Share your 10 Year Celebration Video with us!
Ask a librarian is celebrating 10 amazing years. We want you to help us celebrate by sharing a video of your favorite moment or any important chat you had while staffing Ask A Librarian. Or, just send a “happy anniversary” message. We want to hear from you!
Upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo and share it with us on our social networks. Post to our Facebook page,Instagram or Twitter Account! You can e-mail it to us too!
We will share your video on Friday at the 10 year celebration at the University of Central Florida.
Statewide Email – New Enhancement
The Ask A Librarian team is happy to announce the addition of statewide email to www.askalibrarian.org. Email is available to patrons 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Even if a student or patron does not select a local library, they can choose to send an email, and ask a question.
The Ask A Librarian Interns will be answering the statewide emails, and will forward any local email to the appropriate library. (And, of course, those staffing the Collaborative Desk are welcome to jump in and help!) We are excited to be able to provide the residents of Florida with 24/7 access to the statewide virtual reference service!
FEL Friday – Ask a Librarian: Myths, Misconceptions, and Mind Blowers
Join other Florida Electronic Library (FEL) users online for a chance to learn some tips and tricks. Each month we’ll focus on a different topic, database, or service.
Ask a Librarian (AAL) is one of the most well-known services of the Florida Electronic Library. In the 10 years Florida libraries have been collaborating to provide virtual reference to their patrons, the service has changed. Do you know about all these changes?
Jessica Riggins, AAL Member Service Coordinator, and Stephanie Race, FEL Program Manager, will discuss common myths and misconceptions about the Ask a Librarian service. They’ll also share some mind-blowing information about how easy it is to make the AAL service available in your community.
Participants will be encouraged to ask questions and share their AAL success stories.
Friday, August 16, 2013
10:00-11:00 a.m. Eastern
Register Now
Event number: 640 538 434
For more information, contact Stephanie Race, FEL Program Manager, at stephanie.race@dos.myflorida.com or 850.245.6633.
Healthcare Update
Starting October 1, 2013, consumers in Florida will be able to choose new affordable health insurance options through a federally-facilitated Health Insurance Marketplace.
In the past few weeks, we have been hearing more and more about how public libraries will be involved in helping consumers apply through the new Marketplace. Although details are scarce but right now, there are several resources for libraries to help bring you up-to-date and answer a few of your questions:
- Healthcare.gov – Primary tool for delivering information to Americans about their health coverage options. This site was updated at the end of June. For Spanish speaking consumers, CuidadoDeSalud.gov has also been updated.
- The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will partner with libraries to connect patrons with information resources and community partners who are trained to assist with enrollment. IMLS has provided a grant to WebJunction.org for this effort.
- Navigators. These grant-funded individuals or organizations will be trained to help consumers, small businesses, and their employees as they look for health coverage options through the Marketplace, including completing eligibility and enrollment forms. The Navigators are required to be unbiased and their services are free to consumers. When open enrollment starts October 1, 2013, the Marketplace Help Center will assist in finding help for your patrons.
- Call Center for Marketplace questions. Customer service representatives are available 24/7: 800.318.2596.
- Online chat is also available 24/7. Look for the blue box on the lower right hand corner on most pages of the Healthcare.gov site. Customer service representatives will answer questions in online conversations.
- Throughout July CMS is providing webinars on Health Insurance Marketplace 101.
- Health Insurance Marketplace provides educational tools, including brochures, articles, training materials and presentations, and widgets. Materials are also available in Spanish.
- MedlinePlus, administered by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, presents information on medicine and healthcare in easy-to-understand language. The Health Insurance page has links to information on the Affordable Care Act.
Basic Timeline:
| June | July | August | September | October-March |
| Healthcare.govandCuidadoDeSalud.govupdated | Consumers canset up alogin onHealthcare.gov | Grants awardedfor Navigators | Consumers canfind where to goto get help | Open Enrollment |
| HHS Call CenterOpens800.318.2596 | Call Center openfor Small Business |
Be sure to subscribe to the Workforce Recovery Update to receive additional information on the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Pam Thompson, E-Government Consultant
Bureau of Library Development
Division of Library and Information Services
R.A.Gray Building
500 South Bronough Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250
850.245.6633
pam.thompson@dos.myflorida.com
Questions about Ask a Librarian training opportunities? Contact Virtual Reference Coordinator Traci Avet Hector at avett@tblc.org.
