About AskAcademic

AskAcademic is a multi-state cooperative of participating academic libraries and is an AskColorado partner. Select Colorado colleges and university libraries as well as the libraries at Angelo State University, Austin Community College, and South Texas College (all in Texas) comprise the core staffing libraries. This free online research and information service is available to any student, faculty, or staff member from a college or university of a participating academic library.

AskAcademic is designed to provide customized service to fit the needs of each user. AskAcademic sessions can take 5 minutes or 25 minutes depending on the question. Each session takes time because AskAcademic librarians develop a dialogue with the user, work to find reliable information, and assist with research techniques.

User Comments

"The librarian was extremely helpful! I have never used this before but it was easy and reduced my stress being able to talk to someone while at home! I will definitely let someone know about this tool!"

"It was really cool, being on line with a live librarian, better than searching the internet alone."

"Not only did I get my answer but I learned something new about using the libraries resources as well. What a great idea this is."

"GREAT! very knowledgable and easy to understand. I love having the instant connection and not having the time delays between emails."

History

AskAcademic is a collaborative project between academic libraries in Colorado and Texas. Academic libraries are sharing librarians resources to provide 24/7 information services to their communities. For more on the history and organization of this project, please contact the AskAcademic/AskColorado Coordinator.

Funding

AskAcademic is a multi-governmental funding model with federal grant money provided by the Colorado State Library through the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Each participating library also provides staffing and funding to support this popular project.

External funding partnerships are being sought to insure the future of AskAcademic. For information about how you can donate, please click here.

Software

AskAcademic uses uses Live Help Chat on Demand software from Oracle.