Ask a Librarian Blog

Ask a Librarian expands service with amazing new software: Instant Service provides unlimited growth potential for Ask a Librarian

October 6th, 2008 Diana

TAMPA, Fla. (Oct. 6, 2008) — After five years of progressive and reliable virtual reference service, Ask a Librarian migrated on Oct. 1 to a software platform provided by InstantService. Ask a Librarian is a free online service that allows Floridians to chat live with a librarian for immediate assistance.

The statewide service has increased in usage by almost 200 percent and in participating libraries by more than 150 percent since its 2003 inception, with strong continued growth expected. InstantService’s range and flexibility provides unlimited support for Ask a Librarian’s growing needs.

“With the level of growth our service has experienced, we are excited to introduce this fantastic – and quite necessary – new software platform,” said Diana Sachs-Silveira, virtual reference manager for Ask a Librarian. “This is a positive change that allows us to provide even better, faster service to our users.”

Visit www.askalibrarian.org for more information about the Ask a Librarian service.

Ask a Librarian was founded by the Tampa Bay Library Consortium and the College Center for Library Automation, is managed by the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, and is funded as part of the Florida Electronic Library (www.flelibrary.org) by a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant.

The Tampa Bay Library Consortium, Inc. (TBLC) is a nonprofit multi-type library cooperative that assists and empowers libraries. Since 1979, TBLC has worked with member libraries to provide better, faster service and resource sharing to the residents of Florida. For more information, call (813) 622-8252 or visit www.tblc.org.

The College Center for Library Automation (CCLA) operates the statewide Library Information Network for Community Colleges (LINCC) and associated Web-based information portal, LINCCWeb, from its headquarters in Tallahassee, Fla. As an administered program of the Florida Department of Education’s Division of Community Colleges, CCLA serves 79 community college libraries in 65 cities throughout Florida. For more information, visit www.cclaflorida.org.

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