Slamming!!!

Answer boards can be an amazing source of information. I've found them particularly useful when trying to find solutions to computer problems. It always amazes me that the information I need may come from someone on the other side of the world. The main problem I've found though is that some of the replies can be quite rude and completely unhelpful. A perfect example is the one most highly rated in response to a question of how to remove liquid paper from a shirt (see link from "Exemplary answers" page of the "Answer Board Librarians" wiki in this week's exercise. Interestingly, the reply from the Librarian that was actually very helpful didn't rate.

I think "slamming the boards" is a great idea because it's a way of reaching non-library users and of demonstrating to customers and potential customers that librarians are interested in meeting, and indeed exceeding, the information needs of our customers in ways that are more convenient and accessible. I think that many non-library users still view libraries as tedious, rule-driven, antiquated environments that are inconvenient to use. "Slamming the boards" is one way of showing that we are willing to bring the information to them at the time and in the format they want it. I do, however, think that we have to be careful with how we present to customers. They're interested in the answer to their questions, not how good the person who found it is. We need to maintain a balance.

I think it would be really good for our library to get involved in answering questions on answer boards but we would need to be sure we can staff it sufficiently to have timely answers with a sufficiently frequent presence to demonstrate our skills. I would also love to see us set up our own answer board for members of the public. This could be quite useful for students who would be able to find answers/guidance from questions asked by others. It would also potentially give us very useful feedback regarding our online resources (databases etc.) because presumably the customers would use those and be directed to them as part of the answer. They would be more likely to provide feedback about how successful they were in this interactive format.