[Web4lib] Mahalo Answers - The latest commercial virtual reference wrinkle

[B.G. Sloan]

Mahalo.com has introduced Mahalo Answers. It's sort of like Google Answers and Yahoo! Answers, and all the other earlier web-based services that have attempted to fill the same Q&A niche that library virtual reference services could be filling:

http://www.mahalo.com/answers

If you can't figure out exactly what Mahalo Answers is trying to do when you go to the above URL, there is hope. Jason Calcanis (Mahalo's CEO) has done a "why-we-did-this" entry for his blog:

http://calacanis.com/2008/12/15/why-we-built-mahalo-answers/

Bernie Sloan
Sora Associates
Bloomington, IN