From June 25 through 29, I had the honor of representing KnowItNow24x7 at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Washington, DC. The conference is always an opportunity to re-connect with and learn from colleagues from around the country. In speaking with vendors, government agencies, and representatives of nonprofits, I was able to discover a number of new and exciting free online resources, and the links and descriptions below summarize them. You may be familiar with some of these, but it never hurts to revisit them as they are updated and enhanced. Some of these will also be integrated into the Pathfinder project as new pathfinders become available. I hope you find the links below useful and are able to share them with patrons, teachers, and your colleagues:

Volume 4, No. 1

Coordinator's Corner: Searching for Scrap (Metal)

The consolidated subject queue system has been in place for one month now. Those who previously handled only a particular subject are, by and large, doing excellent work responding to their patrons' information needs, and many have seen this as an opportunity to expand their reference skills.

Volume 3, No. 12

Coordinator's Corner: The Year that Was and The Year Ahead

June is the final month in KnowItNow24x7's fiscal term, and next month is New Year's for us. At this time, it's customary to take a quick look back at the year that was. 2009-2010 has been an eventful year for Ohio's statewide virtual reference service:

Volume 3, No. 11

Coordinator's Corner: Introducing PECK

The hot topic of conversation about KnowItNow24x7 recently has been the consolidation of the subject queues into one. A number of great questions have been asked, and we have attempted to respond to each of these on the Provider site (see here, here, and here). More information will be forthcoming as we approach June 1, the date set for implementation of this change.

One of the recurring concerns seems to be where to find resources for subjects for which someone is not overly familiar? To address this issue, we will be creating a place on the Provider site where librarians from any KIN24x7-participating library can share their expertise with colleagues in the form of "pathfinders" or subject guides.

Volume 3, No. 10

Coordinator's Corner: Sources and Service

People (for the most part hopefully) see librarians as sources of authoritative information. People come to us for answers. They expect us to "know." It can be difficult to explain that librarians don't know everything; they just know where to find it. Granted, there may be some librarians who like to project an aura of infallibility and mystery. Personally, I find it better to admit to a patron that "That's an interesting question" and to engage in a mutual search for the best solution to their problem.

Volume 3, No. 9

Coordinator's Corner: Spring Is Almost Here!

Finally, March is here, and that means spring is nearby. As we collectively dig ourselves out literally from the snowfall and figuratively from the winter doldrums, the vernal equinox will arrive on March 20 at 17:32 UT (12:32 pm Eastern).

Spring is typically a time of new growth and new promise, and KnowItNow24x7 is looking forward to the same. We continue to encourage new libraries to join the project. With the on-going interest in the local queue, we have several libraries poised to implement this option and will make announcements as they move through the process. We also have other ways of getting involved including monitoring AOL, Yahoo!, and MSN through SparkRef and becoming an official KIN24x7 IM library, as well as staffing the statewide service. We are also looking at ways of enhancing KIN24x7 and providing even more options for patrons to access librarians. It's an exciting time!

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.

Volume 3, No. 7

Coordinator's Corner: A New Year...A New Look

On Jan. 2. 2010, KnowItNow24x7 entered the new year with a new look. As mentioned previously, HomeworkNow and ReadThisNow are now consolidated into one service available at www.knowitnow.org with KnowItNow24x7 as the sole "brand name" for Ohio's statewide virtual reference service.

Volume 3, No. 6

Coordinator's Corner: The Year In Review

Volume 3, No. 5

Coordinator's Corner: Comments. We Get Comments.