QuestionPoint

The library recently joined eighteen other Wisconsin libraries in the pilot project, QuestionPoint. What is QuestionPoint? It is a collaborative reference service that the Library of Congress and OCLC Online Computer Library Center worked together to develop. When fully implemented, QuestionPoint will allow library patrons to ask reference questions and have them answered even if they cannot visit the library. A patron can click on the “Ask A Librarian” link on the Appleton library’s homepage (www.apl.org) and then has a choice to submit a question via an email form or to participate in a live chat session with a librarian. The Wisconsin libraries who are part of the QuestionPoint consortium have agreed to have a librarian available to answer chat questions for specific times throughout the day and evening hours. Questions are routed based on which library in Wisconsin is currently monitoring chat. Each library gives a small amount of time but the collective provides broad coverage for patrons. All of the email requests for information submitted through the library site are handled by Appleton Library Reference staff.

At the end of each transaction, the questions and responses are stripped of personal information and become part of a global knowledge database that is searchable by patrons and staff. Librarians from all over the United States and the world who are participating in QuestionPoint are adding information to this collective database. Libraries envision this database becoming THE Source for information on the web. The information in the database will be “librarian certified” for quality and accuracy.