Information Lost and Found new models for library reference service, Rauha Maarno, Editor-in-Chief for the HelMet Web Library, Helsink, Finland
“The paper discusses the transformation of library reference service in the context of public libraries: from information repository to knowledge platform. The subject is approached with everyday experiences from the Helsinki City Librarys web reference service, the question and answer (Q&A) – site Ask Anything which has been operating since 2001. The service, with over a million web visits per year, has an active web community and regularly appears in the programming of two local radio stations. A renewed version of the web service based on open-source software will be released in August 2012.”
