TBLC News

If you’ve ever heard about Ask a Librarian and wondered what it is and how you and your library can be a part of it, this informational workshop is perfect for you.

Ask a Librarian (www.askalibrarian.org) is Florida’s collaborative virtual reference service allowing users to connect with librarians via chat or email for assistance with reference questions and research. Open 10 a.m. to midnight EST Sunday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST Friday and Saturday, Ask a Librarian is available to users 84 hours a week and is staffed by librarians just like you throughout Florida.

Part of the Florida Electronic Library, Ask a Librarian offers for free to participating libraries the collaborative software, a local desk option, an email management system and robust statistical reports. In exchange, Ask a Librarian participants are asked to staff either the collaborative or academic desk. We work with each library to come up with a schedule that suits their librarians and the overall Ask a Librarian program. The service handles over 4,000 chat sessions and 1,000 email questions monthly.

Ask a Librarian uses a software platform from InstantService, an esteemed and flexible software provider. InstantService allows us to offer libraries a variety of options. This means your library could host its own local Ask a Librarian desk, incorporate a simple chat interface – similar to Meebo – on your library’s website, and so much more.

Learn more about Ask a Librarian and see if it fits your library’s needs by joining an online information session.

Register Today!

April 23, 2009 10 AM ET – 11 AM ET

April 30, 2009 1:30 PM ET – 2:30 PM ET

Above, Palm Beach County Director John Callahan presents high school sophomore Joshua Stadlan with his prize and certificate for winning The Director’s Chair video contest.

Palm Beach County high school students dominate statewide library video contest

On Feb. 23, Palm Beach County Library Director John Callahan and Ask a Librarian officials awarded prizes to the winners of The Director’s Chair, a contest in which Florida high school students created commercials to promote Ask a Librarian. Although the contest was statewide, all three winners came from the School District of Palm Beach County.

First-place winner Joshua Stadlan is a sophomore from Weinbaum Yeshiva High School in Boca Raton. Casandra Brescacin, a senior from Seminole Ridge High School in Loxahatchee, won second place in the contest, and Elyse Lautenschlager, a senior from Park Vista High School in Lake Worth, won third prize.

“Ask a Librarian is an amazing service, and it was a great tool to use for my huge English research paper,” said Stadlan, whose computer-animated video of President Obama using Ask a Librarian earned the most votes. “I’ve told quite a few friends about the service.”

A panel of judges narrowed all the entries down to five finalists, and the public determined the three winners by voting online.

Ask a Librarian is a free online service that allows patrons to chat with a librarian for help with homework or general questions.

Visit www.askalibrarian.org/thedirectorschair to see the winners’ videos.

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

Librarians all over Florida are celebrating Ask a Librarian Day today! They’re donning their “ask me about askalibrarian.org” t-shirts, handing out stickers to customers, and talking about what a valuable and user-friendly service Ask a Librarian is.

Above, Richard Felver and Amy Adams from Southeastern University show off their new t-shirts and prepare to field tons of questions about this great service!

Ask a Librarian is available 10 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Visit www.askalibrarian.org for more information or to ask a librarian a question.

Although there won’t be noisemakers or confetti, librarians all over the state will celebrate Ask a Librarian Day on Feb. 20 to bring awareness to Ask a Librarian, a free online reference service that allows Floridians to chat with a librarian for help with homework or general questions.

Librarians at almost 100 libraries around Florida will don t-shirts boasting the message “Ask me about askalibrarian.org” and will talk about the valuable service with their customers. They hope to enlighten people on the benefits of Ask a Librarian so that everyone can take full advantage of this user-friendly collaborative service.

“Ask a Librarian is such a useful online tool for people,” said Diana Silveira, virtual reference manager for Ask a Librarian. “We partner with libraries to offer Floridians an amazing free service at their fingertips. We couldn’t do this without our libraries, and we hope that Ask a Librarian Day gives them a chance to brag a little bit about what they do.”

Ask a Librarian is available 10 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Visit www.askalibrarian.org for more information or to ask a librarian a question.

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

Click here to see the winning videos in Ask a Librarian’s The Director’s Chair video contest. Congratulations to our winners!

You have just ONE MORE DAY to vote for your favorite video in Ask a Librarian’s The Director’s Chair video contest. The top five finalists are high school students from around Florida, and they worked very hard on their videos. So go check them out. AND VOTE!

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 close on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 11:59 p.m., so hurry!**

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.