QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

Did you know . . .

That the Global Knowledge Base has over 20,000 searchable records in it?

In fact, as of this writing (19 February), it has 20,061 searchable records, contributed by some 180 libraries. Thanks to all our editors, who have helped get us to this milestone, and special kudos to editor Sybil Finemel, who activated the 20,000^th record.

We know of no database of its kind—answers provided by librarians worldwide—to come near this in volume. Although most of the records are in the English language, the 20,061 do include records in 10 other languages.

Dr. David Lankes, of the Syracuse Information Institute, said “[This milestone] shows the great things that can happen when libraries work together. Of course, for me, I see it as a down payment on the promise of reference in a digital age. The Global Knowledge Base is really a foundation for a new reference.”

The QuestionPoint wiki lists several Questions of Note at http://wiki.questionpoint.org/GKB-Questions-of-Note. However, what is currently posted there just gives a taste of the variety of information you can find from work other librarians have already done. These are also examples of excellent reference service.

The institutions that have contributed answers we find in the GKB include special libraries, as well as public, academic, and research libraries. Contributions have come from, to name just a few, the Alzheimer’s Association Green-Field Library (Chicago), the Smithsonian American Art Museum, InfoEyes, and several national libraries, including 22 reading rooms of the Library of Congress, the National Library of Australia, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of the Netherlands, and state libraries in Russia and Germany. Although many institutions have answered questions routed to them via the Global Reference Network, special mention should be made of Carnegie Mellon University and Texas Tech, who have answered by far the most questions from the GRN; thus, they are well represented in the GKB.

The New York Public Library, Smithsonian American Art Institute, and Enquire service (UK) imported a great many records from their preexisting Q&A databases into the GKB. Of manual submittals to the GKB, the New York Public Library continues to top the list with 769 records in 2008 alone. They are followed closely by the Bpi Bibliothèque publique d’information (Paris), which submitted 410 records last year that were activated.

Of the almost 16,000 records assigned a subject category (it is not a required field), almost 2,300 were in History (general, worldwide, and American), the single largest subject area in the GKB. The next largest category is the Social Sciences, followed by Fine Arts, then Bibliography and Library Science, and then Technology. Below is another sampler of questions that are answered in the GKB. Most responses are gold mines of web sites and other resources in the subject area.

Is it safe to drink from plastic bottles? (KBID 175718)

Patron needs a drawing/schematic of the inside of an M978 Hemtt Tank. (KBID 95744)

Where can I find movies for a blind friend? (KBID 96733)

What are the duties, regulations, etc., of a Privacy Officer in a nursing home? (KBID 13768)

What are the main U.S. laws governing science, technology, and innovation? (KBID 22977)

 

If you would like to become an editor of the Global Knowledge Base, please contact Paula Rumbaugh at rumbaugh@oclc.org.

Knowledge Base Tips

Did you know . . .

that you can use FirstSearch to help you tag KB records so they are more searchable? The knowledge base feature offers you ways to classify records--using broad classification schemes ultimately helps the searcher to narrow an otherwise unwieldy search to manageable proportions. It can be a way to limit a search to the most appropriate material.

You can also assign keywords from FirstSearch in the Keyword field--we’ll talk about why and how you can effectively use this field in another tips session, but for this session, let’s treat the subject in terms of using FirstSearch to help make a record more searchable.

In WorldCat, a database in the FirstSearch base package, much of the cataloging of titles is available for the user to see. The cataloging elements are presented in a format the non-cataloger can understand, of course. One can usually see classification numbers for both the Library of Congress system and for the Dewey system. Since the KB currently offers tagging only in the LCC system, many QuestionPoint libraries opt to not use this feature at all—many of our users don’t use LCC in their libraries so they may not feel proficient in using it; or they may not want to spend the extra time it takes to root around in an unfamiliar system, looking for the right class to assign.

But rather than let an opportunity to improve searching odds slip by, here is a way to make classification easy for the non-cataloger. If the answering librarian has mentioned a book or a periodical title in the answer, you can look up that title in WorldCat in FS, check the class number assigned when it was cataloged, and assign the first two letters of the number to the KB record, using the drop-down menu supplied for that purpose. Even if a specific title wasn’t suggested in the answer, you can try searching WorldCat for keywords that describe the Q&A’s subject, open up a likely looking title in the results list, and see how that was classified when cataloged.

