Got Questions? Get Answers at Ask Montana!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 17, 2008
Contact: Sara Groves
(406) 444-5357
(HELENA) -- It’s late Sunday night and your library is closed. But your research paper is due tomorrow morning and you still have two more sources to find. Where do you turn? Ask Montana!
Ask Montana is the place to go to get free, fast, real-time help from a professional librarian. And best of all, it's available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!
Ask Montana works by using real-time chat and Web page sharing between the librarian and the student. Through Ask Montana, students can get answers to questions, help with research projects, and referrals to the sources of information needed anytime they need it. Students are emailed a transcript of the chat session for reference purposes.
"Ask Montana is just another way that Montana libraries are working to serve their patrons in unique ways," said Darlene Staffeldt, Montana State Librarian. "With Ask Montana, if the library doors are closed, people can still access a real librarian and get help finding the quality information they need whenever they need it."
"We are pleased to offer such an amazing service as Ask Montana to all residents of our state," said Staffeldt. "Ask Montana! is truly a unique library service. It combines "in person" and "online" to create the ultimate search engine – your own personal librarian available anytime of the day or night."
Ask Montana works by using QuestionPoint, which was developed by OCLC Online Computer Library Center, the Library of Congress, and the 24/7 Reference Cooperative. This global network of librarians enables questions to be referred to local, national, and international experts for further follow-up when appropriate. This means that if an Ask Montana patron has an obscure question about New Zealand, their answer could actually come from an expert in New Zealand.
Funding for Ask Montana is provided by a consortium of local Montana libraries and a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and is administered by the Montana State Library.
To try the service or to see additional information about Ask Montana, please visit: http://askmontana.org.
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