InfoPoint

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

InfoPoint is a cooperatively organized digital information service from libraries for their users. The service started in the Frankfurt consortium in autumn 2004.

Logo of the cooperative information service InfoPoint

Members

The following libraries have joined forces in the Frankfurt consortium for the InfoPoint service:

The service is coordinated and administered by the network headquarters of the Hessian Library Information System (HeBIS).

The participation of other libraries is desired and promoted through activities such as lectures and presentations.

software

The InfoPoint libraries use QuestionPoint as the software basis for their information service. QuestionPoint was developed jointly by the Library of Congress (LoC) in Washington and the American library service provider Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) and its functional scope expressly takes into account library consortia, which are offered appropriate functions for manual and automated forwarding of questions.

QuestionPoint has a modular structure and offers both an email and a chat component . In addition, extensive administration and statistical tools are part of the software. There is no need to invest in hardware or software as the system runs completely web-based on OCLC machines.

A knowledge base is available as a further software module . All questions and answers worth preserving or their information content can be permanently stored in this database and made researchable. This database is also operated cooperatively and is available to all members of the consortium for research. Questions and answers that are not archived in the knowledge database disappear from the system after a certain period of time.

Network in the network

QuestionPoint is not only software for digital information, but also refers to the global network of libraries that use this software and that have committed to mutual help in answering questions. The software also provides functions and tools for forwarding questions within this large community of well over 1000 libraries.

Another global knowledge base is available for the worldwide QuestionPoint community . Any QuestionPoint participant can make suggestions for adding records to this global knowledge base. Depending on the language of the question and answer, all sentences are edited by regional editorial offices before they are added to the database and then finally activated.

practice

So far, the InfoPoint consortium has mainly used the e-mail component for its information service. The participating libraries offer a questionnaire on their websites that the questioner has to fill out. In addition to the actual question and other information, the person asking the question must provide his email address, which will be used for further communication between him and the answering librarians.

If the librarian is still missing important information to answer, or if the question needs to be clarified, system functions are available for queries and their answers. Every action carried out on a question is documented in the system and added to the so-called question history. The question history can be viewed by the information librarian as well as by the questioner. The entire handling of a question is made transparent for everyone involved.

Each library tries to process and answer the questions it receives itself. Is this not possible because, for. For example, if appropriate specialists are not available for the subject and topic, the QuestionPoint software supports the following actions:

  • forwarding the question to a partner in the consortium
  • forwarding the question to an external expert
  • forwarding the question to a specialized library on the QuestionPoint network

This ensures that the questioner always receives a well-founded and appropriate answer. The information librarians involved use their specialist knowledge, their experience in handling information media and traditional printed and electronic sources for their answers.

The HeBIS network headquarters has been using QuestionPoint's chat component for user support since November 16, 2010, initially in a three-month pilot operation. The support aims in particular at the use of the research interfaces of the HeBIS network (VerbundOPAC and HeBIS portal) and interlibrary loan. Forms for starting the chat are available in both interfaces; In addition, a widget for chat is offered throughout the HeBIS website. At present (February 2011) an evaluation of the pilot operation is being worked on as a basis for the decision on the transfer to routine operation.

Imparting information literacy

Giving every user an adequate and directly usable answer to their question or at least helping them one step further is the maxim of the InfoPoint service. In the e-mail, the answering librarian will also explain to the questioner exactly how and where he found the answer, which sources he used and what his research strategy was. The aim is to gradually improve the information literacy of the users and thus enable them to find their way around better at some point in the information jungle.

See also

Web links