in the library within an hour and a half of the end of the program - it may or may not be related! One told her that he had already used KIN24x7 for suggestions of items to borrow in preparation for a trip to London and Ireland.

Anne added, "Hopefully we'll see a bump in usage!" We couldn't agree more.

If you've had a positive experience in your community spreading the word about KIN24x7, feel free to drop us an email at support@knowitnow.org.

A Sampling of KIN24x7 Patron Survey Comments from January 2010

The following are a sample of constructive criticism and kudos from the Patron Surveys from January. KIN24x7 librarians: Remember that you really are making a difference. People take the time to sincerely thank you for your efforts when they're typing in their comments.

Constructive Criticism (with editorial comments in italics)

• i didnt get to ask another question that i needed help with :/
• The lobrains need to wait longer so the people can really look at the websites that they gave them.
• the helped ended the session before i was done
• she was very surper rude (This is a case of perception-as-reality. About 3/4 of the way through the session, the patron began saying how long they could wait: "5 min", "more", "hurry", "2 min", and :'( (crying). The librarian, who took over 2 minutes to respond since their last message, responded with "Your behavior is inappropriate" then 8 seconds later sent "When you have a question I can help answer, I will be glad to help you. Goodbye." Immediately, the patron replied with "Sorry" and :-( (frown). More frequent messages from the librarian (still looking..., thanks for holding..., etc.) may have ameliorated this situation.)
• I think there are a lot of skilled workers you have here and the ones that are rude need to get a bit better on there job because you have to be nice to have a job like this.
• this person whoever it was left the session without letting me no he/she had to go, and left me sitting at my computer without any help on what i needed help in. that is all
• the person I was with said my question was stupid. (Another case of perception-as-reality. The patron's question was "butter churn colonial", i.e., they were doing research for a history class. The librarian did a good job of trying to find information, but ended with "Well - there's really not too much you can say about a butter churn. It is a fairly simple piece of equipment." The patron then left the comment posted here.)

(NOTE: If you haven't read Eric Zino's provocative article from Library Journal (Feb. 1, 2009), you may be interested to hear his take on virtual reference and customer service.)

Kudos (with agent who helped the patron in italics)

• This is a wonderful service. I've used it for many years now. At least 5 years. Love the services provided by the library system and am at the library at least 2 times a week. Keep up the Wonderful Service!!!!! (librarian01 - Cleveland PL, Gen Ref)
• This site always provides thorough and reliable resources to use for any school assignment. keep up the great work! (librarian80 - Cleveland PL, Literature)
• my librarian really found so many websites on my topic in a really short period of time, i loved it!! (ad.rjohn)
• I frequently use this site to find resources and you never fail to please. I always get exactly what I am looking for, not to mention in a very timely manner. I find myself grateful for your services on a frequent basis. Than you so much. (ad.noah)
• you guys help me on almost every test thank you. (ad.verity)
• This was freaking amazing! i love you guys! you all brighten my day. (ad.valerie)
• the reason i use know it now is because i don't get to the library much and i usealy get my answer. so i want to thank all the librains who staff this thanks :_) (librarian133 - Cuyahoga County PL, North Royalton)
• thanks so much :) :) :) :) :) :) (librarian75 - Westlake Porter PL)
• SERVICE WAS WONDERFUL THIS IS A GREAT PRGRAM FOR PEOPLE OF ALL AGES (librarian101 - Akron-Summit County PL)
• Yes, please keep the service going. I use it for business. My company has access to many great databases, nonetheless, I complement what I get through work with the CPL and all services (know it know, online research tools and physical library) are extremely useful. Thank you for the great service. (ad.dennis)
• It was the best thing!Ever i glad i went online!I hope everyone uses this and schools keep this avalibe!Also the people are so nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (ad.andie)
• Libraian12 was very nice. Even when i asked her a sports question she seemed very interested in answering it. She answerd very quickly and was very kind and was never mean. (Willoughby-Eastlake PL)
• librarian 130 waz helpful thanx~ :-) (Cuyahoga County PL, Mayfield Hts PL)
• This service is a genuine time saver. I love it and will make a point of using it more often.
• I think your site is very convenientn whenever I need info I always come to your site Thanx very much (librarian101)
• my librarian was awesome and so nice thank you librarian 16!!! (Worthington Libraries)
• This is very impressive that you can be talking to a librarian.
• The librarian was not only effiecent, but friendly. Which says a lot about a person early in the morning. I'm pleased with this service. (ad.anne)

(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.)

