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Libraries Answer Questions That Keep You Up at Night

NEWS RELEASE
September 12, 2002

For further information contact:
Judy Hoffman, 847/353-7137

Morning, noon and night, the ANSWERS UNLIMITED librarians are ready to help you find the answers you are looking for via a live, real-time online conversation. The reference service is the first of its kind in the Chicago area, and is now available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

ANSWERS UNLIMITED, which can be accessed at www.answersunlimited.org, is staffed by reference librarians from participating libraries in the North Suburban Library System. The service is available to anyone with Internet access and is free of charge.

Launched on August 1, 2001, the staff answered 385 questions in the first month of service. During the school year Answers Unlimited saw a monthly average of approximately 1,000 queries. As the statistics indicate, this service is popular with students. It's also the place to get the answers you need for work, home or just to satisfy your curiosity…even in the middle of the night.

Answers Unlimited is designed to answer brief, factual questions or offer sources where an answer may be found. Just type in some brief information about yourself and your question, click on "connect" and in a short time a librarian will respond. The librarian may ask you
questions to clarify the type of information you are seeking. This is a great opportunity to have an expert show you how to navigate the Web and find information that is credible, reliable, and up to date.

"Sometimes it's hard to get to the library. There's still only 24 hours in a day, but the demands on people's time is greater than ever," says Sarah Long, director of the North Suburban Library System. "With Answers Unlimited, the library is always open. Library services have never been more readily accessible."

To accommodate the growing popularity of the live online reference service, participating Answers Unlimited libraries are working on the development of a statewide service in partnership with Ready for Reference, the only other real-time virtual reference service in Illinois. Ready for Reference is staffed by college and university librarians in the Bloomington-based Alliance Library System.

ANSWERS UNLIMITED is staffed by information experts from the following libraries in the North Suburban Library System: Arlington Heights Memorial Library, Barrington Area Library, Cook Memorial Public Library, Crystal Lake Public Library, Des Plaines Public Library, Ela Area Public Library, Evanston Public Library, Gail Borden Public Library, Glenview Public Library, Prospect Heights Public Library, Schaumburg Township District Library, Skokie Public Library, Warren-Newport Public Library, Waukegan Public Library.

Headquartered in Wheeling, the North Suburban Library System is an organization of over 650 academic, public, school and special libraries in the north suburban area of Cook County and communities in Kane, Lake and McHenry counties. It is one of 12 library systems in Illinois, funded through the Illinois State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State, Jesse White.