AskMN Welcomes New Libraries!

AskMN welcomes seven new libraries to its collaborative virtual reference service! Joining the 31 libraries currently participating in AskMN are:

• Ridgewater College
• North Hennepin Community College
• Inver Hills Community College
• North Central University
• Anoka Tech College
• Hennepin Tech College
• Willmar Public Library

The libraries are in the process of training and will go live with the service over the summer. AskMN now has 38 libraries and library systems participating across Minnesota. One advantage that many of the libraries see with adding AskMN to their suite of services is having librarians continuously available for their patrons, especially when local library staff are not there to assist their own patrons. We welcome these libraries and look forward to working with them in the cooperative .  

OCLC Webinar Series: Best Practices in Virtual Reference

Carla Pfahl I had the pleasure to work with Merrie Davidson, University of St. Thomas, to present a webinar for OCLC for their Best Practices in Virtual Reference series. The session was “Engaging with Patrons Online” and it occurred on Friday, June 14th. There were over 147 registrants from the U.S., U.K. and Australia! Participants were very enthusiastic. Preliminary feedback noted that they found the session informative and applicable to their daily work with virtual reference. Merrie and I thoroughly enjoyed working together and appreciated the opportunity to reach such a wide audience. A recording of the “Engaging with Patrons Online” webinar is available online.