Likewise, take a look at the subject headings that were assigned to cataloged items. This is an easy way to assign keywords in the KB Keyword field to simulate controlled vocabulary indexing. Or they can be used as a kind of thesaurus, so the Keyword field can hold terms other than those that actually appear in the question and answer text fields. The Keyword field is also indexed, so anything that appears in it is searchable by end users of the knowledge base. This is another way to not only help increase the searching odds, but to also limit a search to the most precise results.

Following are a series of screen images illustrating how one QuestionPoint librarian tagged a newly submitted Q&A, activated it as a new KB record, and searched it the following day. First she logged into FirstSearch and searched WorldCat for one of the titles the answering librarian cited. When she opens that title from the FS results list, she sees the LC Subject Headings that were assigned, and she sees the title was assigned the LC Class number E98.A84. When she uses the link for “Add/Edit Subject,” she finds E75-99 in the drop-down menu. That’s all the deeper in the classification hierarchy she can go, so she selects that, adds and saves it, and returns to the record she’s editing.

 

 

 

 

 

She also notes the controlled vocabulary (LC Subject Headings, or LCSH) that was assigned to describe the title, and selects the most likely one to put in the Keyword field.

 

Look how she was able to very precisely pinpoint that record the next day by searching.

All members of the 24/7 Cooperative have access to WorldCat via FirstSearch.  If your library is not a member of the Cooperative and does not subscribe to FirstSearch, you can still use WorldCat.org to see the subject headings that have been assigned to titles. In WorldCat.org you can also search by subject.

 

If you have any questions about how to search QuestionPoint knowledge bases, or if you would like to become an editor of the Global Knowledge Base, please contact Paula Rumbaugh at rumbaugh@oclc.org.

Did You Know . . .

that searching in the QuestionPoint Knowledge Bases can actually be quite sophisticated? As with the popular web search engines, a simple search box is deceptive: you can enter simple keyword(s) or you can enter keywords in various ways that tell the search engine just how to search (or not search) for those words.

Actually, you get some pretty good results by just entering keywords. The QP search engine defaults to an AND operator between more than one keyword, giving a broad, but not the broadest possible, interpretation to a multiword search term.

Take the term United Kingdom for example. If you were to enter united kingdom in the box on the Basic Search page and check just QP Global Reference Network as the KB you want to search, you would get 360 hits (as of 19 January 2009). This means 360 KB records have both the word united and the word kingdom somewhere in the text of the question, answer, and/or keyword fields. You can check that out by entering united AND kingdom in the Basic Search box (put AND in all capitals so it’s not mistaken for a word to search) or going to the Advanced Search page and entering united kingdom in the first field, labeled “Find Questions with all of the words.”

Another common searching syntax used by the general public with web search engines is to place a multiword term in quotation marks: “united kingdom”. This tells the engine to chug up only records where the two words are adjacent to one another, that is, it’s a phrase. This cuts things back a bit, though not by much—352 hits. So of those 360 records found before, only 8 were using the two words in some context other than the collection of countries known as the United Kingdom. For users not familiar with the quotation convention to specify a phrase, the Advanced Search page offers the second field, “Find Questions with the exact phrase.”

Back to the Basic page, if you enter united OR kingdom (keep OR in all caps), you’ll get an incredible 3,258 hits—records that have either the word united or the word kingdom in the text fields, but not necessarily both words. This search is the same as the third field on the Advanced Search page: “Find Questions with at least one of the words.” Enter united kingdom in that field, and you will also get 3,258 hits (remember, as of 19 January).

Finally, suppose you want to find records that use the word kingdom but you don’t want records that are about the United Kingdom. So in the Basic Search box, enter “kingdom NOT united” and look through the 44 records returned. The only trouble here, you discover, is that you cut the search a little too thin. What you really wanted was kingdom NOT “united kingdom”. That upped the score a bit, and you have a healthy 52 records that are about all kinds of kingdoms, but not the one comprising England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. This search, too, is made simpler for users not familiar with Boolean operator syntax on the Advanced Search page: enter kingdom in the first field and “united kingdom” in the “Find Questions without the words” field.

