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Recent Web sessions and recorded presentations

Topic and brief descriptionDate recorded
Community Outreach with QuestionPoint
Programs and events offered through virtual reference are a cost-effective way for UK public libraries to engage with their community. The users do not need to visit the library in order to fully participate, and in many cases the speakers are offsite as well. Not only does this raise the profile of the library - it can open up many intriguing ways to collaborate with community leaders, artists and subject experts, regardless of their location. And it can be a lot of fun, too! Presented by Joanne John, coordinator of the UK's national virtual reference service, Enquire.		 August 18, 2011
Get your virtual reference team ready with QuestionPoint
Glorian Sipman, California Community Colleges Group Administrator, discusses how MiraCosta College Libraries use QuestionPoint to provide 24/7 live reference support to students and faculty. Lauri McIntosh, OCLC Product and Services Consultant, provides an overview of the reference service, highlighting easy-to-use widgets, e-mail support and texting options.		 April 14, 2011
Boost your reference service with QuestionPoint
Learn how QuestionPoint 24/7 Cooperative helps you meet your users at their point of need with chat reference services, easy-to-use- widgets, e-mail support and texting options. Get an overview of the features and benefits of QuestionPoint, including the searchable knowledge base for both staff and users. Hear how you can use QuestionPoint as a stand alone solution or as a part of a group solution. 		October 21, 2010
ALA Annual Program:  24/7 Reference Cooperative Celebrates 10th Anniversary, with Nancy Huling and Marie L. Radford

QuestionPoint’s 24/7 Reference Cooperative looks back on the successes and challenges of 10 years of cooperative virtual reference. Susan McGlamery (24/7 Reference Cooperative manager) and Nancy Huling (University of Washington, QuestionPoint User Council chair and 2009 Mudge Award recipient for distinguished contributions to reference) review the state of the Cooperative from its start in July 200 with 3 libraries in Los Angeles to is current membership of nearly 1,500 libraries in the US and UK. Marie L. Radford (Rutgers University and 2010 Mudge Award recipient) leads a discussion of how trends such as mobile technology, social networking and scarce resources will shape the future of virtual reference services.

June 26, 2010
QuestionPoint Goes Mobile and beyond

QuestionPoint's latest enhancements provide more opportunities for libraries to reach out to their users. The Qwidget (QuestionPoint's chat widget) is now accessible on selected mobile devices and on Facebook. This live Web information session overviewed QuestionPoint's Mobile Webkit, expanded Qwidget customization options, and our new knowledge base Web service. It also
included discussions about our collaboration with Text a Librarian and plans for incorporating SMS texting into QuestionPoint.

QuestionPoint provides a complete reference management system incorporating chat, e-mail, knowledge base and administrative tools. Libraries may also participate in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative to provide live 24-hour service to their users

 February 24, 2010
Best Practices in Virtual Reference: Making the Case for Virtual Reference
Panelists share tips and best practices for communicating the value of virtual reference to stakeholders, whether they are grant funders or potential subscribing libraries. 		January 17, 2010
QuestionPoint Case Study recordings  [, ]
Short recordings providing brief overviews of how the referenced libraries use QuestionPoint. 		October 05, 2009
Best Practices in Virtual Reference: Panel  [Streaming video, 1:27:00]
 July 11, 2009
Best Practices in Virtual Reference    [3 Streaming video segments, 00:52:24]

A panel presented two innovative approaches to improving reference service for our users: building a better search engine using the knowledge of reference librarians, and building a multilingual, multinational reference service.  Presentations by David Lankes, director of the Information Institute of Syracuse, and Paul Ulrich, Berlin Central and Regional Library are followed by a discussion with speakers and participants.

 January 24, 2009
Best practices in virtual reference
A panel presented two innovative approaches to improving reference service for our users: building a better search engine using the knowledge of reference librarians, and building a multilingual, multinational reference service.  Presentations by David Lankes, director of the Information Institute of Syracuse, and Paul Ulrich, Berlin Central and Regional Library are followed by a discussion with speakers and participants.		 January 24, 2009
QuestionPoint: Take a Second Look  [WMV, 00:45:25]

QuestionPoint is a unique reference management service that provides tools for libraries to interact with their users (chat and e-mail), enhanced by the global network of QuestionPoint libraries worldwide. Membership in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative is available, which provides libraries with the ability to provide live chat reference services to their users, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

View this recorded webinar and learn how QuestionPoint helps you and your users:

  • Take the library to the user
  • Open more doors to your library
  • 24/7 help for 24/7 resources
  • Integrated management of your reference services
  • Provide the best answers from experts around the world, or within your network
 January 21, 2009
QuestionPoint Qwidget: providing a new user experience to the library virtual reference service
Curious about Qwidget? Join us for an informative discussion with librarians who have taken the plunge and put the QuestionPoint Qwidget up on their library websites. Our speakers are from a large university, a community college, and a public library, and will discuss aspects of deploying the Qwidget, including: where the Qwidget is placed on the website (library catalog, library guides, etc); promotion; response from users (including usage statistics), and any issues with the Qwidget.

Our speakers are:

  • Virginia Cole, Reference and Digital Services Librarian, Cornell University Library
  • Kim LaPlante, Library Manager, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
  • Toby Thomas, Virtual Services Librarian, Seattle Public Library
October 01, 2008
Promoting virtual reference services (beyond bookmarks)
Virtual reference services reach out to bring the library to the user, and the most successful promotional activities go where the user is to promote these services. This Web session featured two of the most innovative publicity campaigns for virtual reference services:
  • Beth Cackowski (project coordinator of New Jersey's statewide service QandANJ.org) spoke about the QandANJ.org ad on MTV; and
  • Diana Sachs-Silveira (project coordniator of Florida's Ask a Librarian service) discussed "The Director's Chair", a YouTube contest in which Florida high school students produce a commercial for the Ask A Librarian service.
 November 15, 2007
Eliminating barriers to service with lightweight chat
This Web session explored how libraries can provide reference services to all users, including those using screen readers or other assistive technologies, with a focus on QuestionPoint's new lightweight patron chat ("Chat 2").		 September 19, 2007