Ask a Librarian Blog

Hi Everyone,

In a behind-the scene move, that was not suppose to effect many things. TBLC migrated our email system. Unfortunately, there were a few complications and unexpected issues with this migration and as you have noticed – the Ask a Librarian Electronic Mailing Lists have been unavailable and TBLC staff had some intermittent email issues.

The good news is — we are very close having the issue completely resolved. TBLC staff email is working once again! So, please contact us if you’re worried a message didn’t get to us.

Also, we have created two new Ask a Librarian Mailing Lists:
- General Ask a Librarian Mailing list: askref@askref.simplelists.com (Please remember, everyone who staff AAL needs to be on this list!)
- Site coordinators – askrefsitecoordinators@askref.simplelists.com.

You should receive an invitation to join the listserv today or tomorrow, if so please confirm your email by clicking on the link. If you don’t receive this invite, please check your SPAM folders – and if the invite is not there, please contact me.

Thank you for your patience and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Diana

Presentations for yesterday’s hot topics are now available!

The not-so secret tools, tips and tricks of the Ask a Librarian interns. How to provide assistance to statewide customers with grace and ease.

One of the most difficult tasks on Ask a Librarian is assisting users from institutions other than your own with “local” questions. Learn from the Ask a Librarian Interns Kira Smith and Renee Patterson, how to answer questions you didn’t think you could with relative ease. The interns will be joined by Traci Avet, the AAL Virtual Reference Coordinator and together they will take you through the resources, tips and tricks on helping users from institutions other than your own.

Renee’s Presentation
Kira’s Presentation
Traci’s Presentation

In the presentation, Kira and Renee discussed a library’s knowledge base is an invaluable tool that librarian’s rely on to answer questions from user’s at other libraries.

Kira recommended for your library – the information she finds most valuable includes:

- Library URL
- Reference phone number
- Circulation phone number
- Catalog URL
- Database URL
- Dummy login information
- Pin/Password help – (for example – is the pin the last four digits or the user’s phone number, library card, etc)
- Library Hours
- Locations and addresses
- And other FAQs from your library – especially about policies (ILL/Fines), Netlibrary or OverDrive help information.

Need to update your knowledge base? Email Traci for information on how!

We are thrilled to announce USF Libraries has joined Ask a Librarian and will begin staffing in August.  Please welcome them when you see them online!