You’re probably getting the picture: although the Basic Search page has only a simple search box, the experienced librarian (or patron, for that matter) can enter more sophisticated searches right there without having to select the right field on the “advanced” page.

Likewise, one can perform truncated (*), wild card (?), and fuzzy (~) searches from the Basic Search box. Click on the Help link to get further information about how to use these symbols to narrow or broaden your search.

You can even construct quite sophisticated nested search statements if there is a need. Consider paper AND (mla OR apa NOT (turabian OR “chicago manual of style”)) as a shortcut through information about the Chicago Manual of Style and its abbreviated version, the Turabian manual, to specifics from two other style manuals.

From the Advanced Search page, you’ll find you can also limit your search to a particular language, time period, subject, institution, and more. If you work primarily in a language other than English, you’ll also want to set the “Language of Search Term(s)” option, since slightly different rules sometimes apply to the indexing of different languages.

If you have any questions about how to search QuestionPoint knowledge bases, or if you would like to become an editor of the Global Knowledge Base, please contact Paula Rumbaugh at rumbaugh@oclc.org.

Did you know That you can submit multiple Q&As to the Knowledge Base simultaneously?

Did You Know . . .

 

 

That you can submit multiple Q&As to the Knowledge Base simultaneously?  And not only can you submit multiple records simultaneous, you can submit to your local KB and the Global KB simultaneously.  And . . . the workflow can be customized for editors who want to edit as they submit or even activate records exactly as they are.  Librarians without editorial privileges will be able to submit, edit and submit, or edit and submit and close all in one fell swoop. 

 

By the way, how can a librarian edit without editorial privileges? . . . you might ask.  Whoever submits a Q&A to a KB can always edit that particular record.  But you need editorial privilege to activatethat record; and editorial privilege makes it possible to edit and activate others’ submittals, as well.

 

So, back to multiple-Q&A submittals.  You can submit up to 25 Q&As at one time to your local knowledge base(s) and/or to the Global Knowledge Base.  You must have at least “Add/Submit” privileges for these KBs to do the following.  If you do not have a Submit to KB option in your drop-down menu, as shown in the first illustration below, but you wish to make contributions to the KBs, speak with your QuestionPoint administrator, who can set that permission for your account.

 

1     While on any of the questions lists in the Ask module, click on the box in the far left margin of every question you want to submit.  This puts a checkmark in the box.

2    Click on the drop-down menu at the left bottom of the page and select “Submit to KB.” 

 

 

3    When the Submit to KB Option page appears, make your selections accordingly:

        

      Do you want to edit?  Yes or No. You may edit your own records if you want, or let your library’s QuestionPoint KB editor (if one has been designated) edit.  If you want to edit, each Q&A will come up in the KB edit form when you have finished on this page and click the Submit button.

 

Did you know That you can submit multiple Q&As to the Knowledge Base simultaneously?

Add to: List of KBs to which your account has access.  The KBs in this section, and the options at each KB, are dependent on your account permissions level.  If you have Add/Submit privileges, you can edit your own submissions and set the level of public access (should the KB be made available to the public to search).  In the next illustration, the librarian has editorial privileges for the local KB, so s/he can Activate the record straightaway for indexing and searching.

 

Do you want to close?  Yes or No.  If you are working from any questions list except the Closed list, you have the option to close the Q&A(s) at the same time you submit them.  If you are working from the Closed list, this option, of course, doesn’t appear.   

 

 

 

One of the neatest things about this way of submitting to the KBs, is that you can select an entire list page of 25 Q&As, and then un-select those you don’t really want.  This makes for easier review, because you can click on the question text hotlink to open a second window to view the question history.  If the Q&A doesn’t seem appropriate for your KB, unclick the checkmark in the left-hand box and this Q&A will be omitted from submission.

 

 

4        Click the Submit button.

If you believe you should be able to contribute records to your local knowledge base or to the Global Knowledge Base, but you don’t see the appropriate links or menu options, ask your administrator if you could have access. They may not be aware that they need to give permission in the Administration module.

