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[The Big Glee Bopper]

On Sat, 20 Jan 1996, C. W. Tazewell wrote:

>      The Internet Public Library has a Reference Desk that takes email 
> questions.  Select "Reference Desk" on the Tidewater Virginia Public 
> Libraries Home Page.

Thanks for the info Bill. What is the turn around time on your reference 
desk and when are the posted hours so I can get service which matches 
what I get on Kirkwood in Bloomington in Southern Indiana.

I once asked Joseph at the Michigan IPL "how to cook asparagus?" and
after a week he sent me mail back asking if I still needed the info. I
said 'no'. I knew this was a very tough question and I already knew that
at the _real_ reference desk the answer pops up in minutes. I was using
this as an example for a talk I did at National Online last spring about
agents, artificial intelligence, online reference and what libraries
really do. I don't think a 24 hour turn around is acceptable. Maybe 1/2
hour. 2 years ago I went down to CNN on a whim to see how they work. CNN
has been doing online reference for years. Their turn around is probably
10 minutes at the outside. When you are going to _air time_ and seconds
costs thousands of dollars ... 

This is why we are going to put a person _on line_ in the literal sense 
with posted hours et al. Just to see what happens and what it might mean.

Will keep you posted.

It is 2:26 pm eastern standard time in the US. The questions is: How do 
you cook asparagus? Tick, tock, ...

--Thom