Dutch Public Libraries Now Using QuestionPoint

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 07 April 2003  – More than 50 public libraries in the Netherlands are now using QuestionPoint, the collaborative virtual reference service developed by the Library of Congress and OCLC. QuestionPoint combines a local reference solution with a global reference resource sharing network to provide a cooperative, comprehensive and cost-effective service.

QuestionPoint helps librarians track and manage questions from patrons through a growing network of reference librarians around the world. Library patrons can submit questions at any time of the day or night through their library’s Web site. QuestionPoint questions are answered online by library staff from the patron’s own library or may be routed to another participating library. Libraries can contribute to and search local and global databases of question-and-answer pairs edited by contributing libraries, reviewed and updated regularly.

With QuestionPoint tools, libraries can create a locally branded and customized service to meet the unique needs of patrons. Staffs from OCLC PICA and NBLC, the Netherlands Association of Public Libraries, have been customizing QuestionPoint to serve Dutch libraries by translating screens, converting existing data to be included in the local knowledge base, and writing Dutch user documentation. The Dutch version of QuestionPoint is known as Al@din. Al@din is integrated with other services on the Dutch Public Libraries Web site www.bibliotheek.nl in an effort to get all public libraries working together and to maintain a high level of service throughout the country.

"As a collaborative reference service, Al@din will enable librarians throughout the Netherlands to share resources and expertise with each other-and with their patrons," said Rein van Charldorp, managing director of OCLC PICA. "As a result of this effort, Dutch public libraries will build a knowledge base that will help provide them with comprehensive answers to some questions that might be of particular interest to library users in the Netherlands." Over the next three years, 600 public libraries in the Netherlands are expected to use Al@din, the Dutch version of QuestionPoint.

About OCLC

Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit organization that provides computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing and preservation services to 43,000 libraries in 86 countries and territories. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

OCLC PICA is based in Leiden, the Netherlands. More than 200 libraries use the OCLC PICA cataloging and interlibrary loan system to catalog approximately one million items and send 500,000 interlibrary loan requests each year. More information is at www.oclcpica.org.

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QuestionPoint is a service mark of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. OCLC is a registered trademark of OCLC.