The Internet is now one of the many resources that librarians use to assist readers with their enquiries. How useful it is depends on many factors, but there can be little doubt that it already plays a major part in reference and enquiry work. As participants in Project EARL’s Ask a Librarian, my staff reckon that some 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the enquiries we receive (via the Internet) can be answered by that self‐same Internet. This fact should give librarians comfort in that it shows that our mediating skills are still needed. Yet it also highlights the problem of using the Internet effectively. Now that, in the UK at least, public libraries are on course to provide free Internet access to all, the next challenge we face is to enable people to find on it what they want without our help. The Ask a Librarian scheme, and others of its ilk, also highlight the fact that our users can come from anywhere in the world. Our services need to adapt accordingly.
The “AskA” of the title of this book is a generic term to refer to digital reference services accessible via the Internet, such as Ask An Architect, Ask‐A‐Geologist, Ask The Paleontologist and Ask Dr.Math. These “digital reference services”, and others not necessarily beginning with the “AskA” prefix, aim to provide answers to questions submitted via the Internet:
Digital reference services are here defined as Internet‐based question‐and‐answer services that connect users with individuals who possess specialized subject or skill expertise. They are different from static Web pages since they use the Internet to place people in contact with people who can answer specific questions and instruct users on developing certain skills.
This book is intended as a guide to the building and maintaining of AskA services. It is based on the virtual reference desk (VRD) project, a project which is seeking to create a US national co‐operative digital reference service. VRD is sponsored by the National Library of Education and the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology, with support from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The VRD seeks to identify and provide the resources necessary to link students, educators and parents to the expertise needed to satisfy their information requirements. This includes finding information on the Internet and the development of a national collaborative network of Internet‐based question answering services.
This “Starter Kit” adopts a six‐step programme to enable the reader to create an AskA service. In classic pedagogic programme‐text mode:
Each module … describes one of six steps of the overall process and includes statements of goals and objectives for the reader to accomplish; information through explanation and practical examples (such as case studies); and opportunities for interaction (for example, work sheets).
The six modules are: informing (gathering information on the current digital reference scene); planning; training; prototyping (creating and testing AskA services in a controlled environment); contributing (operating and maintaining the AskA service); and evaluating.
The starter kit concludes with some final notes and a glimpse into the future of digital reference. The book has a glossary, a useful AskA service directory, references, and a bibliography. The background is North American “users of the K‐12 community”, which translates as:
… libraries, professional associations, government agencies, academic institutions, and companies that specialize in a given subject area or process.
Competently compiled and authoritatively guided, this work will be of value to anyone developing an Internet‐based enquiry service. I found the work somewhat over‐structured and over‐elaborate with constant and intrusive reminders of where we are, where we have been, and where we are going. The book is good but I did long for some content‐rich inspirational prose rather than byte‐sized paragraphs of the obvious. We must all welcome the development of “e‐reference”, but I do sometimes wonder whether the content of AskA and other Web‐based services justify all the hype, jargon and re‐invention of wheels that seem to be necessary. A revolution is taking place, however, and I welcome this book as a sober contribution to this revolution. While it may be frustrating to find the literate prose of yesteryear upstaged by the Webspeak, bullet points and netiquette of the new kids on the block, we are doing the same job and the principles remain. If this starter kit speaks their language, then may all thinking and caring members of the K‐12 AskA generation get stuck in and network like fury to find answers to the questions our punters ask! There are some cracking Websites here, though the 1998 date merits some caution.
