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According to Stephen Francoeur, who coordinates Baruch's participation in the Ask a Librarian program, the online questions submitted range from "How do I renew borrowed books?" to seeking sources on New Mexico's aliens—yes, from outer space. Here's a sampling of recent queries:
"Hello, I am looking for data on mass privatization in Russia from 1992 to 1995."
"I am writing a research paper on slave life in New York. I searched using
Academic Search Premier but can't find anything. Can you help me?"
"I am looking for an article for which I found just an abstract on ABI. It's from
Employment News, April 4-10, 1998, vol. 23, issue 1. I believe it is published in New Delhi, India."
"I am researching movie pirating and am wondering which journals might cover this topic."
"I need to get information on education and schooling in Hong Kong."
"I would like to find some information on Area 51 and alien activities."
"I need to find information about social and economic conditions in China in the 1920s."
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Let's say you're a student or even a faculty member doing research, and you're trying to figure out where to look for the information you need. Let's also say it's well past midnight, because you work into the wee hours. Doesn't matter where or when, if you're a student or staff member at Baruch, you have access to a librarian who can help you direct your search 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, online.
The program is called, appropriately enough, Ask a Librarian. It's a joint venture (officially known as the 24-7 Academic Reference Cooperative) begun in California and now operating nationwide, with about 70 participating colleges and universities, including the Cal State colleges, Baruch, Boston University, Brigham Young, and Tufts.
According to Stephen Francoeur, the Baruch librarian who administers the program for our college, the idea of the cooperative began in the Cal State system. Online chat software of the type one encounters when dealing with retailers or service providers online is expensive, with fees reaching $20,000 per year. The Ask a Librarian program enables the colleges to share the software for a considerably reduced annual fee (under $5,000) and share the burdens, too, of answering online questions. Each library pledges five hours a week of a live librarian on the system answering questions. During the overnight and holiday hours when none of the libraries are staffed, the cooperative has a group of freelance research librarians who stand in, usually from their homes.
Right now, says Francoeur, Baruch handles 15 to 20 online inquiries per day. The College started its own online chat reference program (not on a 24-7 schedule, however) in 2001, upgraded it in 2002, and joined the cooperative in 2003. Each librarian on the system has access to the library Web pages at the other schools, so that a Tufts student, for instance, can be directed to the resources that are specifically available on that library's site.
As we are talking by phone, a ping goes off on Francoeur's end of the line: "Here comes an inquiry now," he says. He reads: "'I need to find books on the scope of the British prime minister's power.'" We decide to hang up and talk again later, leaving Francoeur free to help the student. —VP
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