The Director’s Chair video contest – WE NEED YOUR VOTE!

The Director’s Chair video contest is in its final stages, and the finalists need YOUR vote!

We received many creative videos, and our judges narrowed the entries down to five finalists. Now it’s up to you to help choose the winner by voting for your favorite video. Visit www.askalibrarian.org/thedirectorschair and click on “vote” to see the top five videos and to vote for the one you think deserves to win.

**Polls will be open Jan. 27 through Feb. 9 (11:59 p.m. EST).**

We will announce the winner on Feb. 12.

Visit www.askalibrarian.org/thedirectorschair for more information.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Ask a Librarian Mobile

Ask a Librarian was very pleased to announce a new feature of our service, Ask a Librarian Mobile, and we would like to tell you more about it. In a world where web-enabled cell phones, smart phones and PDAs are becoming ubiquitous, we wanted to remain relevant to our users and let them get the help they need when and where they need it.

Ask a Librarian Mobile is the e-mail portion of the Ask a Librarian chat reference service and has been optimized for handheld devices. When a user goes to http://www.askalibrarian.org/mobile with their handheld device, they will see the customized interface and be able to ask their question by e-mail and get a response from their local library. Here are some quick facts about the new Mobile service:

1. Ask a Librarian Mobile allows users to access the Ask a Librarian service from their cell phones, PDAs or any other handheld device.

2. Through Ask a Librarian Mobile, users can email a question 24/7, and they will get a response from a librarian at their local library.

3. Currently, only our email service is available through AAL Mobile, but we are working very hard to implement our live chat service. We are still in the development stages and will announce when the chat service is available.

4. We introduced Ask a Librarian Mobile to give our users one more convenient way to get reliable information no matter where they are.

5. Ask a Librarian Mobile is an easy, convenient and free way to obtain reliable information. Users have access to an expert 24/7.

We encourage you to promote this service by posting the AAL Mobile logo (found here http://info.askalibrarian.org/toolbox/logos.asp) and link http://www.askalibrarian.org/mobile on your website. Please let us know if you have any questions or need more information.

Director’s Chair Entries Now Viewable

Friday night was the deadline for entries for Ask a Librarian’s Director’s Chair Contest.  The contest as you might recall, was for Florida high school students to create the next commercial for Ask a Librarian.  We received 15 videos from across the state.  Watch them here!

Tomorrow,  the Director’s Chair judges will be gathering to evaluate the videos and create a list of the top 5.   The winners will then will be voted on by you, your students, your friends, and anyone else….details on voting to be announced shortly….

Advisory Committee- Call for New Members

Ask a Librarian is currently seeking new members to its Advisory Committee. Members of the Ask a Librarian Committee work with Ask a Librarian staff on creating a future path for the service and help create policy issues for the service. Members will work through email, phone and in-person.

To apply, complete the following application:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=s2LMOpx7teIPzClfwGyyEw_3d_3d

Terms are for two-years. Applications are due, Friday, February 8, 2008.

If you have any questions about the committee, contact Diana Sachs-Silveira, sachsd@tblc.org; 813.622.8252 ext 234.

Introducing Ask a Librarian Mobile

Ask a Librarian optimized for handheld devices

People don’t just need us when they’re sitting in front of their computers. They need us when they’re driving across the state, or ordering dinner in a restaurant, or playing Trivial Pursuit with their friends.

We proudly introduce Ask a Librarian Mobile, which allows our users to access Ask a Librarian from their cell phones, PDAs or any other handheld device. We’ve been working hard to take our service to the next level, and we’re excited to offer just one more way for our users to take advantage of our valuable service right when they need us.

Currently, only our email service is available through AAL Mobile. Our next step is to implement the live chat service. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.

We encourage you to promote this service by posting the AAL Mobile logo (found here) on your website. The URL for the mobile interface is http://www.askalibrarian.org/mobile/.

We can provide a direct link your library’s web page – just ask!

Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

The Director’s Chair video contest – ENTRIES DUE THIS FRIDAY!

This Friday is your students’ final chance to enter The Director’s Chair video contest. We’ve already received some very creative videos, and we can’t to see what else your high school students can do!  **Please let your students know that they have until Jan. 18 (11:59 p.m.) to enter their videos.** 

Visit www.askalibrarian.org/thedirectorschair for more information, including prizes, official rules, YouTube submission info and release forms. If you have any questions, please contact Diana Sachs-Silveira at (813) 622-8252 (ext. 234).

November Exemplary Reference Awards

The Quality Assurance Workgroup has been hard at work and has awarded the following transcripts for November Exemplary Reference Awards of the Month. Transcripts were awarded in three categories: Best Detailed Chat, Best Brief Chat, and Best Teaching Chat.

Kristen Faulkner from Polk Community College will receive a gift card to Amazon for her Best Detailed Chat and all three winners will receive a certificate at a presentation at this year’s Florida Library Association Annual Meeting in St Petersburg, Florida at the Ask a Librarian User Forum on 4/24 at 8am.

Best Exemplary Detailed Chat:
Kristen Faulkner
Polk Community College, 11/8/07
Kristen helped a student access speech related information who was having difficulty logging into her college’s databases. She was very patient, asked questions to clarify the information need, and even offered to email the patron to follow up.

Best Exemplary Brief Chat:
Charles Danner
Harold Goldstein Library, 11/4/07
Even though Charles is still a graduate student, he gives fantastic reader’s advisory information to this patron about love poetry. He showed a strong knowledge of the subject area.

Best Exemplary Teaching Chat
Juan Lopez
Lake County Public Library, 11/9/07
Juan showed the customer how to search for health articles on the Florida Electronic Library. Juan’s kind and diplomatic assistance to this patron was exceptional!

Check out the full-text for these sessions and nominate sessions for August in the AaL Toolbox at: http://info.askalibrarian.org

Survey Time: Quarterly User Survey is now live

What do our users think about us? Well, we are about to check in and find out.    Our quarterly user survey is now live.   We are asking the following questions: 

1. Did you connect with a librarian today?
2. Was your question answered today?
3. Have you used Ask a Librarian before?
4. Based upon your experience today, would you use the Ask a Librarian service again?
5. Did the librarian show you any Web-based library resources today (library catalog, databases, etc.)?
6. Do you think you would be able to use those same resources on your own, later on?
7. How did you hear about Ask a Librarian?
8. We welcome your comments or suggestions. Please let us know how we are doing, and how we can improve!

Results will be posted on the blog after the survey is completed.

New Libraries on Ask a Librarian

I am really excited to announce in January, two new libraries will begin staffing Ask a Librarian: 

Fort Walton Beach Library.

and Warner Southern College 

December Statistics Available

In December, our stats were slightly lower than in November due to the holiday season.  We answered 2,877 questions – 2,141 live chat sessions and 736 via email.   The academic desk was only open for part of the month, and answered 213 questions.    

The top ten entry points were:

1. Orange County Library System
2. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library
3. Broward County Library
4. State Library Of Fl, Div. of Library & Info.
5. Miami-Dade Public Library
6. Jacksonville Public Library
7. University Of Florida
8. St Petersburg College
9. Miami Dade College
10. Valencia Community College

A complete list of statistics for Live Chat by Entry Point is available here

Patrons are also asked Zip Code as they log in to the live chat service.  The top counties by User Identifed Zip Code are:  

1. Orange
2. Broward
3. Dade
4. Duval
5. Hillsborough
6. Pinellas
7. Sarasota
8. Palm Beach
9. Brevard
10. Broward

A complete list of usage by county by zipcodes is available here

A pdf of Ask a Librarian’s monthly report is available online:  aal-stat-report-december-07.pdf