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Instant online reference source killed. Rural BC will miss it, says Fort Nelson librarian.
Answer providing program deleted by education ministry.
BC Books Online takes the idea of a digital public library to a whole new level.
'If you are planning a kids' event... approach McDonald's and not another well-known fast-food outlet,' instructs memo.
This is the day B.C.'s libraries pull the plug on the AskAway! Program, which let patrons from all over the province ask questions of librarians online, in real time, and receive an immediate answer.
The provincial plan for libraries and literacy, set out in Gordon Campbell's 2004 strategic planning document Libraries Without Walls, was to bring the "world within the reach" of anyone with Internet access (and a card to a B.C. library).
Back then, Campbell was optimistic about the potential for digital technologies to promote reading in B.C. He described libraries as "the front lines in the effort to make British Columbia one of the most literate places in the world."
AskAway, launched in 2006, fit Campbell's stated overall goal for Libraries Without Walls, to "facilitate equitable access to information for all British Columbians."
"By putting the knowledge and resources of librarians online, said then Minister of Education Shirley Bond, "AskAway will help make B.C. the best educated, most literate jurisdiction in North America."
Four years and 130,000 questions later, the program will end today, June 30, due to a withdrawal of funding by the ministry of education.
School children used service the most
Those most affected by AskAway's closure likely will be B.C. school children in grades five to 12, who asked most of the questions fielded through the virtual reference service.
Ending the AskAway program also will change the way residents in rural B.C. access library resources.
Readers who can visit the many library locations in the Lower Mainland may not have been aware that AskAway even existed, but patrons in more far-flung regions of the province are more likely to miss it when it is gone.
At the Fort Nelson library, the northernmost branch in B.C., librarian Linda Novotny noted that "people were extremely grateful" for the "little lifeline" AskAway offered.
In that community of about 5,000 residents, the library has an impressive collection of 40,000 books. Even so, "we're fairly isolated," explained Novotny, and "AskAway gave another outlet, another resource" for patrons needing assistance.
Novotny, who answered questions and provided instant, remote assistance to library users from all over B.C., said that in Fort Nelson, where the next library is in Fort St. John -- 371 long kilometres away -- the "one-on-one help will be missed."
Students took advantage of the real-time homework help from a librarian the program offered, and adults also used AskAway, Novotny said.
The librarian used the service herself to get a second expert opinion to complement her own when faced with a particularly difficult or specialized question from a patron. AskAway connected readers and librarians, but also connected librarians with one another, Novotny noted.
'The world has changed'
But some say the rise of other social media tools have made AskAway less necessary.
Shelagh Flaherty, the director of the Central Library for the Vancouver Public Library, said "the world has changed since we started this program," and pointed out other methods by which patrons can connect with library staff.
While AskAway will no longer be available, questions can still be submitted and answered remotely by email or over the phone by librarians at any branch in B.C.
And libraries are working hard to offer other forms of virtual reference, Flaherty said.
Recently, readers have sent in questions through the VPL's Facebook and Twitter feeds, and most B.C. libraries have improved their websites since the launch of AskAway, Flaherty said.
When The Tyee checked the @askawaybc feed on Twitter this week, it was full of enthusiastic testaments to the usefulness of the program.
Said one: "[AskAway] helps me make the most of my time and exposes some of the wonders of the info resources in B.C. libraries."
Another post describes the value of the service to users outside of the Lower Mainland: "This week [AskAway] served callers from: Lwr Mainland, Van Island, Sunshine Coast, Thompson Nicola, Prince George, Okanagan, Dawson Creek, Cariboo."
And among the very last @askawaybc's Twitter posts was this one:
"It's official. *sniff* BC Public Library AskAway will cease on June 30 at 5pm. We'll sure miss serving you, BC." ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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Name
2 years ago
Very sad - school libraries are also being decimated!
...school libraries are one of the areas hardest hit in the recent wave of public education cuts across BC.
This website has more info on the education cuts and school library cuts in particular:
http://stopeducationcuts.org/communities/school-libraries/
MacKenna
2 years ago
And Harper kills the long Census form.
Yes, our country is rapidly heading into no man's land where the ignorant, illiterate, and uneducated rule.
Bailey
2 years ago
Yes, Canada leads the way to the future!
I don't think it's so much a matter of the ignorant ruling, I think it's more that the rulers prefer to rule the ignorant, illiterate and uneducated. They're less likely to twig when they're being sold a load of bull.
