KnowItNow24x7 now has marketing materials with our new logo to help your library publicize Ohio's statewide virtual reference service to your patrons. A package containing bookmarks and other items can be shipped via US Cargo.

Those libraries who would like to take advantage of this offer, email support@knowitnow.org and please include your US Cargo numerical code and three-letter designation.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at the same email address.

Thank you for supporting KnowItNow24x7.

Wednesday evening live coverage of KnowItNow24x7 continues to be an issue. We are looking for a KIN24x7 library who would be interested in switching to (or adding) Wednesday evenings to their current shift monitoring the statewide service. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Please contact the KIN24x7 Coordinator at support@knowitnow.org for more details or to volunteer for this change.

The provider site will be unavailable on June 30, 2010 from 7:30 am to 8:30 am while we conduct some upgrades.

The Ohio Web Library provides a wealth of valuable, authoritative resources for both librarians and patrons. KIN24x7 providers also have access to these through kin.oplin.org for ease of sharing with patrons during sessions. When referring patrons to databases they can use from home, librarians should always refer them to http://ohioweblibrary.org/.

This message is a reminder that June 1, 2010, will be the first day of the consolidated subject queues. All KnowItNow24x7 librarians which staff one of the following queues will begin to receive questions on all topics on that day:

In preparation for the upcoming subject queue consolidation, the primary manuals for KnowItNow24x7 have been updated, several new resources have been added, and a couple documents deserve re-emphasizing. This update is designed to call attention to these:

The daily transcripts are now available.

At today's meeting in Columbus, the State Library of Ohio Board unanimously approved the annual LSTA grant proposal for KnowItNow24x7 for the fiscal year running July 2010 through June 2011.

The KnowItNow24x7 Coordinator would like to thank the Board members (Lynn Grimshaw (President), Ward Murrey (Vice-President), Stephen Wood, Dr. Andrea Tiktin-Fanti, and Dr. George W.Paulson) and Interim State Librarian Missy Lodge (who also serves as Head of Library Programs & Development) for their continuing support of Ohio's statewide virtual reference service.

The grant proposal was presented by KIN24x7 Coordinator Don Boozer. Bill Martino, Executive Director of NEO-RLS, and Noah Himes, KIN24x7 AfterDark Coordinator, were also in attendance. Noah provided helpful comments during the presentation on usage of the service by students.

There has been some concerns raised about the upcoming subject queue consolidation to the effect that some think that subject expertise will no longer be valued. This could not be further from the truth. In fact, subject expertise in some ways will be even more valuable, and the added value will come from sharing that knowledge with colleagues. Subject expertise, it should be noted, is not only knowledge of traditional library subjects like history, social sciences, business, and readers advisory, but also expertise in subjects like gaming, anime, coin collecting, technology, and myriad other kinds of specialized know-how held by KIN24x7 librarians across Ohio.

KnowItNow24x7 is built on a foundation of shared responsibility and collaboration among the participating libraries and librarians and will remain a vital part of the service. SparkRef has always provided mechanisms for collaborating with colleagues; however, these will become even more useful with the upcoming subject queue consolidation.