Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Finally, a service to help people find information!

This morning I happened to catch The Today Show on NBC. My librarian ears went up when I heard them talking about Five Phone Numbers That Will Change Your Life.

One number listed was: Ask a question … any question!

Auburn University’s Foy Information Line, 334-844-4244
Students at Auburn University in Alabama, armed with the Internet and, as a last resort, reference books, will answer any question you can conceive of, 24 hours a day, Monday to Thursday (during the school year). The hot line started in the 1950s as a resource for students at Auburn who were trying to locate campus services and find information about grades or course schedules. Over the years, it has evolved into a no-holds-barred information database. It is one of the nation’s longest-running services of its kind. It’s technically the “Foy Information Line,” named after the Foy Student Union building that the phone service operates from, and it is free for anyone to call. They’ve gotten questions from callers as far away as Australia, about questions ranging from how many Oreos it would take to circle the globe to what’s the longest nontechnical word in the English language? It’s perfect for when you can’t get to Google. The hot line operates 24 hours during the week and until 9 p.m. on weekends.

I do give great credit for offering this service. I think as librarians we need to see what they are offering we might not be - such as 24 hour service to anyone. Also, I do have to wonder....
ummmmmm....has anybody at the Today Show heard of the reference librarian??

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