** Note: If you didn’t receive this in email format earlier today, please email Traci at avett@tblc.org
March Madness Month
A month of surprising facts, informative highlights, and fun activities… all for the chance to brag about our incredible services!
WOMM Fun Fact:
Have you ever wonder just how many people Ask a Librarian has helped since its inception in 2003? As Florida’s virtual reference service, Ask a Librarian has increasingly seen its usage grow thanks to your support, promotion, and outstanding virtual reference service, so we thought you’d like to know just how much you’ve helped.
Current Fiscal Year (Oct 2010 thru Jan 2011):
Chat: 18,930
Email: 5,494
Text: 1,440
Current Fiscal Year Combined: 25,864
Grand Total, All Years:
Chat: 208,120
Email: 73,562
Text: 1,440
Grand Total, All Years Combined: 283,122
Yes, you read that right. 283,000 total help sessions, with 25,864 chats, emails, and texts from this fiscal year alone. See? We told you you rock.
Yeah!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He Said, She Said: Excerpts from AaL Ambassador Challenge Participants
“We set up a table with tabletop posters and informative brochures and giveaways. We also put candies out and assorted cookies and coffee. The cookies were made by another librarian who was on vacation, but stopped by in the morning with home-made heart-shaped cookies that were frosted with the notations AAL, ?, and ASK. These were a nice selling feature for the service and a big hit with students. My colleague (Jay) taught a few library orientation classes that day and promoted the AAL service to each group that attended the sessions that day. The other librarian spoke with faculty members about the service and these teachers brought give-aways from the library and brochures to their classes that day to promote the service.” – Barbara H., Hodges University
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don’t forget to enter Wednesday’s challenge for your chance to win a cool new Ask a Librarian bag!!!
• Select one of our promotional print posters or bookmarks;
• Find an untapped resource, audience, or target location;
• Send us a photo of the item in its strange, new habitat.
You can either use something currently on hand in your library, download them from here, or create your own poster or bookmark design. Email photos to Traci, avett@tblc.org by March 11, 2011. The top 3 photo winners will receive an Ask a Librarian book pack!
When speaking to users, remember these important talking points:
• If you ever need help when you’re not in our library, visit www.askalibrarian.org (or find the link on our library’s website).
• Ask a Librarian is a website where you can go to get your questions answered by a real librarian.
• Ask a Librarian is open for live chat and texting until midnight ET Sunday through Thursday, and until 5 p.m. ET Friday and Saturday.
• You can use Ask a Librarian for free.
• If Ask a Librarian isn’t open for chat or texting, you can always email your question, and your library’s staff will get back to you within 24 hours.