Selling bull is more and more the technique of choice among our elitist government, that and the absolute commitment to keeping the very richest from having to pay any taxes at all for any purpose of social good.
This seems like the most likely explanation for the choices of which programs to cut. Anything the very wealthiest don't themselves actually need.
Medicine? They can go to the States privately.
Education? Their children wouldn't use public schools really, now would they, and have to associate with the poor just willy nilly like that.
Social programs? Please.
Poverty? Hunger? Homelessness?
Let them eat cake.
myworld2
2 years ago
Cost?
I saw no mention of the cost or the gov't's rationale for cutting this program.
It is amazing how many things we can no longer afford in this country and province since the so-called business class gained complete control of our economy during the past couple of decades. I fear that younger people who do not remember the past will think this unaffordability is normal.
Theophilus
2 years ago
rea librarians are not twitter
I work as one of the College Askaway librarians. It is a great job and I don't think that email or twitter or FB really replace AA. it is interactive and the conversation I have with students saves so much time, time that students do not have to spare to go through an email interchange. The cutting of the service is more evidence of the corruption of this administration.
They have lost any sense of the greater good.
zalm
2 years ago
On the flip side
Libraries have developed so many more linkages now than ever before, that if you need a resource from somewhere in BC, in Canada, or even elsewhere in the world, that someone else owns, you can probably get your hands on it, either itslef in your hands, or a good copy complete in every detail, in less than a couple of weeks.
I remember being captivated by the Koerner cermaics exhibit at the Museum of Anthropology back in 2006 or so, courtesy of a learned visitor from Europe who was stunned at the wide-ranging and historic value of the collection. He evoked a desire to learn more about the methods and styles in the collection. Most texts and resources about the ceramics were not available at the really-quite-professional library service here in Vancouver, or even through inter-library loan from UBC. Instead, a private collection in Toronto and a title in McGill's library gave me all the detail I needed to write two articles on this truly superior collection.
This simply couldn't have been done when I was at UBC in the 1970s. If you were a grad student at the time, you might be able to get an obscure book from another university library, but public-library trades were only in their infancy then. And private collections? Fugeddaboutit.
Information truly wants to be free, and I'm truly sorry this program was axed, even if I never made use of it. But I have no doubt that all the collective ignorance of the legislative branch cannot withstand the pressure of a good thirst for knowledge. Something else will come along. Perhaps Shannon Smart will help bring it about.
ASKBiblitz.com
2 years ago
Wall Street banker librarians have priced themselves out of jobs
Librarians, like most B.C. unions, have mistaken themselves for rock stars or Wall Street bankers, demanding huge salaries and a min. no. of staff who must be present at all times such that even tiny libraries like West Point Grey most often boast two or three staff in the office, one at check-out and one on the floor replacing items on shelves as well as a ref. librarian at the front desk. Ridiculous! Surely two people are more than enough even at the busiest times!
Lately, I read that VPL has employed a marketing director, director suggesting there must also be a staff of underlings. Why, for goodness sake? Public libraries are not hedge funds, though no one apparently has informed library staff.
Any challenge regarding library closures/service cuts should be directed not to the politicians funding public libraries but to the greedy-guts union membership with a hugely inflated sense of self-worth. Happily, they have now priced themselves right out of jobs. Good riddance!
If the truth be told, as it rarely is on these matters, VPL's cataloguing service, in spite of such an excess of able bodies, is appallingly deficient as is the organization of material at Central branch.
ASKBiblitz.com
2 years ago
Askaway the library workers union about their salries
Any question regarding library cuts should be directed not just at politicians but at union library workers, who have somehow mistaken themselves for rock stars or Wall Street bankers. Have you seen the average salary or examined terms in the collective agmt regarding the min. number of workers who must be on the floor at all times?
VPL recently acquired a marketing director, if you please, presumably with a staff of employees who report to her. Why, for goodness sake? The public library is not a business. Taxpayers would be right to resent such an excess. Are there others?
Why are there so many - usually five - library employees working even at tiny libraries like West Point Grey? Surely two is more than sufficient even at the busiest times.
Time to reconsider which library services are truly essential and scrap the rest at least until the economy improves.
ASKBiblitz.com
2 years ago
Askaway about the cost of so many library workers
Any question regarding library cuts should be directed not just at politicians but at union library workers, who have somehow mistaken themselves for rock stars or Wall Street bankers. Have you seen the average salary or examined terms in the collective agmt regarding the min. number of workers who must be on the floor at all times?
