Slamming the boards

The internet has changed all aspects of the World and our lives, nothing seems to remain untouched. We are an instant society and I guess that libraries have to keep moving to remain relevant.

Slamming the boards is one way that libraries can hang in there, stay involved and promote reference services. I don't think that people who have grown up with the internet being ever present have the patience to attend a library, present a reference query at an interview and wait for an answer. Now that I think of it, I can remember the last time I sent off a subject request to our reference librarian. Having a site that librarians can demonstrate their skills and provide answers along with sources to questions posed would give a guarantee of truthfulness and accuracy rather than an opinion. Answer boards allow libraries to remain pertinent and to retain their niche in the knowledge market.

I am sure their are many librarians in our library system who would love to participate in answer boards, it may be the future for reference questions. As always, with staffing issues finding time from the day to day activities is another matter. We would need major senior management encouragement and acceptance.