a worldwide library cooperative oclc online computer library center 24 hour reference goes global: a...

A worldwide library cooperative

OCLC Online Computer Library Center

24 Hour Reference Goes Global:

A Cooperative Approach to providing a Multilingual Reference Service

Susan McGlameryGlobal Product ManagerOCLC Cooperative [email protected]


Languages other than English at home


Speaks a language other than English at home (U.S.):

18% of the U.S. population over 5 years old (47 million people) (US Census 2000)

In 1990: 14% of the population (31.8 million people)

Percentage of people who speak a language other than English grew 38% in the 1980s and 47% in the 1990s.

Of the total population, 8.1 percent reported speaking English not very well or not at all.


Are libraries keeping up?


Survey: QP and 24/7 libraries

65 responses

73.6% say population speaking languages other than English has increased

How many visit the library?

60% say 5% or less

20% don’t know


93.5% provide materials in other languages

Books -- fiction 78.2%

Books -- non fiction 80%

Magazines 58.2%

Newspapers 50.9%

Databases 38.2%

CD's 52.7%

Videos or DVD's 72.7%

Other (please specify) 20%


Languages of the materials:

Chinese 47.3%

French 60%

German 49.1%

Japanese 41.8%

Korean 41.8%

Russian 45.5%

Spanish 96.4%

Vietnamese 29.1%

Other (please specify) 32.7%


Bilingual Staff: 34 of 59 say YES

Chinese 25.8%

French 41.9%

German 25.8%

Japanese 6.5%

Korean 9.7%

Russian 29%

Spanish 83.9%

Vietnamese 12.9%

Other 25.8%


24/7 Reference Cooperative

Fail safe coverage After hours and as back up

Separate cooperatives for academic and public libraries

Quality control

Subject experts (24/7 and Global Reference Network)

http://www.questionpoint.org/community/ TransitionTaskForce/FAQ_247.htm


Leveraging a global cooperative

24/7 Reference acquired by OCLC (8/04)

QuestionPoint: libraries in 20 countries, serving patrons in 24 languages Global Reference Network

WebJunction: Spanish Outreach


Language Issues

Software interface

Unicode compliant

QuestionPoint Librarian interface translated into 8 languages

Librarians needed to staff

Cultural issues


Current Patron Interfaces

Chinese

Dutch

English

French

German

Japanese

Korean

Polish

Portuguese

Slovenian

Spanish

Turkish


24/7 Reference – Spanish language

U.S. bilingual librarians

Participants: California, Florida, Maryland, soon Wisconsin

Available approximately 50 hours per week live, otherwise by email


LAPL - English


LAPL - Spanish


Spanish language interface


Scripts in Spanish


If no Librarians are available live…


24/7 Reference – next steps

Survey: Ability to offer reference help in other languages is more important than the delivery method used and the hours of service

Looking for partners to extend service

French, Chinese

Combination of chat and email reference

A worldwide library cooperative


Questions and Discussion

Susan McGlamery

[email protected]

a worldwide library cooperative oclc online computer library center 24 hour reference goes global: a...

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