Got questions? Ask Away!
Library joins province-wide initiative
January 23, 2007
Angela Wiebe
Trinity Western University joined the ranks of more than two dozen post-secondary schools across the province last week with the launch of a new online library research service.
The initiative, called AskAway, is a government-funded pilot program designed to offer students increased access to library resources from both public and post-secondary libraries.
Offered through the library websites of 27 colleges and universities in B.C., students can log onto the shared network and ask questions of a librarian. A librarian is guaranteed to be online from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
“There’s no limits to what people can ask,” said TWU assistant librarian Shirley Lee, adding that librarians will walk through questions and problems with students through the network, offering them advice and referring them to specific resources.
“It’s about cooperating and sharing resources,” Lee said.
The program, however, does not give TWU students access to other school’s online journals, but instead points students to where they can find appropriate resources.
“It’s a seamless kind of referral service,” Lee noted.
Although the program launched at most schools in September, TWU’s library decided to hold off until the Jan. 15 spring semester start date, along with other small schools, such as Langara College, Capilano College, and the Emily Carr Institute.
“We wanted to see how the system works for other schools,” Lee said.
While the same program has been operating in select American schools for a number of years, Lee said this B.C. initiative is a first for Canada.
“It’s quite a unique service in Canada,” Lee said. “Libraries have not been able to afford this on their own.”
While operating costs of the year-long pilot program are taken care of by the provincial government, each participating school must join in staffing the initiative, on a scaled basis according to the size of a school’s population. With a student population under 5,000, TWU’s participation equals a guarantee of five staffing hours a week.
So far, TWU is the only private school participating.
“We were invited to join in the initiative, which is quite a testament to our library,” Lee said of the government-public university partnership.
AskAway is also found on most public library websites across the province.
The service, which has been available to TWU students for just over a week, will be accessible until April 6, when it will be decided whether or not the program will continue for the next school year.
To access AskAway, visit www.twu.ca/library.
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