OCUL’s virtual reference service is marking a major milestone and a new name.
Ask the Library / Biblio-Clavardage, which connects students and researchers at participating OCUL institutions with real-time help over chat or text message, celebrates its 15th anniversary this September.
Originally launched as Ask a Librarian on September 12, 2011, the service is run by Scholars Portal in collaboration with local coordinators from each participating institution. A French-language equivalent, Clavardez avec nos bibliothécaires, launched in 2014 and the two services officially merged into one bilingual service in 2016.
In the past 15 years, the recently renamed Ask the Library service has handled over 400,000 chats and grown from 5 to 15 participating institutions. Consistently high usage is accompanied by reliably positive user feedback: roughly 93 per cent of survey respondents rate their experience as excellent or good. In 2023, Scholars Portal was awarded the Prix Micheline-Persaud by ABO-Franco, an award that honours exceptional development and promotion of francophone library services in Ontario, in recognition of the support offered through the Biblio-Clavardage service.
Ask the Library relies on the contributions of hundreds of chat operators working across Ontario. Chat operators are a mix of librarians, library staff, and students or recent graduates from Master of Library Science programs. Changing the name to Ask the Library recognizes that providing reliable, trustworthy support requires a broad team of experts, including librarians and library staff. Read more about the name change process in the Scholars Portal annual report.
“We spun up Ask rapidly during the summer of 2011 in response to an urgent need. Since then, the service has evolved to keep meeting library and user needs by incorporating new features like texting, French chat, and screen sharing. We continue to evaluate how emerging technologies, including AI, might enhance Ask to further benefit campuses,” said Kate Davis, Director of Scholars Portal.
“One of the most impactful moments in the first 15 years of Ask the Library is the role that this service played in sustaining our schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a time of overall disruption, Ask remained accessible and rapidly adapted to handle increased volume while physical service points remained unavailable. Ask stands as a testament to the adaptability and strength of collaborative online services,” said Talia Chung, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries at the University of Ottawa and Chair of the Scholars Portal Operations & Development Committee.
Ask the Library opens for the fall on Tuesday, September 8.
For More Information
Visit the Ask the Library website to learn more about the collaborative virtual reference service.