Transcript THE ROLE OF “ASK A LIBRARIAN” SERVICE IN PROMOTING

14th European Conference on Reading
THE ROLE OF “ASK A LIBRARIAN”
SERVICE IN PROMOTING INFORMATION
LITERACY
August 1, 2005.
Božica Dragaš-Matijević
[email protected]
Marin Držić Public Library, Zagreb
Boris Bosančić
[email protected]
Slavonski Brod Public Library
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LIBRARIANS – INFORMATION – END USER

information retrieval

information description

making information accessible
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WHO? WHAT? WHEN?
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15 Croatian public
libraries
20-something reference
librarians
+ 16 new reference
librarians - since May 2005
Ask a Librarian: online
reference inquiry service
offered to all (who have
Internet access )
started in January 2004
URL: http://public.carnet.hr/pitajte-knjiznicare
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THE SERVICE WEB SITE : TWO SURFACES

user section




use policy
web site directory
inquiry form
Q&A archive
 project info

librarian section (administration)

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general inbox (new inquiries)
web site directory
Q&A archive
statistics
info on participating librarians
help
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WEB SITE
CROATIAN
ASK A LIBRARIAN
SERVICE
About project
Web site directory
Question Form
Proceed
Examples of questions and answers
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WEB SITE DIRECTORY

organized by combining criteria :
 subject categories and subcategories based on UDC
(Universal Decimal Classification)
 adjusted to users' Internet experience
(popular search engines)
 adjusted to users' needs (library experience) –
e.g. special categories: Croatia, Reference, Library WebPACs,
Entertainment and Hobby ...
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REFERENCE LIBRARIANS


answer questions
(factual questions, subject literature lists, referral)
create web site directory with descriptions of each
link
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BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF «ASK A
LIBRARIAN» SERVICE
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
quality of information
(sources are checked, trustworthy and reliable)
democracy and openness
(free service available to all)
short reply time
(reply sent within 2 days)
constant service
(24 / 7)
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TEACHING INFORMATION LITERACY
TO USERS
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referring users to high-quality, reliable and
evaluated sources of information
uniform bibliographic citation
http://www.ffzg.hr/infoz/odsjeku/citiranje.htm
directing users to search web site directory
directing users to search by keywords
linguistically edited Q&A archive
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EXAMPLE: HOW SOURCES ARE ORGANIZED BIBLIOGRAPHICALLY
IN ANSWERS (BOOKS, ARTICLES, INTERNET SOURCES)
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EXAMPLE: ANSWER TO QUESTION ABOUT A BOOK TITLE - DIRECTION
TO SEARCH LIBRARY WEBPACS THROUGH WEB SITE DIRECTORY
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STATISTIC FIGURES for questions received January 19, 2004. – July 1, 2005.
NUMBER OF QUESTIONS RECEIVED: ~ 1600
1
2
ANSWERS NEEDED FOR
…
Number of users
%
3
Homework
124
7,8
Hobby
257
16,2
Seminar paper
491
30,9
Stručni rad
342
21,5
Other
375
23,6
Number of users
%
USER PROFILE 1
(EDUCATIONAL
BACKGROUND)
Number of
users
%
Male
598
37,6
Female
991
62,4
USER PROFILE 2
(SEX)
4
Number of
users
%
Primary school
133
8,4
USER PROFILE 3
(MEMBER OF
PUBLIC LIBRARY)
High school
254
16
Yes
866
54,5
High school graduate
762
48
No
721
45,4
University graduate
367
23,1
Postgraduate
72
4,5
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STATISTIC FIGURES for questions received January 19, 2004. – July 1, 2005.
USER EVALUATION OF THE SERVICE
1
Have you been satisfied with
the answer to your question?
3
Number of
users
%
Satisfied
360
74,7
Partly satisfied
97
Partly unsatisfied
Unsatisfied
Number
of users
%
Satisfied
447
93,3
20,1
Partly satisfied
28
5,8
12
2,5
Partly unsatisfied
3
0,6
13
2,7
Unsatisfied
1
0,2
2
In case you were not satisfied
with the answer, could you please
explain your expectations?
Have you been satisfied how fast
you have received the answer?
Number
of users
%
I expected a more detailed
answer
32
30,8
I expected more sources of
information
49
47,1
Something else
23
22,1
4
Have you found web site
directoy useful while searching
for the answer on your own?
Number
of users
%
Yes
54
13,6
No
160
40,2
Partly
184
46,2
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PROBLEMS…
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insufficient high quality internet sources in
Croatian
databases unavailable
outdated national bibliography
inadequate cataloguing of serials
(no content description)
OPACs lacking advanced search options
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PLANS (1)
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project evaluation
more reference librarians
training librarians to provide the service
training librarians to evaluate and efficiently use
Internet sources
marketing
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PLANS (2)
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intensely build web site directory
advanced search options in Q&A archive
subject linking of Q&A archive and web site
directory
and …
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PLANS (3)
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… designing a web page teaching information
literacy to users!

the web page should contain:
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instruction how to use library WebPACs
instruction how to search web site directory
evaluation instructions
instruction on source citation (or redirection to web
pages)
 instruction how to search Internet sources
 instruction on typical problems (undelivered answers,
answer in Q&A archive etc.)

possible type of information literacy page:
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
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THEREFORE:
Don't Google –
Ask a Librarian! …
… and thank you for your attention.
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EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR INTERNET
SOURCES
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Authority
Purpose
Scope
Content accuracy
Validity and maintaining
Accessibility
How information is presented
Is it simple to use
Comparison with similar sources
General impression on quality
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EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR INTERNET
SOURCES (2)

Source:
 Barker, Joe, and Saifon Obromsook.
Evaluating Web Pages: Questions to Ask &
Strategies for Getting the Answers
(Library, University of California--Berkeley, 27 July
2004)
 Tillman, Hope.
Evaluating Quality on the Net
(Babson College, MA; 28 March 2003)