Bringing your library to you with 'Ask a Librarian live'!
7 January 2011
During the 2010 / 2011 academic year, INSRV is piloting a new chat enquiry service for library users.
Launched in September, the new 'Ask a Librarian live' pilot is an instant messaging service that connects users with a member of Library staff in one of the University's 16 libraries. Users will receive an immediate response to their questions addressed to library staff via the chat windows on the Information Services website.
'Ask a Librarian live' gives users access to a 'virtual librarian' from the comfort of their own home or office, without needing to physically visit one of the University libraries. This enables users to make more productive use of their time to focus on their studies or research.
The year-long pilot project will be followed by an extensive review of the project's success, in order to determine whether the pilot will be expanded into a permanent 'Ask a Librarian live' service.
So far, the project is already demonstrating that this service is fulfilling a real need within our University community.
Did you know...
...that between September and February, over 1,300 chat requests were received, approximately 3/4 of these requests came from users off-campus. The top three most popular queries are: library account PIN numbers, databases, and electronic journals.