CEDAR MILL - Library's service allows live chats via e-mail

by Cindy Hudson

Cedar Mill Community Library has joined L-net, an online service provided by 31 libraries across Oregon that allows patrons to chat live with a librarian 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Students, professionals and others can ask question on research, source citations and other categories of interest by accessing the Web site at www.oregonlibraries.net.  The home page directs patrons to chat live or to e-mail questions they want answered, and it links to a demonstration of how the question-and-answer chats work. You also can access the site by visiting the Cedar Mill Community Library's home page, www.cedarmill.org/library.

Executive Director Peter Leonard says librarians are being trained so they can staff shifts several times a week. "This is a fantastic service set up by the state," Leonard said. "We get a lot of students who call in for research information, and this is something they can do after hours, when the library is closed." Leonard added that librarians who staff L-net do more than answer questions people pose. They also teach them how to find the information they need so they can conduct research more easily in the future.

L-net is funded by a grant from the Oregon State Library through the federal Library Services and Technology Act.

Updated September 7, 2007