News Archive

• YouTube Contest
  Ask a Librarian presents The Director's Chair YouTube Contest.
• Ask a Librarian Answers Its 100,000th Question
  On Sunday, August 19, an Ask a Librarian intern answered a question from a gentleman who needed genealogy books. This might seem like a typical day and a typical question for Ask a Librarian - but it was so much more than typical. It was the 100,000th question answered through Ask a Librarian! This is quite a landmark for the service. Since July 28, 2003, Ask a Librarian's usage has been steadily growing. Of the 100,000 questions that we have answered, over 65,000 have been live chat sessions and over 38,000 have taken place in the past 10 months.
• We are excited to announce our newest partner, Parkland Library in Broward County. We anticipate a live date of July 2007.
• Ask a Librarian welcomes The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, our newest participant and first topic expert. The Ringling Museum of Art Library is our new art expert and can field questions about art history, art projects or any other general art questions that stump the rest of us. The Ringling Museum of Art Library is one of the largest art museum libraries in the Southeast United States, containing almost 70,000 holdings, including books, exhibition catalogues, periodicals and auction catalogues.
• Ask a Librarian 2006 Annual Summary
  A new annual summary sheet about Ask a Librarian has been released. The report focuses on the amazing increased use, new libraries, upgraded software and new marketing in last year's grant. View the summary in pdf online. To request print copies for your library, please contact Diana Sachs-Silveira.
• FLA Ask a Librarian User Forum
  Join us for breakfast on Friday, April 13th at 8am for the annual Ask a Librarian User Group Forum at the Florida Library Association's 83rd Annual Conference in Orlando. At the meeting, we will be presenting awards to the Exemplary Reference Transactions with our Quality Assurance group, having a panel and group discussion on Ask a Librarian and giving a brief overview of the past year and where we are heading. Everyone in the Ask a Librarian community is welcome to attend!
• Bartow Public Library
  We are excited to announce our newest partner, Bartow Public Library, goes live on Wed, November 1st.
• Ask a Librarian Expands Hours
  Ask a Librarian is excited to announce we have expanded our hours. Just in time for students going back to school, Ask a Librarian now has late night hours. Ask a Librarian is now open 10am - Midnight on Sunday - Thursday and 10 - 5pm on Friday and Saturday. With these new hours, Ask a Librarian is available 84 hours a week at the times when our users need the service. These new hours increase Ask a Librarian's coverage by 15 hours a week.
• Jacksonville Public Library staffing Ask a Librarian Live Chat
  JPL began staffing local and collaborative Live Chat services June 13. JPL employs 500 employees system-wide comprised of 399 full-time and 101 part-time employees.
• Lee County Library System goes Live on 'Ask a Librarian'
• University of Florida Joins 'Ask a Librarian'
  The University of Florida (UF) is the newest library to join Florida's Ask a Librarian service. The University of Florida is one of the five largest universities in the country with over 46,000 students. They will begin staffing the desk in August 2006.
• Lee County Library System joins 'Ask a Librarian'
  Lee County Library System has joined 'Ask a Librarian' and plans to go live on May 30. Their twelve branches serve Lee County's over 500,000 population.
• Jacksonville Public Library goes Live on 'Ask a Librarian'
  JPL staff will be staffing local and collaborative Live Chat services after they have developed and trained their team. They are staffing e-mail reference 24/7. JPL employs 500 employees system-wide comprised of 399 full-time and 101 part-time employees.
• 'Ask a Librarian' events at Florida Library Association's Annual 2006 Conference in Orlando
  
  • On Wednesday, April 19th, 1:30-3:30 we will hold the 3rd Annual Ask a Librarian User Forum. This session will feature a panel of Florida librarians and an open forum/discussion about the service. Come get an update on all the exciting news and recent changes to the service and participate in the open forum.
  • On Thursday, April 20th, 1:30-3:30 we will hold the Telephone, E-mail, & Chat Reference Services Interest Group meeting. This year's program is titled, "Let's Provide a Chat Service that They Want! A Focus on Teens to Twenty-Something's"
• Two new libraries live on 'Ask a Librarian'
  Charlotte-Glades Library System and Osceola Library System
• New library live on 'Ask a Librarian'
  St. John's River Community College activated on Ask a Librarian
• Florida Students Using Innovative Web Resource for Research (PDF)
• 'Ask a Librarian' news and information is now available via RSS. Simply add the below link to your RSS reader/aggregator and 'Ask a Librarian' news and information will be delivered to your reader.
  http://www.askalibrarian.org/aal.rss
• Growing Number of Floridians Turn to Internet Librarians
  Service tops 2,000 sessions per month (PDF)
• 'Ask a Librarian' service awarded continued funding
  Key component of Florida Electronic Library (PDF)
• New resources for students in Florida! (PDF)
  Students can use Florida's free online resource to connect with a librarian and get help with research, using databases, and searching the web.
• North Miami Public Library joins 'Ask a Librarian'
• Indian River County Public Library joins 'Ask a Librarian'
• Osceola Library System joins 'Ask a Librarian'
• Dr. Eliza Dresang mentions 'Ask a Librarian' on NPR during a "Tips for safe surfing on the internet" interview on April 25.(RealAudio required)
• "Ask a Librarian Gives Florida Libraries Something to Chat About" is an article by the Winter Park Public Library reference team and is in the March/April 2005 issue of Public Libraries. We have permission to provide it for you here.
• Ask a Librarian' Newspaper Article (PDF)>
• 'Ask a Librarian' 2005 Fact Sheet (PDF)
• Link to 'Ask a Librarian' from your site
• Lake Wales Public Library joins 'Ask a Librarian'
• University of Tampa joins 'Ask a Librarian'
• Everglades University, Palm Beach County School District, and East Lake Community Library join 'Ask a Librarian'
• Ave Maria University joins 'Ask a Librarian'
• 'Ask a Librarian' software updated
• "Ask a Librarian' awarded third year of LSTA funding (PDF)
• Charlotte-Glades Library System joins 'Ask a Librarian'
• 'Ask a Librarian' expands hours of availability (PDF)
• 'Ask a Librarian', Florida's Free Online Reference Service, Celebrates First-Year Anniversary (PDF)

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