Ask A Librarian 10 year Celebration
Monday’s Motivational Minute – James PBCLS
This week’s motivational minute is from James Larson at Palm Beach County Library System. He had a question from a student at St. Petersburg College looking for information on endocarditis that was written/published by a nursing journal or professional organization. James first directed the student to SPC’s LibGuides and connected him with the Nursing Student resources. Then moved him into the medical database, CINAHL. He continued to show him to set parameters to limit to the last 5 years and advanced searching options. The student then thanked James for finding a “bunch of articles”! James provided the student with great research assistance to make for this week’s motivational minute!
Chat Transcript: Log Started Mon Feb 25 14:20:19 PST 2013
[14:29:41] You have been connected to PBCLS – James L.
[14:29:49] Customer: hi there!! i need to find an article about endocarditis that was written/published by a NURSING journal or professional NURSING organization….the article must have been written within the last 5 years
[14:29:58] PBCLS – James L: Hi there, thank you for your question!
[14:30:09] Customer: thankx for helping me!
[14:30:23] PBCLS – James L: And you don’t remember the title or author?
[14:30:38] Customer: a previous librarina gave me few article but they must be a NURSING article
[14:31:19] Customer: not have not found an article that applies to the requirements….it’s about endocartis by the way!
[14:32:02] PBCLS – James L: Ok, so you have a set list of journals that would qualify as a Nursing Journal, I presume?
[14:32:34] PBCLS – James L: Ah, I have something for you.
[14:32:54] PBCLS – James L: You library at St. Petersburg College made a little guide for nursing students to library resources…
[14:32:57] PBCLS – James L: http://spcollege.libguides.com/ADN
[14:33:44] PBCLS – James L: In the center of the page is a list of databases that look very useful…
[14:33:53] Customer: it’s sort of weird….the journal must be written within the last 5 years by a nursing journal or nursing professional organization and it must be about endocarditis
[14:34:05] PBCLS – James L: The first one, CINAHL looks good.
[14:34:28] Customer: ok will check onit
[14:34:28] PBCLS – James L: Oh, so you just need something that meets that criteria, and you weren’t searching for something you found before?
[14:34:59] PBCLS – James L: I have it at my library as well, as luck would have it, so I can more or less guide you through it. You may need to log in to your college account to access it, however.
[14:35:01] PBCLS – James L: Are you able to do this?
[14:35:11] Customer: right…have not been able to find an article that meets my requirements
[14:35:41] Customer: yes i’m able to log in!
[14:35:43] PBCLS – James L: Well, but using this database we take care of the first requirment right off the bat, that it be a nursing journal.
[14:36:15] PBCLS – James L: Now all we need to do it to limit our results to the past five years and do a subject or keyword search for “endocarditis”
[14:36:56] PBCLS – James L: Ok, go ahead and pull up the database. When i pull it up I see a mostly empty screen with a search bar in the middle. A green circle is off to the left that says “EBSCO” but CINAHL is above the box indicating that it’s searching that database.
[14:37:03] PBCLS – James L: Let me know when you’re ready .
[14:37:35] Customer: ok but not ready yet
[14:39:47] PBCLS – James L: Let me know when you are.
[14:42:46] Customer: i’m there logged in!!!
[14:44:46] PBCLS – James L: Ok great.
[14:44:59] PBCLS – James L: Do you see a small thing that says “search options”?
[14:45:28] Customer: looking for it
[14:46:16] Customer: no cant find it!!!
[14:46:34] PBCLS – James L: Hmmm. Do you see the big search bar with the green circle next to it?
[14:47:30] Customer: on the very top you mean?? by the blue and green circle??
[14:47:59] PBCLS – James L: Hmmm, sure.
[14:48:06] PBCLS – James L: Mine is more or less in the middle.
[14:48:43] Customer: is it on this link??
[14:48:45] Customer: http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/search/advanced?sid=5d494810-7a8e-4e54-9b1f-f66256d268e6%40sessionmgr115&vid=1&hid=115
[14:50:24] PBCLS – James L: Hmmm, can’t load.
[14:50:36] PBCLS – James L: Well, right below the search bar, do you see anything at all?
