MINITEX Digital Reference Blog

If you are planning on attending PLA please keep in mind these 2 sessions hosted by Susan McGlamery with QuestionPoint:

1. Thursday March 27, 9 AM to 10 AM (user group meeting)
Regency Room, 2nd Floor

-User group meetings are very informative and allow you to connect with librarians across the nation/world that are using QP. You get to hear what others are up to, best practices, latest information from QP, tips and tricks. This session Jeff Penka will be talking about the latest feature to be released in the next month or two, Qwidget. Qwidget allows you to embed a chat window on any and every page you like that will allow patrons to instantly connect to your chat service when a librarian is logged in. Very similar to MeeboMe widget or Plugoo widget.

2. Friday March 28, 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM (panel presentation)
Lake Superior A - 5th floor

-Panel presentation will be on best practices by peers in the QP community, how they are running their services, and reports back on assessment of services.

*Both of these are at the Hyatt Regency, http://tiny.cc/IBDav

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Half of the participating libraries in the statewide vr project, AskMN, have now gone through training and are practicing with chat and getting use to the new system. Next week will be a very busy week. I'll be visiting St. Cloud State U., UM - Duluth, Hennepin County Library - Minneapolis, and St. Kate's. It will be a marathon week of training. After training is completed the participating libraries will perform a 2 week test run of the service and we will discuss issues and work flows and look at an official date to go live with the service.

We are at a very exciting stage of the project getting all our ducks in a row and making sure no issue has been overlooked! MINITEX will send out an official announcement sometime in the beginning of March.

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Please note that Friday, February 15th is the last day to register to participate in the 23 Things on a Stick: A Library Learning 2.0 program. If you are already one of our 600 registered participants, who are happily exploring the 23 web 2.0 tools (Things) in the program, good for you! Keep posting your progress, pleasant surprises, and “aha” moments in your 23 Things blog. Play and Learn to Fear Less!

Join us now at http://23thingsonastick.blogspot.com

Live & Learn with Web 2.0,

Minnesota’s Multicounty, Multitype Library Systems

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The participating libraries of Minnesota's virtual reference program, AskMN: The Librarian Is In are currently going through training for the new service. So far we have visited Hennepin County Library System, Joint Libraries of St. Ben’s/St. John’s, and Rochester Public Library. Next week I'll be heading to Minnesota State University - Mankato and the last week of February will be very busy going to St. Cloud State University, University of Minnesota - Duluth, Hennepin County Library System - Minneapolis, and St. Kate's. February is turning out to be a very busy month in deed!

The training sessions have been going very well. Folks are getting introduced to QuestionPoint, the software that we will use for the new service, and are asking lots of great questions. The participating libraries are getting a sense of what the service will entail and what their institutions' work flow will look like for scheduling and managing chat sessions. We will have a better sense of possible launch date for the service the first week of March after everyone has had the opportunity of being trained in.

If you have any questions about this program you can contact me directly at pfahl001 at umn dot edu.

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Register now for the new Association of College and Research Libraries
(ACRL) e-learning course, " Virtual Reference Competencies III: Maintain
and Build Reference Skills and Knowledge," to be offered February 18 -
March 7, 2008.

ABOUT THE COURSE
Without good communications skills a librarian will have a difficult
time being a good reference librarian. However, without solid competence
in reference skills and knowledge, a librarian is not a librarian. This
reference expertise is why information seekers-all potential and current
library users-will choose to use virtual reference services instead of
just Googling on their own. Reference competencies involve searching,
critical thinking, and information organization skills, as well as
knowledge of specific reference sources and information-finding tools.
Competent reference librarians are aware of the publication processes,
both print and electronic, and the policies, procedures, organization,
and legal environment of their specific library or library organization.

In this workshop participants will engage in learning activities,
supported by readings as well as lecture and discussion to maintain and
build on the reference competencies required by effective virtual
reference librarians.

Registration for this seminar is now open. For additional information
and a link to the online registration form, visit:
http://www.acrl.org/ala/acrl/acrlproftools/virtualref3.cfm

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)