Please contact paula_rumbaugh@oclc.org if you have questions.

The QuestionPoint Knowledge Base

Did You Know . . .

It’s easy to keep your KB records updated with the Update Required function? 

 It has been said that question-and-answer repositories are more trouble than they’re worth because the answers in them so quickly become outdated.  We have a couple of responses to that argument:

1.       Historical value.  It is true that Tony Blair is no longer the Prime Minister of Britain (see GKB # 61539), but with 11/22/2004 entered as the date of the question and the answer, the fact remains that he was PM at that time. 

2.       Use the Update Required feature to update answers that are known to be temporal, especially if you have a good idea when that information is likely to change, or at least could change.  When creating the record, put a date in this field when the record should be revisited.  If you work review of the Update Required folder into your regular daily or weekly workflow, you might find it easier than you think to stay on top of “expiring” information.

The following screen images illustrate the field and how to browse for records that are due for update review.

 
Browsing by the folder retrieves all records that match the date range.  If you don’t set a date range, you’ll retrieve all dates.  As you can see, you can also set other limitations on the retrieval set, such as subject category, if you’ve used these when you create your local KB records.

Once you select a record to update, there are two ways you can go about that update.

1.     You can leave the original information as it is.  As mentioned above, since the historical information could be useful, this isn’t a bad idea.  In which case you add new information to the Addenda page.  This method (illustrated next) adds the date of the addendum.

 

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The added addendum is visible to the user the next day, after it has been indexed.

2.     You can actually change the information in the original answer.  In fact, you can change most information in your local KB records.  What you cannot change is the date of the original question and answer, however, so actually changing information may not be the best option.  You can, of course, add the new information after the original answer, being careful to also note the date, since that won’t be automatically added in this case.

You do need editorial privileges to update KB records.  Please see your QuestionPoint administrator if you want this ability.

Please contact paula_rumbaugh@oclc.org if you have questions.

The QuestionPoint Global Knowledge Base

Did you know . . .

That your library can offer your local knowledge base or the Global KB to your patrons to search?

Although it would be an unusual day if two questions were exactly the same, it is possible that one answer can address multiple questions, or that websites sent or resources cited will satisfy the information needs of more than one user.  And, haven’t we been told by various studies that users want to help themselves?

Why not offer your knowledge base on your website, even right on your question form?  Your users can see if they can find an immediate answer to their question if they like.  And if not, the question form is right there for them to approach you if they’re unsuccessful.

In some ways, this serves a purpose similar to FAQs on a website, but the QuestionPoint KB feature is backed up by a pretty powerful search engine (the open-source Lucene).  Perhaps you can include detailed instructions in your KB for using such and so database.  Since you can control the keywords for each KB record, to improve searchability, you can make this instructional record easy to find by including keywords your students are likely to think of.  Remember, a KB search looks in the Question text, the Answer text, and the Keywords.

Actually you can let your patrons search both your local knowledge base and the Global KB if you want.  You might want to do this, for example, if you tend to keep local and community information in your local KB but want your patrons to also have the benefit of the broader set of Q&As available in the global.  Which KB is being searched can be completely transparent to your patrons; the search would simultaneously look in both KBs. 

You can even categorize records, as you add them to your local KB, as public or non-public.  Those for which you or the editor responded “Yes” to the question Make public? will be retrievable by the public.  But a “No” response means that only QuestionPoint librarians can retrieve them in a search.

Consider putting the KB search box anywhere you control the website!   Here’s an example of the GKB offered to the readers of the Criminal Law Library Blog (New York).

 

Or take a look at how the Wageningen UR in the Netherlands has mounted the search box on their digital library site.

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Instructions for putting the QuestionPoint knowledge bases on your website are at:

http://www.questionpoint.org/support/documentation/templates/search_globalkb.html

Your patrons don’t see all the fields that you see when you open a KB record.  Below is an illustration of what your patron sees:

If you have any questions about this article or if you would like to be a Global Knowledge Base editor, please contact Paula Rumbaugh at rumbaugh@oclc.org.

Did you know . . .

