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Ask a librarian to help you find information about
absolutely anything! From locating a list of symptoms
for common eye diseases, to finding a gingerbread
cookie recipe, our librarians can find the information
you need. You can chat live with a librarian using
text-chat, or email a question. Best of all, you can
communicate online with audio, hearing a librarian's
voice while we co-browse the Internet with you. The
web pages we go to will appear simultaneously on your
computer screen. If you have a microphone, you can
also speak to us; if not, you can type your questions
using text chat. If no one is available, you can email
your question!
Visually impaired persons in select libraries
around the United States are participating in a
six-month pilot project which officially opens on
Monday, March 22, to test an online information and
virtual reference service designed specifically for
their needs. The service will be offered through
InfoEyes http://www.infoeyes.org, a virtual reference
and information community for the visually impaired.
Through the pilot project, visually impaired patrons
will use QuestionPoint to work with librarians
virtually to find what they’re seeking on the
Internet. QuestionPoint, the collaborative virtual
reference service developed by the Library of Congress
and OCLC, helps librarians track and manage questions
from patrons through a network of reference librarians
around the world.
The Illinois State Library and the Illinois State
Library Talking Book and Braille Service are
coordinating the pilot project; the Online Computer
Library Center (OCLC) has provided software and
resources. The project will test the effectiveness of
assisting the visually impaired in using the Internet.
“The goal of the QuestionPoint service and other
online reference services is to increase access to
information,” said Frank Hermes, Vice President, OCLC
Cooperative Discovery Services. “The InfoEyes pilot
project will increase access to online reference.
OCLC is proud to be part of this effort which is
consistent with our mission of furthering access to
the world’s information.”
In the pilot project, librarians will provide services
that include voice over IP, co-browsing and
application sharing. InfoEyes users will be asked to
evaluate the service and resources to help librarians
further develop the service. Hours of service will be
posted on the InfoEyes Web site. If users would like
service outside of those hours, they may schedule an
appointment or a reference session.
“Virtual reference for the blind and physically
handicapped population is nothing short of imperative
toward the inclusion of this population in mainstream
society,” said Barry Levine, a Talking Book reader and
library leader in Illinois.
Libraries participating in the project, which will run
from January to July 2004, include: the Andrew
Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library in New York
City, Cleveland Public Library/Library for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped, the Illinois State
Library, the Indiana School for the Blind, the Iowa
Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, the
Library of Congress, Maine State Library Outreach,
Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center, Nevada Talking Book
Services, Perkins Braille and Talking Book Library,
Southern Illinois Talking Book Center, Texas State
Library and Archives Commission, TAP Information
Services, For more information, contact Sharon Ruda
at [log in to unmask], Diana Brawley Sussman at
[log in to unmask], Tom Peters at
[log in to unmask], or Lori Bell at
[log in to unmask]
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