Presentation for schools - notes
We're here to talk about L-net, Oregon's statewide digital reference service that lets you talk to a librarian online. L-net is a grant-funded project hosted at the Multnomah County Library. I am Caleb Tucker-Raymond, the service coordinator and this is Brandon Barnett. Brandon also works at MCL and helps staff the service and is also responsible for some of the brainpower going into our current marketing efforts. Can your students type? Do they get homework assignments? Then they can chat with a librarian. If they are using online resources - the internet, Ebsco, a library catalog - then they will need help sometime. L-net lets you get help whenever you're online. We also want people to think of libraries as a place to get information online. L-net is staffed by librarians all over the state. Some are public librarians, some are academic librarians, and for a while, there were even school librarians who had enough time to staff the service. There are two good ways for you, teachers and students to connect to L-net. OSLIS elementary page - http://www.oslis.k12.or.us/elementary/howto/ www.oregonlibraries.net - click 'kids and teens' The kids and teens chat is staffed by the same librarians on the regular chat, but we hope to eventually staff that section with youth librarians and school librarians. Anyone? Anyone? Here's what happens when we ask a question. Question: What is inside of a camel's hump? Parents and teachers can ask questions too! The youngest folks we get questions from are in third and fourth grade. They ask questions like: I am looking for information on Indianapolis. Can you tell me what kind of shelter the chinook indias had? While we're waiting, I wanted to point some things out in the brochure - The service is 24/7 for live chat and e-mail Questions take about 15-25 minutes. Only 1 or 2 librarians are online at any given time. If you want to send a whole class - contact me in advance or see the sections on appointments Before you send anyone from class - see this panel about testing your connection. The simplest thing to do is just try it after school you can either. This works with more than just simple web pages like this one - it will work on EbscoHOST and the library catalog. The librarian can see what the student is searching for and make suggestions. More promotional materials are free. The last thing I want to show you is this link from our home page - FOR SCHOOLS. Any questions? I always want to hear from you about how we can make the service better for you and your students.