You can find records in the knowledge base before they are activated (indexed)? A few of you have lamented over time that, until you (or someone) takes the time to edit and activate a record, you are unable to find it again. Maybe you have come up with additional information, the next day, that you want to add to the answer before it goes “live.” Or on the other side of the coin, maybe you’ve decided that the answer was not the best and you want to delete the record, or you’ve decided the Q&A is not appropriate for the knowledge base to which you submitted it. Or you’ve just had a question similar to one you already answered and submitted to the KB but cannot find by searching.

Whether or not you have editorial privileges, you should be able to find a known item before it completes the editorial process by browsing--if you remember anything at all about the question or answer. There are several effective ways to browse knowledge bases. Take a look at the Browse option in the Knowledge Base module:

1 From the My QuestionPoint home page, click on the “Knowledge Base” link in the left margin. It sits just above the search box for the Global Knowledge Base.

2 This takes you directly into the Knowledge Base module, where you have access to your local knowledge base and the Global Knowledge Base.

3 Click on the Browse tab in the top left of the page.

4 Now on the Browse page, take a look at the different ways you can browse.

Folder and Knowledge Base: If you’re looking for a Q&A you know was submitted, whether or not by you, you probably want to a folder (Active, Inactive, Submitted by Me). You can search all these folders at the same time if you can limit the retrieval in some other way. Are you looking for a known Q&A that was put into your local knowledge base? Then select that KB. Again, you can browse both the KBs at the same time, but you might want to limit the pool of choices when you get results.

If you are trying to find a Q&A that you submitted, just select the Submitted by Me folder. Results are returned in reverse chronological order, so you may find the record you need right away, by just browsing that folder. This folder includes both Active and Inactive records.

For Inactive records (remember, Inactive records have not yet been edited and activated by an editor; they are not yet searchable, only browsable), chances are only Requesting/Responding Institution and Date Range will really be applicable. In some workflows, the other values (Category, Subject and Subject Broad Class, and so on) are set during the editing process; in others, they are set during submission of a Q&A to the KB. Whether or not you can use them for Inactive records depends on your library’s practice. If you don’t know you can try using a value in them to limit your browse results; if you get zero results drop them from your browsing “equation.”

Requesting Institution: this is the library that received the question. If your library has answered questions from another library—maybe a partner library or through the Global Reference Network—and the Q&A you are looking for is one of those, select that library here.

Responding Institution: this is the library that answered the question. If several libraries actually participated in the particular Q&A you want to find, it is the final library to have used the Answer button that is associated as the Responding Institution. Maybe you’re looking for a Q&A that you had referred to another library; stipulating a library in this drop-down menu could help reduce the results list considerably.

When you are browsing in your own local KB, the above two limiting options may not be very important. But if you are trying to locate a record that was submitted to the Global Knowledge Base, stipulating your own institution as the requesting or responding institution will probably be essential.

Date Range: This is the limit option that may be most useful to narrow results when browsing. You can choose to browse only those Q&As Answered on a particular date or within a date range, or only Q&As Submitted to the KB during a certain period of time. “Modified” means when a Q&A in the knowledge base was edited, activated, or updated in some way. Unless you are an editor, this may be less useful, and the same with Update Required.

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Results of browse for KB submissions for a week in September 2008. Note that both Active and Inactive records (edited and unedited) and two knowledge bases (Global Knowledge Base and the local KB named Local Reference Group) are represented on this results page.

Did you know...

A knowledge base is more than a database of outdated answers? Eight reasons to use your QuestionPoint knowledge base.

Over the years since QuestionPoint’s introduction, we sometimes hear the question “Why the knowledge base . . . ?”  Why would I want to put answers to questions  in a knowledge base?   Why add to my workload when I don’t have to?  Why search the knowledge base?—no one ever asks the same question in the same way.

 

Well, here are some of the reasons other librarians have given for using their local (and sometimes Global) knowledge base:

1. To answer repeat questions.  We all know that librarians can get the same question over and over again, especially when there is a “class bomb.”  (I just heard this phrase in recent postings to the QuestionPoint-L listserv, when the 24/7 Cooperative was suddenly overrun by a class of students who, exhorted to use chat to “talk” to a librarian, all clamored at once to get a question answered.)  There is little point in each librarian repeating the same research—unless they, too, are in training.  Why not use what has already been found by the first librarian, and perhaps add to it? 