VPL recently acquired a marketing director, if you please, presumably with a staff of employees who report to her. Why, for goodness sake? The public library is not a business. Taxpayers would be right to resent such an excess. Are there others?
Why are there so many - usually five - library employees working even at tiny libraries like West Point Grey? Surely two is more than sufficient even at the busiest times.
Time to reconsider which library services are truly essential and scrap the rest at least until the economy improves
snert
2 years ago
Wkipedia killed the service.
Nothing else is needed unless one is doing serious research which needs impeccable reference sources which may or may not be found at the local library.
That being said there is still a need for well stocked libraries as not everyone has Internet access.
zalm
2 years ago
I dunno...
Firehall branch has one librarian on duty, and two LA IIIs or Vs (clerks). And a volunteer who reads to people sometimes.
And if I read the CUPE contract aright, the clerks make $22.39 an hour. Got a problem with a living wage?
http://www.lrb.bc.ca/cas/WRX10.pdf
John Greg
2 years ago
ASKBiblitz.com
Nonsense. Everything you said, sheer nonsense.
And as zalm has pointed out, do you have a problem with a living wage? If you think $22 per hour is a rock star wage, let alone unwarranted, you are deluded, utterly deluded.
To become a librarian, not the low paid helpers on the floor, but an actual librarian requires taking an intensive two year college course, which is expensive, followed by several years working on-call, limited hours, as a low paid floor helper before you luck out and find a position in a library usually far, far away from where you live. And all that for the princely wage of $22 per hour.
ASKBiblitz.com, you really have no idea at all about what you're talking about, so why don't you stuff-n-puff it.
myworld2
2 years ago
ASKBiblitz
You did not mention which aspect of a collective agreement you are bothered by.
I hope that you are not bothered by working people making a good living and having good working conditions. The labour movement has fought hard for years for these things and wants the same for you. Unless we prefer two economic classes, very rich and very poor, we need to support all working people in winning their share of the wealth; After all, we create the wealth. The corporates wring their hands in glee when they see the working classes attaching each other's employment benefits.
JadedFaded
2 years ago
ASKBIblitz: Pull yer head out already
@ASKBiblitz: Just so's ya know: Yer a moron. That marketing director position you're whining about in your anti-union diatribe (still can't find a job and now your mom's gonna throw you out, so let's blame it on the unions, huh?) was created by management and will be an exempt position-- in other words, you know-nothing, it's gonna be a management position, too. And yeah, the position will probably pay about 100K. VPL managers pay themselves very well indeed.The soon-to-retire City Librarian, Paul Whitney, pulls down over $230K. Meanwhile, starting union positions (part-time shelvers) pay about $16/hr. No one at VPL below management level is getting rich, believe me. Ask anyone who pounded the pavement for three months during the '07 strike, only to see their numbers decimated ever since, with, in most departments in Central Branch, one full-time low-level clerical carrying a workload that used to be done by four or five... Ah, why waste my time. I used to think it was worthwhile to engage dicks like you in dialogue. Now I just feel like telling you to perform an impossible anatomical act. And oh yeah: Stop lying about the working classes. Go out and get a job instead.
zalm
2 years ago
Interestingly...
I know four librarians - two at UBC and two in Vancouver and Burnaby. All have their Masters of Library Science (7 years) and one has a Doctorate. And I know one more who has his doctorate and got out and went to Chilliwack as the Archivist. I'm not aware of anyone who got a job with a 2-year diploma, unfortunately, because the Masters degrees are largely going to waste, especially in the municipal system.
Incidentally, none drives a Lexus....
John Greg
2 years ago
zalm ...
Thanks for that. Here I thought I was being a pedantic hard ass know-it-all talking about the rigours of the two year Quantlen college program. And stupid me didn't even pause to think about the real deal.
Agains, thanks for the info. I had been thinking I might try the college program, although I thought it would be a serious challenge at 53 to commit to two years of full time study. But I know I could never do a Masters.
Oh well. Another hopeful plan for the future bites the dust. Here I come Walmart, or Book Warehouse, or some such slave-wage king of commerce.
/crawls back into the morass of ever-increasing uselessness and the glowing incoming life of poverty and mac 'n' cheese
zalm
2 years ago
Do it, John Greg
...because you love books and knowledge, and want everyone else to love them as much as you do.
Or there's no point. I'm pretty sure your fulfillment won't be found as a Walmart greeter.
John Greg
2 years ago
LOL!
Indeed!