Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Thing 34 - Online Answer Sites

This was very interesting - How has the web affected reference service? What is the future of librarians? I went to a session at MLA last fall on reference service in the age of google. Sort of the same idea. You do kind of wonder why on earth anyone would call the library when they can get an answer online without leaving home. But, when I checked some of the online answer sites just now, I see there are some that had zero answers. What do people do if no one replies to their question? I can see people, especially ones who already use the library, might think they could get a quicker response if they just called the ref desk. On the other hand, people might feel their question is "too dumb" to ask. And there is just the fact that people are becoming "internet junkies". If it's on the web, they will find it. What you read is that libraries are becoming more than a place to go to for information - they are gathering places.
As for the future of the reference desk - one funny quote said "his fear is people telling him what to do "when they pry my cold dead fingers off of it" - the ref desk.
Web 2.0 - 3 common characteristics - 1. Personalization 2.Interactivity 3. Social networking - all 3 are relevant in libraries.

"Web 2.0 is good , not because it makes the library more like the web, but because it is making the web more like libraries".

"Reference librarians are the library's human face and a gateway to an entire social network of library users".

One person said good libraries have web accessible collections and people who know how to index and search them.

Slam boards - librarians who invade the various web answer sites monthly to answer as many questions they can using authoritative sources - good pr for libraries.

What is the appeal of an online answer site - don't have to leave home; you trust people doing the same kind of stuff you are - ie. gardeners, travelers, antique hunters, fellow parents, etc.
I looked at some with career questions and decorating .

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