Contests are another source of repeat questions, and some of these are downright difficult to answer!   Chances are, when dealing with hard-to-find answers, one librarian might have just the right background or experience or intuition to lead her to the answer, and another may not.  In fact, even when you’re sure a question will never be asked again, chances are it will, at some time, in some form, of some librarian.

2. To store lengthy instructions on how to use the library’s resources.  For example, if you continually need to tell students how to select a database, log in, and use keywords to search it, you might want to type these up once and store them in your local KB.  A huge advantage to having oft-repeated instructions stored within easy reach is that it saves you from retyping the same information over and over.  You can always modify the instructions as necessary once copied into your message box or, when necessary, you can update or add to the record in the KB.

3. To record “institutional memory.”  Sometimes this is referred to as knowledge management.  At a more individual level, this has sometimes been called “tacit information”—that knowledge that is in someone’s head, knowledge that is part of their experience.  Knowledge that can be lost upon retirement—knowledge that isn’t available when that person is not available.  The local knowledge base, because it allows metadata assignment and because it’s searchable, is a great way to begin to record those snippits of information so they are accessible to all.

 

4. Consistency in answers.  Sometimes delivering answers or instructions isn’t enough.  You want your library’s answers to be accurate, comprehensive, and courteous.  Drawing on the same content, or template, facilitates consistent and courteous answers.  You can always add your own personalized openings, closings, and phrasings, but your patrons receive consistent service for similar needs.

5. To collaborate on answers.  One of the criticisms of knowledge bases is that the answers so quickly become outdated.  But this doesn’t have to be the case.  Answers can be edited, updated, added to . . . and addenda can be appended.  As you encounter a KB record for which you know of additional sources or have new information, add it.  Don’t settle for out-of-date and incomplete

6. To train new staff about resources and strategies.  Although staff can refer to your library’s actual transcripts in QuestionPoint proper—that is, in the Ask module—reading through questions and answers may be an easier way to follow the work that has been done.  In the KB the transcript has probably been “scrubbed” a bit, taking out extraneous material and correcting typos.  Work that other staff has done, and in particular other libraries (by looking at Global Knowledge Base records), is a kind of continuing education.

7. To provide patrons access to answers as a first stop.  You can offer your local knowledge base or the Global Knowledge Base as a search option to your patrons.  In fact, you can set up the link or the search box to search both at once.  Don’t forget, in your local KB, records you don’t want the public to see can be indicated as Not Public when they are added to the KB.  A search box can even be positioned on your intake form or on any web page under your institution’s control. 

8. To publish rather than perish?  Well, maybe not quite a substitute for the age-old university publish-or-perish method for increasing visibility and furthering your academic career, but have you ever thought of using the knowledge base to show not only how much but how good your research work is?  Maybe your library would even consider contribution to the Global Knowledge Base—where potentially libraries and patrons around the world can see your research—as one kind of publishing activity.

QuestionPoint makes it easy to re-use information from the KB.  And it tracks that usage, as well.  When you search the KB from your Answer Question page (click on the Search KB button in the upper right of the page) and find a useful record, Forward Answer and Copy Answer buttons allow you to forward directly to your patron or copy the answer to your Answer message box.  In either case, you can edit the answer and add to it before it is sent. 

When you use either the Forward or the Copy button, the activity is logged as a re-use of that record and noted on the record itself.  Total re-uses and total records re-used are logged in My QuestionPoint >> Reports >> QP Usage, in the Knowledge Base and the Administration sections.

Please contact paula_rumbaugh@oclc.org if you have questions.

Did you know . . .

You can put non-QuestionPoint content into your local or Global Knowledge Base?

 

QuestionPoint’s searchable knowledge base feature enables you to enter content into the database directly, without having handled a question or chat session first. This makes the knowledge base useful as a repository for all your reference transactions (walk-in, telephone, e-mail messages, and so on), as well as for the many frequently asked or hard-to-find answers you’ve undoubtedly been collecting on cards or paper slips or in notebooks or personal computer directories.

