Warren library service puts help an e-mail away

Real-time answers online are also available.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Need a five-letter word for rum cakes that starts with the letter "e"?
Not an appropriate use for the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library's e-mail answer service, librarians say.
Since e-mail reference service was inaugurated in 1999, reference librarian Laura Bates has answered about a dozen questions a month from patrons seeking old obituaries, newspaper clippings, the names of diseases and the titles of books.
"It's really no different than what we are asked every day at the desk," Bates said.
Web surfers can ask a question of Bates by clicking on the Ask-A-Librarian link on the library's home page at www.wtcpl.lib.oh.us.
Different name: The name was changed from CyberReference a few months after its launch because nobody could seem to understand what the first name meant, said Jan Vaughn, the library's public-relations coordinator.
"It is kind of neat," she said. "You can call; you can come in; you can e-mail."
About a year ago, the library also began offering real-time assistance through the Northeast Ohio Library Association. To get onto that site, www.askusquestions.com, users must provide a number off the back of their library cards.
What people ask: Questions Bates says she fields from the Internet are similar to what the reference librarians hear from walk-in customers, plus a lot of people seeking technical help.
Some questions -- for example, about how to get onto the library's Web site or renew a book online -- are asked often enough that Bates said she has written answers ready to go. All questions are answered within 48 hours.
People with more research-oriented questions are often guided to reputable Web sites that can help them out, she said.
Limits: There are some areas in which librarians are reluctant to get involved. Although Bates will steer people to the Internal Revenue Service's Web site, she declines to give tax advice. And medical definitions are OK, but she says she won't give a diagnosis.
Whether librarians will help you to finish the crossword or answer the trivia question for a radio question is another story.
"Sometimes you have a line of people waiting at the reference desk, then someone calls up for a three-letter word," said Rollie Welch, a librarian.