Reminder: QuACK Blog

Don't forget to check out the work of the Quality Assurance Committee for KnowItNow24x7 (QuACK) on their blog at the KIN24x7 Provider site: provider.knowitnow.org/blog/617. The transcripts and information posted there are accessible without a Provider site account. The members of QuACK are:

• Cheryl Lubow: State Library of Ohio - Chairperson
• Wendy Ensor: Orrville Public Library (and an AfterDark librarian) - Secretary
• Katie Blocksidge: Owens Community College Library
• Jodie Lyons: Kirtland Public Library
• Michelle Makkos: Cleveland Public Library
• Megan Mitchell: Oberlin College

Don Boozer, KIN24x7 Coordinator, an ex oficio member of the committee, would like to thank the QuACK for doing a great job in identifying quality work by the KIN24x7 community. If you have an exceptionally positive session with a patron who heaps praise on you, feel free to toot your own horn and send the transcript to Cheryl at CLUBOW@sloma.state.oh.us. Also, if you are a KIN24x7 Provider, you can post a comment to the QuACK blog if you find the transcripts helpful in your daily reference routine - either in-person or virtually.

In addition to the Transcripts and Emails of the Month, Second Look transcripts with suggestions for different ways of handling situations will be posted soon, using these as learning opportunities and a way of sharing Best Practice Tips for the library community.

Statistics: January 2010

With the consolidation of KnowItNow24x7's portals into one, there is some explanation necessary on how statistics are now being collected.

For example, ZIP Code statistics are now being collected after the point at which a question is submitted (i.e., the patron has entered their ZIP Code, filled out the Please tell us about your question form, and clicked Connect to a librarian). In the past, ZIP Code statistics were collected at the point of entering that number at the very beginning of the interaction. Proportions will remain roughly the same for how many questions came from a particular city, county, library, and ZIP Code, but viewers may see a difference from what raw numbers were typically displayed in the past for those statistics.

Also, we will no longer be breaking down statistics into "services" (KnowItNow24x7, HomeworkNow, ReadThisNow) since there is one service now. Now, we can see how many patrons self-identify with a particular grade level. The ones to choose from are:

• Grades K-8
• Grades 9-12
• University/College/Trade School
• Not a student

Granted, these are chosen by the patron (who may or may not choose "correctly" which was also the case in their self-choosing which service to use in the past); however, this should provide a much closer snapshot of the demographics of users of KnowItNow24x7 than before when we were relying on our service names.

Some things are not going to change. We will still be posting monthtly statistics for everyone to see on the Statistics page of the KIN24x7 Provider site. We will still recognize, on a regular basis, the statistics of those libraries answering questions on the service, as well as numbers looking at where patrons login from.

For example, to start off the statistics year, here are the Top Twenty cities from which patrons submitted questions to KIN24x7 in January:

City	Total
CLEVELAND	1256
HUDSON	439
COLUMBUS	408
CINCINNATI	396
SIDNEY	252
MACEDONIA	228
NORTHFIELD	228
PARMA	199
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS	159
NORTHFIELD CENTER	154
NORTHFIELD VILLAGE	154
SAGAMORE HILLS	154
SHAKER HEIGHTS	144
DAYTON	142
SOUTH EUCLID	127
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS	116
BRECKSVILLE	106
POWELL	106
SHAWNEE HILLS	106
CANTON	105

Of these Top Twenty "Asking" cities, Hudson, Sidney, and Canton do not have a library which is a member of the KnowItNow24x7 "answering" network. With the variety of options available to libraries now (local service, IM, email-answering, statewide monitoring), this is a great time for non-participating libraries to take a second look at getting involved with KIN24x7.

As always, Everyone's contribution to KIN24x7 is greatly appreciated and crucial to the service. Thank you!

ONLINE RESOURCES OF THE MONTH: ALA Midwinter Finds

The following are some new free resources I discovered at ALA Midwinter. I knew about the National Library of Medicine (NLM) site and, of course, the Library of Congress, but some of their sub-sites are well worth exploring, too. Other links below cite hot topics discussed at various venues at the conference:

• Veterans History Project at www.loc.gov/vets/ - A great resource for historical or even genealogical research. Many first-person accounts (through letters, etc.) for bringing major recent conflicts to life including WWI, WWII, Korean War, Persian Gulf, and more. Also includes tips for how to get involved (a possible community project?).
• Genetics Home Reference at http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/ - With the role of genetics playing an ever-increasing role in medicine, this is an authoritative resource from the NLM toward which to point patrons for information. The complete list of databases from NLM is available here.
• Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers at chroniclingamerica.loc.gov - You can search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. An excellent place for primary sources!
• The Horizon Report: 2010 Edition at www.nmc.org/pdf/2010-Horizon-Report.pdf - This report "identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative inquiry on college and university campuses within the next five years." The impact these technologies will have on libraries is clearly apparent when reading through the document.
• EDUCAUSE at www.educause.edu - "EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology." Once again, a great place to find out about emerging trends in technology.
• NY Times Artice on QR Codes at www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/business/media/11mag.html - QR Codes are scannable by cell phone or other handheld electronic devices and provide a new way to convey information directly to these devices. QR Codes on library shelves to link to databases?? Other implications for asynchronous reference?
• Library Anywhere announcement at www.librarything.com - "A mobile catalog for any library" being released by LibraryThing.

Enjoy!

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

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 like Steve Herminghausen at Worthington Libraries!

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.