Network Issues

As several of you have reported and many others many have noticed in the past few days, Ask a Librarian has been experiencing intermittent slowdowns on our network. CCLA staff is working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We will get out an update as soon as we have more information.

Please let me know if you experience any technical issues or questions.
Thank you for your patience as we get this resolved.

Nominate Your Transcript!

How can you earn a $20 gift card, recognition on the Ask a Librarian Web site, and respect and admiration from your colleagues simply by doing your job?As a group, you answer approximately 2,500 questions each month through Ask a Librarian. There’s bound to be at least one transcript that stands out as being your best. Perhaps you went above and beyond and were exceptionally helpful to your patron. Perhaps you got creative with your search. Perhaps your patron earned an A+ on a paper that you helped her to research. If you think your transcript is great – for whatever reason – we want to see it!

Nominate your transcript – or a coworker’s – for the Ask a Librarian Best Transcript of the Month award. If we choose your transcript as the best of the month, you’ll win a $20 gift card to Borders Books.

And although we can’t legally guarantee that your colleagues will respect and admire you more than they already do, we’ll help as much as we can by prominently featuring your name, your library, and your transcript on the Ask a Librarian Web site.

Click here to nominate yourself or someone else for the Ask a Librarian Best Transcript of the Month award login to the Ask a Librarian Toolbox at: http://info.askalibrarian.org/

Click here to view previous winners’ transcripts. http://www.askalibrarian.org/info/besttranscript.asp

I look forward to seeing the transcripts you nominate!

Ask a Librarian Winter User Survey

We have closed the Ask a Librarian User Survey for the Winter 07 period. I am working with TBLC’s newest staff member, Michelle Oleson to compile and analyze the results. As soon as the results are finished, we will publish the results on the blog for everyone.

However, on a cursory glance, we have some very happy users!

Training Events

Here is the current training schedule for this Spring, more dates may be added. This is the full day of training for those new to staffing the service or staff that would like a refresher. Please go to the link following the event for more information or to register.

Feb. 27th
Florida International University, University Park Campus
11200 S.W. 8th Street
Miami, Florida 33199

Register for this class:
http://www.tblc.org/ws_info.php?ws=461

March 2nd
Florida International University, Biscayne Bay Campus
3000 N.E. 151st Street
North Miami, Florida 33181

Register for this class:
http://www.tblc.org/ws_info.php?ws=463

March 20th
Brevard Community College, Cocoa Campus
BCC/UCF Joint Use Library
1519 Clearlake Road Cocoa, FL 32922-6597
Building 12(the Library), Room 131 (first floor)

Register for this class:
http://www.tblc.org/ws_info.php?ws=455

March 22nd
Nova Southeastern University
3301 College Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314-7796

Register for this class:
http://www.tblc.org/ws_info.php?ws=464

January 2007 Statistics

What a great month! Chats were up 46% from December and 123% from last January with 2,547 sessions. Overall, we saw use continue to rise. Email reference (with 1,148 transactions) was up 52% from December and 19% from January 2006. View as PDF or JPG.

Save the date!! FLA User Group Forum

Join us for breakfast on Friday, April 13th at 8am for the annual Ask a Librarian User Group Forum. 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!