Weekly News Digest

A message has been posted to multiple lists, discussion boards, blogs, etc., calling for librarians to invade the various Web "answer" board sites on Monday, Sept. 10. Librarians are being urged to "slam the boards," such as Yahoo! Answers, Amazon’s Askville, The Wikipedia Reference Desk, and others—answering as many questions as they can using authoritative sources. The goal is to make sure readers know the answer was provided by a librarian and thereby raise awareness of library services. The idea has already gained considerable grass-roots support in the U.S., Canada, and countries across the globe.

The idea originated in discussions between Bill Pardue, virtual services librarian at Arlington Heights Memorial Library, Ill., and Caleb Tucker-Raymond, Oregon statewide digital reference project coordinator, Multnomah County Library, Portland. Pardue has started an Answer Board Librarians Wiki (http://answerboards.wetpaint.com) where librarians can sign up as participants, read some tips and tricks, and find a list of answer boards.

Here are some of the suggested tag lines/signatures from the wiki:

• Have a question you don’t want the whole world to see?
  Find your local Library at http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/Public_main.html
• Librarians—Ask Us, We Answer!
  Find your local Library at http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/Public_main.html
• If you need more help, just contact your local librarian.
  Many library web sites have a link where you can chat online with a librarian 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/Academic_main.html
• Librarians—We eat questions for breakfast!
  Find your local Library at http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/Public_main.html