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Students who wish to skip a trip to Fogler Library, especially when it is too cold to travel from their dorm room this winter, can make good use of the library’s new service from the convenience of their own computers.
The Ask a Librarian program offers a live on-line chat service for library patrons. Nancy Lewis, the social science and humanities reference librarian, said the library has offered a service in the past through e-mail.
“It enables people to ask a librarian no matter where they are,” Lewis said.
She said e-mailing questions is still an option, but Ask a Librarian provides library users the opportunity to chat live with a librarian. Through the software, the librarian and inquirer use a co-browser program that enables the user and librarian to see the same thing at once, Lewis said.
She said librarians are assigned shifts to chat with users daily. E-mail is still available, but is not answered until a librarian returns to work the following day, she said. If there is a high demand for the Ask a Librarian service, they will look into expanding the hours, she said.
Lewis said the program will provide answers to students and library users much more quickly. Questions can be from the library’s catalog, data bases or any electronic matter, she said. She said reference librarians can help students starting to research a paper with searching the Internet or can provide other guidance.
The library’s four reference librarians each have individual backgrounds. If a person has a question on a specific subject, the librarian chatting may have the reference librarian in that field get back to the student or library user, Lewis said.
Lewis said the program was used during the 2003 summer term. The librarians first began learning the program in April and the summer term’s smaller enrollment made for an easier transition, she said. The Fogler reference librarians worked with staff at the University of Maine at Augusta because they have used the program for the last year, she said.
Users of the service enjoy it because it saves time and reduces hassle, she said.
“Those who have used it have liked it very much,” Lewis said.
Lewis said Internet Explorer works best to chat. The Ask a Librarian link is included on the Fogler Library web page and on all the desktops of the library computers.
Lewis said reference librarians are available at Fogler Library on Sunday 1 to 5 p.m., Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Bangor Daily News