To enter content directly into the knowledge base:

1. Log into QuestionPoint and go to the knowledge base module. You can do this either by using the link in the left navigation bar on the My QuestionPoint home page or by selecting it from the drop-down menu in the upper right corner of the home page.
2. Click on the Add/Edit tab.
3. Complete the top portion of the Add New Record form, including the Knowledge Base Copies radio buttons, and click the Create Record button.

Depending on your permissions level, you might even be able to activate (initiates nightly indexing) the record. Be sure to indicate whether you think this record is OK for potential public viewing or for internal use only.

You can Save Draft instead of creating a record, if you’d like to do more work in the Question or Answer boxes at a later time.

To increase the ease with which the record can later be searched, you can also complete the lower portions of the Add New Record form.

Within 24 hours, your new records will be fully searchable.

If you decide to use the knowledge base feature in this way, you can also set it up for other librarians to search. Maybe you work in an institution in which only some of the librarians work through QuestionPoint; but doubtlessly all the librarians and paraprofessionals would benefit from the information in the KB. Just use the instructions at http://questionpoint.org/support/documentation/templates/search_globalkb.html. You can mount the link or search box on your intranet site, or you can share the KB with your patrons, as well, by mounting the link/search box on your public site.

If you have some records you want librarians to see but not patrons, make those records non-public.

• When completing the Add New Record form, just click No at the Make Public field. This is at the bottom of the first section of the form.

Do you think you should have access to the knowledge base feature but cannot find the appropriate links or menu options? Ask you administrator or supervisor. Initial permission must be set in the Administration module.

Please contact paula_rumbaugh@oclc.org if you have questions.

Did you know . . .

There really is a man behind the curtain . . . or a woman?

Have you ever gotten a question that you worked on pretty hard and now wish you could share with others? Maybe you think others outside your institution could benefit from the research. If you even think it, it’s probably true!

But who has the time to stop and think about the best way to word the Q&A for posterity? And who has time to think about the best way to assign a subject class heading or a question category or good keywords? Also, what about all that self-disclosure the patron did to explain his question—you don’t want just anyone to see that.

The Global Knowledge Base has editors behind the scenes—volunteer editors, actually, who do a terrific job of reviewing submitted records before activating them for indexing and searching.

You see, when you submit a Q&A to the GKB, you are really contributing the transaction for consideration. It is not immediately visible to or searchable by others.

An editor sees an “Inactive” record—s/he sees the institution that got the question and the institution that answered it, but s/he doesn’t see who the individuals at the institution are. S/he sees the question, but s/he doesn’t see the patron name or the patron e-mail. S/he knows only as much personal information about the patron and the librarian as was disclosed in the question or answer text.

• The editor evaluates the record for appropriateness and completeness. If the question is asking for hours of the library, it probably won’t be included in the Global Knowledge Base. (Note: This might be a perfect, often-asked question, however, for your local KB!)
• The editor checks for any spelling or grammatical errors, but will maintain British versus American spellings and usage.
• The editor reads the question and answer for sense. S/he will often delete a lot of text that isn’t necessary to understanding the query; sometimes s/he’ll rephrase the text to “cut to the chase,” thus improving the eventual searchability of the record.
• The editor deletes any personal names or any information that could identify the questioner or the librarian.
• The editor adds the following to facilitate later searching:
  • Keywords to a Keyword field
  • LC subject classification headings, but only to the second level (e.g., CT for biography)
  • Question type or category, such as FAQ, Ready Reference, or Bibliography
  • Link to the title in WorldCat.org (when a title is mentioned), so another user would be able to find the WC record and, thus, a nearby library that holds that title
• The editor indicates whether the record is appropriate for the general public, should a library offer the GKB on its website(s)
• The editor makes sure URLs are hotlinked, after checking to make sure they are valid

So, you see, you don’t have to worry about how well formatted or worded your Q&A is. The important thing is to submit it to be shared for the benefit of your worldwide colleagues and let the editors do the clean-up.

By the way, if you’d like to be a Global Knowledge Base editor, please contact paula_rumbaugh@occ.org.