QuestionPoint Members
1,940 Active SUPs (service unit profiles)
1,276 SUPs in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative
29 Languages can be handled by QuestionPoint libraries
7,031,965 Transactions had passed through QuestionPoint as 30 Sept.
3,204,171 Patrons have asked questions via libraries with QP since 2002*
36,122 New patrons asked for help in September*
24,851 Active records in the Global Knowledge Base
525 Libraries have contributed active, searchable records to the GKB
*These numbers are lower than actual, as they do not include texting patrons or chat patrons who have not provided email addresses.
QuestionPoint libraries are in 33 countries (listed by region):
| Australia New Zealand --------------- China French Polynesia Japan India Thailand -------------- United Arab Emirates ---------------- Botswana South Africa -------------- France Greece Germany Italy The Netherlands Spain ------------- Republic of Ireland | United Kingdom England Scotland Wales --------------------- Croatia Serbia Slovenia --------------- Russia ------------- Canada Mexico United States ----------------- Jamaica Puerto Rico Trinidad & Tabago -------------------- Brazil Chile Peru |
QuestionPoint Statistics for September 2011
43,144 Questions received via E-mail and Text Messages
43,740 Chat sessions requested
13,919 Chat sessions requested via Qwidget
42,316 Chat sessions accepted
9,612 Chat sessions requested at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries
611 Sessions requested after hours at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries
71 Most concurrent chat sessions (up from 46 last month)
23 Average concurrent chat sessions (up from 14 last month)
24/7 Reference Cooperative Statistics
67.1% Overall “Answering Percentage” (Cooperative libraries picked up 67.1% of all chat sessions, and Back Up staff picked up 30.7%)
15,259 Academic sessions requested; Coop members answered 10,503 (68.8%)
18,869 Public sessions requested; Coop members answered 12,404 (65.7%)
753 Sessions Abandoned (Patron disconnected before librarian picked up, may include some practice sessions)
September Questions of Note
One of our members--actually, the OCLC Information Center, right in our back yard—was able to get useful information for a question he was working on. In answer to the question about free Internet access in libraries in France, the librarian got an answer straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak: Global Knowledge Base record ID 99934 provided him with a directory of public libraries in the major towns of France, as well as the URL for the Association of French Librarians. But more to the point, while the UK librarian was working on the original question documented in the GKB, a library user from France happened on the UK enquiry desk and described Internet access in France’s public libraries.
Although of 2005 vintage, the URLs in the answer are still valid, and there is little reason to believe the French patron’s information is not still the general situation in France. Nevertheless, our librarian is contacting the Association of French Librarians and promises to update KBID 99934 when he receives additional information.
Search for “association french librarians” (include quotation marks) in the search box in the left margin of this blog.
If you have a story about the Global Knowledge Base to share, please send it to Paula Rumbaugh, at [email protected].
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In September 32 English-language records and 43 French-language records were added to the GKB.
A 76th record was Spanish-language but answered by the Bibliothèque de l’Institut du Monde Arabe. KBID 210698 provides a lengthy bibliography for an Argentinian student on the history of Arab culture in France. Search in the blog search box for “buenos aires” arabe francia (include quotes).
Our thanks, as always, to our volunteer editors for reviewing, copy editing, and formatting records submitted to the Global Reference Network by member libraries. If you are interested in learning more about the QuestionPoint knowledge base feature (both local and global), see The QuestionPoint Knowledge Bases: An Introduction,” at http://questionpoint.org/education/index.html.
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