AskColorado 24/7 Reference Service

AskColorado Celebrates Seven Years, Nears 300,000 Questions (and the Westminster Law Library is proud to have been a referral library for legal questions since the very beginning!)

Since Sept. 2, 2003, AskColorado has quietly and efficiently answered nearly 300,000 questions from students, parents, business owners, military personnel, and other residents of Colorado.

AskColorado is staffed by qualified information professionals, librarians from Colorado libraries! It is a free service for Colorado residents to ask questions from the comfort of their homes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The librarians utilize sophisticated chat technology to communicate one-on-one and push links and other information to their clients. They use the same Live Help technology currently being used by large e-retailers such at REI and Godiva Chocolatier.

“We offer the human touch to an oftentimes impersonal Internet, and help put people in touch with information that they would otherwise be unable to locate themselves,” said Kris Johnson, AskColorado operations manager. “And judging by our numbers, people need us!”

Recent comments from customers highlight the need and usefulness of AskColorado:

• Love that I can access a librarian 24/7 as I often am in urgent need for help when the regular library is closed and I can't find what I need on the library website. Great friendly and quick service. Very impressed.
• I was so happy to find this service! I was lost navigating a variety of sites and the librarian helped me find the one I needed for my paper.
• The human touch was there. Doesn’t get any better than that!

Early on it was recognized that despite the plethora of easily-obtainable information via the Internet, people were having trouble finding the “right information” and credible information. To address this problem, Colorado libraries joined forces to create AskColorado in 2003. AskColorado was one of the first statewide, multi-library-type, virtual reference services to open in the U.S., and remains one of only fifteen or so states that continue with such a service today.

“While states such as Massachusetts and California have discontinued their services, ours continues today to offer high-level service, along with other states such as Ohio, Maryland, and New Jersey,” added Johnson. “Our per-capita usage rivals that of those larger states.”

Residents from every county in Colorado have logged in, with nearly 25% of those questions coming from rural areas. Questions range the gamut, from homework help for kids, to how to start a small business for adults. Recent research questions include:

• I am trying to find research studies on effective classroom routines or how such routines help with classroom management.
• What is the amount of water the entire state of Colorado uses in one day?
• I am researching the effectiveness of LinkedIn as a job search tool. I have lots of short articles but no substantial research. Help!
• I am sending invitations to our state senators and representatives. How do I address them on the envelope?

AskColorado also receive its share of whimsical questions:

• Can you help me find an article that has a list of the top 500 fictional villains…the evilest!?
• What is the circumference of a moose?

Interesting questions received on the service are posted at the AskColorado Twitter account nearly daily. AskColorado also participates in popular social networking sites, including Facebook and Delicious .

Libraries throughout Colorado of every type -- public, academic, school and specialized libraries -- contribute money to pay for the software and 24/7 service. Local libraries also provide the staff time to work online with Colorado students and residents.

The AskColorado service works on a model similar to public radio: it is grant-funded and paid for by member libraries. Federal monies through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) are supplied via the Colorado State Library, a unit of the Colorado Department of Education. In addition, member libraries contribute financially and through staff support.

For more about AskColorado see www.askcolorado.org or contact the operations manager Kris Johnson.