About Ask Here PA:

1
About Ask Here PA For School Libraries
2
About Ask Here PA

• Ask Here PA is a service of the Office of
  Commonwealth Libraries, Pennsylvania Department
  of Education
• Managed by HSLC/Access PA

3
What is Ask Here PA?

• Statewide live chat reference service available
  24/7/365
• Free service for all residents of PA
• Utilizes the speed and convenience of the
  Internet with the information savvy of librarians

4
Why a Live Chat Service?

• Its instantaneous librarians meet students at
  their point of need
• Students can be anywhere
• In school, in home or in the library
• More library resources migrating online and
  students turn to Internet to find information

5
How does it Work?

• Students can log on to Ask Here PA from any
  computer with Internet access
• After you send your question a librarian will
  respond by typing an answer and showing you
  relevant Web sites
• Logon is anonymous students are only required to
  provide a screen name, question, and zip code

6
Ask Here PA in Action
7
Using Ask Here PA

• Ask Here PA is that easy to use!
• Live chat with a trained librarian
• Librarians can show students relevant resources
  available on the Web
• Nothing to install in schools or at home

8
After the Session

• Transcripts are reviewed for quality assurance by
  local and statewide Ask Here PA administrators.
• Users have the option to have a copy of their
  transcript e-mailed to them.

9
What can Ask Here PA provide for students?

• Provide a convenient service that can assist
  students with school work and projects
• In addition to the Internet, librarians use
  databases, electronic journals and other
  resources to provide the best information

10
Librarians Filter the Internet

• Librarians carefully review web sites found on
  the open Internet
• Evaluation Checklist
• Authority
• Purpose
• Current
• Objectivity v. bias
• Support

11
Who are the Students Chatting with?

• Ask Here PA is provided by professionally trained
  library staff
• Staff provide this service as part of their
  employment with the library they are employed by
• Sessions are reviewed by statewide and local
  library administrators

12
What kinds of questions can Ask Here PA answer?

• Ask Here PA is designed to answer questions of
  any kind
• I need some help with research for my science
  fair project.
• What were the causes of the Civil War?"
• How do I find good magazine articles about
  Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald?
• What animals in PA are on the endangered species
  list?

13
What about Homework Help?

• Library staff are trained to recognize do my
  work for me homework questions and are
  instructed to provide resources that will help
  the student learn the material

14
How long does it take to get an answer?

• Most questions can be answered within 5 - 15
  minutes.
• The librarian may simply provide the information
  and/or show the student how to find the answer
  for future use.

15
Customer Comments

• It is a great help. I have used it in Elem.
  School. Now I am in middle so it helps me now
  better than ever! I love this website!
• It was so easy! My world history teacher told us
  about this but I was skeptical of using it at
  845 Saturday night. Thankfully there was a very
  nice librarian here to help! He gave me more
  information then I could have hoped for! Thanks
  again!!

16
More Customer Comments

• As a parent that is mathematically challenged,
  this service is a godsend! I was at the end of my
  rope and remembered that my daughter's librarian
  at school had mentioned this service so I thought
  anything was worth a try.
• Wonderful service - I spend an hour searching for
  what I needed and the Librarian found what I
  needed in 4 minutes - thanks so much!
• More customer comments online atwww.askherepa.or
  g/customer_comments.htm

17
To use Ask Here PA go towww.AskHerePA.org