FROM THE PUBLISHER

Digital versus Non-Digital Reference: Ask a Librarian Online and Offline analyzes the quality of commercial Ask A Librarian (AskA) and tutorial services and how they compare to traditional library services. Edited by Jessamyn West - proprietor of librarian.net and the "hippest ex-librarian on the Web" according to Wired magazine - the book looks at library models and more consumer-oriented models, examining a variety of services that range from Ask Jeeves and Google Answers to your own reference desk and Web e-mail reference forms. Academic librarians and information specialists share their experiences - good and bad - in starting, assessing, or ending AskA services and in working with collaborative reference tools and outsourcing reference services, and discuss the highs and lows of dealing with individual online services.

SYNOPSIS

Compare and contrast library reference models and more consumer-oriented models!

Digital versus Non-Digital Reference: Ask A Librarian Online and Offline analyzes the quality of commercial Ask A Librarian (AskA) and tutorialservices and how they compare to traditional library services. Edited by Jessamyn West￯﾿ﾽproprietor of librarian.net and the ￯﾿ﾽhippest ex-librarian onthe Web￯﾿ﾽ according to Wired magazine￯﾿ﾽthe book looks at library models and more consumer-oriented models, examining a variety of services that rangefrom Ask Jeeves￯﾿ﾽ and Google Answers￯﾿ﾽ to your own reference desk and Web e-mail reference forms. Academic librarians and information specialistsshare their experiences￯﾿ﾽgood and bad￯﾿ﾽin starting, assessing, or ending AskA services and in working with collaborative reference tools and outsourcingreference services, and discuss the highs and lows of dealing with individual online services.

Digital versus Non-Digital Reference: Ask A Librarian Online and Offline chronicles the experiences and interactions of librarians with digitalreference, including case studies, how-to guides, and philosophical essays. The book￯﾿ﾽs contributors discuss their concerns about using the Internet asnot only a reference tool but as a reference medium that most libraries find inevitable to some degree. Topics include the political ramificationsof offsite or outsourced reference, the truth behind the assertion that ￯﾿ﾽit￯﾿ﾽs all available online,￯﾿ﾽ cultural and/or language barriers totext-based reference services, and patrons￯﾿ﾽ experiences with reference tools, from a librarian￯﾿ﾽs perspective.

Digital versus Non-Digital Reference: Ask A Librarian Online and Offlineaddresses:

policy, staffing and technology for telephone reference servicese-mail reference in public librariesthe University of Michigan￯﾿ﾽs Internet Public Libraryarchivists and remote users in the digital agesuccess and failure with commercial AskA programsthe history of Q and A NJ, New Jersey￯﾿ﾽs virtual reference servicemultilingual chat reference systemsthe ongoing debate over the value of digital referencethe case for nonintrusive reference

Digital versus Non-Digital Reference: Ask A Librarian Online and Offline is an invaluable resource for practitioners and academics on the appropriateassessment, technologies, and methods for successfully creating and operating human-mediated, Internet-based information services.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Douglas Cook

IMPRESSIVE. . . . The broad scope of this book will provide the reader with an overall view of the current technologies and issues related to reference services. Rather than focusing on one technology, the book takes an expansive view and includes chapters on the many facets of this topic. A variety of library types are covered: academic libraries, archives, law libraries, state systems, and large urban public libraries. — DEd, Reference Librarian, Shippensburg University

Jenny Tobias