[14:50:58] PBCLS – James L: I see all these right below my search bar…
[14:51:00] PBCLS – James L: Search Options Basic Search Advanced Search Visual Search Search History
[14:51:08] Customer: yes i do see it
[14:51:21] PBCLS – James L: Ok. Click on “Search Options”
[14:51:41] PBCLS – James L: A big thing will open up right below, with a bunch of options.
[14:52:22] PBCLS – James L: One of which will be “Published Date”
[14:52:32] Customer: u mean a bunch of squares??
[14:53:08] PBCLS – James L: Hmmmm, not really…
[14:53:13] PBCLS – James L: What do some of the squares say?
[14:55:26] Customer: i found the publish date!!!!
[14:56:08] PBCLS – James L: great!
[14:56:21] PBCLS – James L: So since you just need the past five years, put in 2009
[14:56:40] Customer: yep just done it
[14:56:41] PBCLS – James L: leave everything else blank, but type out that disorder you’re looking for in the search box.
[14:56:46] PBCLS – James L: Then click search
[14:57:34] Customer: it says no results found
[14:58:38] PBCLS – James L: Ok.
[14:58:43] PBCLS – James L: Go back to the search page if you can.
[14:59:17] Customer: back there then!!!
[15:00:22] PBCLS – James L: Ok, can you tell me what options are selected?
[15:00:38] PBCLS – James L: Under “Search Modes” I have “Find all my search terms.”
[15:01:05] PBCLS – James L: I have “journal subset” is set to “all” and publication type is set to “all”
[15:01:23] PBCLS – James L: Under published date from I left the month fields blank
[15:01:29] PBCLS – James L: only typed out 2009
[15:01:34] PBCLS – James L: left the other year field blank
[15:01:53] PBCLS – James L: and then just typed out your endocarditis in the big search box at the top.
[15:02:18] Customer: i went to the search box and typed endocarditis
[15:02:35] Customer: then on the left side says refine search and i changed the date
[15:03:21] Customer: i think it worked!
[15:03:27] PBCLS – James L: ok great!
[15:03:30] Customer: there is a bunch of articles
[15:03:57] PBCLS – James L: Yeah, I saw a bunch.
[15:04:08] Customer: well i’m gonna read then and if there is nothing interseting i will contacting u back
[15:04:15] PBCLS – James L: Ok, great!
[15:04:19] Customer: thank you James!!!!
[15:04:19] PBCLS – James L: Anything else I can do for you?
[15:04:27] Customer: nope!
[15:04:33] Customer: thank you!
[15:04:52] PBCLS – James L: Ok great, good luck!
[15:05:01] Thank you for using Ask a Librarian.
June 2013 Statistics
Usage Summary
| Top entry by chat
Training
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Live Chat
| Local Stats by Entry PointProvides a breakdown for each member libraries individual chat, email and text message statistics. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Visits by City
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Entry by Location June 2013 Entry by Location |
Yearly Comparison June 2012 vs June 2013 |
July 2013 AAL SuperStar
This month, we are recognizing a library system that has played an outstanding part in the way Ask a Librarian operates. July’s AaL SuperStar recipient is Seminole County Public Library.
Seminole County joined AaL in October 2011 and has incorporated it into their everyday reference service. Librarians staffing reference desks in all branches throughout the county staff the Ask a Librarian desk as part of their desk assignment. At minimum, one person from each branch is staffing the library’s local chat desk.
Seminole County is committed to making themselves available to their users from a variety of access points – in-person, phone, email and live chat – all of the hours they are open. The Ask a Librarian team would like to thank Seminole County Public Library for integrating the virtual desk into your daily workflow and helping the service grow in new directions.
Please help me congratulate this month’s SuperStar winner, Seminole County Public Library System.
North Branch:
Seated: Barbara Michelson
Standing: LaShawn Smith; Steven Sanders; Lynne Smith
West Branch:
Gigi Oien;Joann Crepaz;Norma Medina-Ortiz;Karen Snead
Central Branch:
Front row: Aneseh Haeiahwazi; Sara White; Roberta Hendry; Caroline Quintanilla
Back row: Therese Nearhoof; David Witter; Stacy Reyer
Northwest Branch:
Adriana Valencia; Louise Blackwelder; Silence Bourn; Sara Gonzalez; Lisa Laird-Smith
East Branch:
Seated: Marie Delcher; Cynthia Sotka
Standing: Barbara Rainey; Carol Melichar; Diane Keys