By Jennifer Cox, Answerland Coordinator

(Pictured: Liz Paulus, Adult Services Librarian/Web Services at Cedar Mill Library) 

On May 6th, Oregon's statewide virtual reference service, Answerland, recognized Liz Paulus at Cedar Mill Library for her excellent virtual reference work while staffing the service in October 2021. Liz was nominated for the Notable Transcript Award. The Notable Transcript Award gives Oregon librarians the opportunity to nominate their colleagues for providing quality virtual reference service. Nominations are reviewed by the Answerland Quality Team. The Quality Team is made up of volunteer librarians from around Oregon and the United States. Each nomination requires a transcript of the virtual conversation between a library patron asking a question and a librarian providing them with information and assistance. These nominations are then evaluated by the Answerland Quality Team against the quality standards that librarians aspire to achieve with each chat session.  

This year’s winning transcript nomination began with a question from college student. The college student was looking for some help finding peer-reviewed sources about vaccines within the last year. This student had questions about “how they work, effectiveness, past successes and failures, and hesitancy” regarding vaccines. Right away, Liz validated the patron's own attempts to find information on their own by asking about where they had looked already. Then she proceeded to ask clarifying questions. 

Liz learned that the student needed five total credible sources to complete their research paper. The student was frustrated, noting that all the sources they tried to look at through EBSCOhost “seemed to be too dated.” Liz explained that the older articles did have relevant information on vaccine technology. She noted with the exception of a recent tweak to the vaccine process involving mRNA, the process was the same. Liz then walked the patron through the tricky topic of current study information versus the peer-review process. She noted how the information may be reliable but not technically peer reviewed from the past year. She did an outstanding job of making sure that the patron understood each part of the search process and application of the information in their paper. With gusto, Liz then invited the student to come along on the journey to find the needed information. 

At the end of this instruction, Liz reiterated the steps to make a research appointment at their home institution. She also opened a ticket in the Answerland system so librarians at the student’s college would know reach out to them. She made a final offer for any more help to verify that the patron’s needs had been met and they had enough information to get started on their assignment. 

The Quality Team is impressed with Liz's work with this patron from start to finish. She asked clarifying questions throughout the interaction; she had a welcoming tone; she asked follow-up questions to make sure that the patron understood her and that the patron’s needs were met. It can be hard not to dump a lot of information on students, but Liz did a great job of breaking down new information into easily digestible chunks without complicated lingo. She also ensured that the interaction would be followed up so the patron’s question could be fully answered. Liz also demonstrated excellent virtual reference service when she taught the patron how to make a research appointment request and empowered the patron to make decisions about incorporating many types of credible sources in their paper. 

As an expression of our gratitude, Liz was presented with a gift of appreciation and a certificate in a small surprise ceremony organized between Answerland Coordinator Jennifer Cox and Cedar Mill Library staff. Please join us in congratulating her! 

The Answerland Quality Team 

Valerie Florez, Answerland Volunteer  

Heidi Senior, University of Portland  

Alissa Renales, Answerland Volunteer  

Clare Sobotka, Answerland Volunteer 

By Jennifer Cox, Answerland Coordinator

In February, one of Answerland’s most active volunteers, Andrea (Andie) Marshall, reached out to program staff about presenting at a conference. The topic: Answerland, as a reference success story! We are always thrilled to support our volunteers in their personal and professional endeavors, and fully encouraged her to embrace the opportunity. Andie has been a volunteer with us for over two years, and recently she graduated into a role as an Answerland mentor. As someone who staffs all three of our reference queues (the Answerland Cooperative, Global Public Queue, and Global Academic Queue) we wonder, what can’t she do?!   

Her conference session for State University of New York Librarians Association (SUNYLA) was well planned and researched, featuring a literature review on the benefits, capabilities, and advantages of virtual reference. Andie discussed the structure and software used for the interactions from a volunteer perspective. At the end of the presentation, microphones were unmuted, and State Library staff were able to field questions about the funding, software, and logistics of the program. While not the primary intent of the session, this ended up being an excellent marketing opportunity for not only our services but also the recruitment of volunteer librarians outside of Oregon. Answerland boasts volunteers from all continental U.S. time zones and is expanding our cadre of talent constantly. This volunteer opportunity both trains and equips new grads as well as helps in creatively retooling established informational professionals. In turn, libraries around the nation then become the beneficiaries of candidates primed with technical skill and expertise in chat reference.  

Answerland is not a new program, but it is a relatively recent acquisition under the administration of the State of Oregon as of 2016. Since then, the program has built a vibrant volunteer corps full of dedicated and loyal team members. The reward is seeing volunteers that become self-actualized through the program and sing the praises of Answerland, like Andie. In championing Answerland during her presentation, she voiced to librarians in attendance that “[her] experience as a volunteer with Answerland continues to be rich and rewarding and [she has] learned some powerful lessons about creative problem solving and collaborative brainstorming with our community.”  

Andie reflected on her service, “I’m constantly reminded by fellow volunteers and fellow staff at Answerland how crucial librarians are to everyday information seeking… and how critical librarians are to bridging gaps through collaboration. Librarians are people of diverse perspectives, practices, and protocols; we are adept at thinking outside of the box and innovating in the moment. We apply creativity to our reference work since we are constantly bombarded with opportunities to construct dynamic information-seeking processes with patrons. We deploy collaboration during reference interviews to build communal information infrastructures with patrons that are adaptable and porous. Librarians are experts at critical thinking and our intellectual empathy allows us to contextualize information seeking, connect with one another and patrons to support information seeking as accessible goal setting and to collaborate with each other and our communities through creative brainstorming and innovative practices. I've gained multiple insights into how librarians meaningfully contribute expertise and build community through dynamic engagement with one another and our patrons through serving as a volunteer with Answerland.”