MINITEX Digital Reference Blog

On March 24 the seven participating libraries and MINITEX Library Information Network launched AskMN: The Librarian Is In, a 24/7 cooperative online digital reference service for Minnesota residents and students. AskMN is dedicated to assisting patrons with their information and research needs focusing on questions on any topic - public libraries, and college research - academic libraries. Patrons may ask their question via a participating library's form on their website or from the main AskMN website: askmn.org.

I invite you to take a look at the AskMN's site to get a better understanding of what is being offered to patrons. Also, if you're interested in participating in the cooperative or would like to hear more of the benefits and specifics of participating in AskMN or would like to point your patrons to the 24/7 service for additional reference help beyond your library's hours by placing a link to the service please contact me, Carla Pfahl, directly at pfahl001 at umn dot edu and I'll be happy to answer your questions.

You can check out Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Library website, http://www.fdltcc.edu/web/Library/ReferenceHelp.html to see a great example of adding the AskMN service link to your webpage.

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 1:49 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)

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)

AskMN The Librarian Is In, Minnesota's new statewide virtual reference program is underway behind the scenes getting ready for a spring launch to all Minnesota residents. Last week Hennepin County Library System was the first library group to go through training on the service and QuestionPoint software. The session went well and the group was enthusiastic and excited to get started! Training sessions with the other participating libraries are scheduled throughout the month of February. Look for an announcement about the new program in upcoming listservs and MINITEX publications.

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

MINITEX Library Information Network, working in collaboration with eight participating libraries, is delighted to announce the creation of AskMN: The Librarian Is In, Minnesota’s new statewide cooperative virtual reference service!

In December, eight academic and public libraries came together to discuss the issues involved in cooperatively creating and running a Minnesota statewide virtual reference service. It was decided to move forward with the initiative to provide quality reference service and assistance online to all Minnesota residents with the use and support from the ELM databases (elm4you.org). Initially, the service will be operated by the eight libraries: Hennepin County Library -- Suburban and Minneapolis locations; Rochester Public Library; Minnesota State University, Mankato; St. Cloud State University; Joint Libraries of the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University; College of St. Catherine; and University of Minnesota, Duluth, as well as MINITEX Reference Services, with plans to extend participation to many more interested libraries in the near future.

The service will use OCLC’s QuestionPoint virtual reference management software, which is well suited to handle multiple-library and cooperatively run programs like Minnesota’s. Staff members of participating libraries will work together to answer questions from residents during selected hours Monday–Saturday with backup service provided by the QuestionPoint national cooperative virtual reference program to give us 24/7 coverage for anywhere, anytime answers. The service will be launched sometime this Spring.

Look for more information to follow throughout the coming months!

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Caleb Tucker-Raymond who runs the state-wide digital reference program for Oregon put together this awesome map of the US highlighting which states have a digital reference program in place and by what vendor. Since he put this together a few weeks ago Pennsylvania has announced a state-wide digital reference service using QuestionPoint. So even though it became out-of-date 10 seconds after it was posted it still is a great way to see what is happening out there with digital reference.

Which makes me ponder... What is happening in Minnesota as far as digital reference? No, we do not have a state-wide service, but what libraries in the state currently have a digital reference service program in place? Be it email reference, chat reference, IM, or all of the above? I want to pull together this information to get a better picture of what is happening around us. This is something I'll be working on in the next few weeks. I'll let you know what I find out!

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)