IPL Project
Question 1:
Question:
When do we use the prefix 'de -' and 'un'? Is there any rule for that? for instance, can we use
'unfrost' for 'defrost' ?'dehappy' for 'unhappy'? Can you suggest some books on 'the rules regarding
the use of prefixes and suffixes'?
name: ravi
location: thrissur, kerala, India
area: Other
reason: for teaching
school: No
sources_consulted: google search
Response 1:
Greetings from the ipl2!
Thank you for your question about books that help explain the rules for prefixes and suffixes. I
have found a few solutions that I hope will work for you.
1. My first suggestion would be to look at books available on Amazon.com. On Amazon.com you are
able to search for books and other materials by categories. For example, if you are looking for
children’s books or toys you can search only within those items. You can also search for reference
materials.
2. I would also suggest visiting a public library or visiting a public library website and searching the
library catalog for books.
I was able to locate a public library in Thrissur, Kerala, India. Or you may try looking at the websites
of the New York Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library or the Chicago Public Library.
Some of these books might be helpful for you.
Prefixes And Suffixes: Systematic Sequential Phonics and Spelling by Patricia M. Cunningham
WORD PARTS DICTIONARY: Standard and Reverse Listings of Prefixes, Suffixes, Roots and
Combining Forms by Michael J. Sheehan
I found these books by following these steps.
1. I started by going to Amazon.com. I selected Amazon.com because you are able to purchase books
and have them shipped all over the world. From the home page of Amazon.com I selected the
‘Books’ department from the pull down menu by the search bar, and searching “prefixes and
suffixes” (without the “ ” marks).
http://www.amazon.com/
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From here I was able to limit my search result to ‘Children’s Books’, I then selected the third search
result.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_0?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Aprefixes+and+suffi
xes%2Cn%3A!1000%2Cn%3A4&bbn=1000&keywords=prefixes+and+suffixes&ie=UTF8&qid=130
3764568&rnid=1000
This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened version for your convenience.
http://tinyurl.com/6jmm6dz
Prefixes And Suffixes: Systematic Sequential Phonics and Spelling by Patricia M. Cunningham
http://www.amazon.com/Prefixes-Suffixes-Systematic-Sequential-FourBlocks/dp/0887246958/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303764573&sr=1-3
This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened version for your convenience.
http://tinyurl.com/6hw2q3k
I returned to my initial search, from the home page of Amazon.com I selected the ‘Books’
department from the pull down menu by the search bar, and searching “prefixes and suffixes”
(without the “” marks). From here I was able to limit my search result to ‘Reference’.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_3?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Aprefixes+and+suffi
xes%2Cn%3A!1000%2Cn%3A21&bbn=1000&keywords=prefixes+and+suffixes&ie=UTF8&qid=13
03773717&rnid=1000
This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened version for your convenience.
http://tinyurl.com/6xr6p37
I then selected the 3rd result.
WORD PARTS DICTIONARY: Standard and Reverse Listings of Prefixes, Suffixes, Roots and
Combining Forms by Michael J. Sheehan
http://www.amazon.com/WORD-PARTS-DICTIONARY-StandardCombining/dp/078643564X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303773721&sr=1-3
This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened version for your convenience.
http://tinyurl.com/6ehtwgo
2. To find a local library, I used the location you listed in your question and searched on Google.com.
http://www.google.com/
I typed in ‘thrissur public library’ (without the ‘’ marks) and selected the first search result to find a
local library in Thrissur, India.
https://coral.uchicago.edu:8443/display/lasa/Trichur+Public+Library+%28Thrissur,+India%29
This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened version for your convenience.
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http://tinyurl.com/64dmkw9
I also used Google.com to look at several public library pages from the United States.
http://www.google.com/
I typed in ‘Los Angeles public library’ (without the ‘’ marks) and selected the first search result to
view the Los Angeles Public Library website.
http://www.lapl.org/
I returned to Google.com and I typed in ‘New York public library’ (without the ‘’ marks) and
selected the first search result to view the New York Public Library website.
http://www.nypl.org/
I returned to Google.com and I typed in ‘Chicago public library’(without the ‘’ marks) and selected
the first search result to view the Chicago Public Library website.
http://www.chipublib.org/
I hope these sources answer your question. Please don't hesitate to contact us again if you need
more information.
Thank you for using ipl2.
Reflection 1:
1. Amount of time spent on each question
As this was my first IPL question (other than the practice question) I probably spent the most time on
answering it. I spent about an hour just looking at different websites and trying to think about how I
learned English prefixes and suffixes in elementary school. When my initial searching did not provide
anything I found to be helpful, I moved on and spent another hour or two looking for books that might
be helpful. I then also browsed the websites of some major public libraries. Once I was satisfied with the
information I was able to provide I began answering the question. All in all, the process from initial
searching to answering the question took me about 4 hours to complete.
2. Sources consulted and strategies used (besides the ones used for the answer)
One of the first sources I consulted for this question was the Purdue University OWL (Online Writing
Lab). I had used this site before in my own academic career and hoped to find some information that
would be helpful. Unfortunately I was not able to find anything from OWL that I felt would help me to
answer the question. I also consulted the IPL and searched terms like “prefix and suffix rules”, again I
did not find any information that helped answer the question and so I moved on and began looking for
books that I thought might be helpful.
3. Critique of each question that indicates your level of satisfaction with the answers you provided
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While I believe I provided helpful information I would have liked to provide a direct answer to the
question, which I was unable to do. I do believe that I provided several reliable and helpful sources for
information, which included some suggestions for books as well as possible library websites and one
local library to visit.
4. Anything that you would do differently in the future.
Should I have the opportunity to answer a similar question in the future, I think I would try to find more
readily available sources of information. The information I was able to provide for this question required
the user to then go on order or check out books. I would have liked to be able to provide websites that
fully answered the question without the user having to take the next step and find the information
themselves.
Question 2:
Question:do you have any suggestions of scholarly sources or know where I could find sources
about gender in christianity and islam? Primarily, about women subjugation: ideal
women/religious icons, rights(sexual, marriage, child bearing, responsibilities, etc.), rules about
clothing, power structure(no female Pope, no female Imam, etc.), and equality achievements.
name: julise
location: phila, pa
area: Religion
reason: to write a 10 page research paper
school: Yes
sources_consulted: none
Response 2:
Hello from the ipl2,
Thank you for your question about gender issues in Christianity and Islam. I was pleased to search
for the answer to this interesting question. My answer is suggested by your email address from
Temple University, some of the scholarly articles I have found for you are only accessible with a
paid subscription. You should be able to use the Temple University libraries or another public or
academic library to help you obtain these resources.
The first articles I have found, that I believe may be helpful for your research are, Recovering
women's history : early Christianity and Women and priestly ministry : the New Testament
evidence. I selected these articles out of my first search because I felt that they would best help you
in your research about Women’s roles and responsibilities in Christianity.
Rader, Rosemary. 1984. "Recovering women's history : early Christianity." Horizons 11, no. 1: 113124. ATLA ReligionDatabase with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed May 2, 2011).
This is a licensed print and/or electronic resource that we are recommending to you. You will not be
able to access it or get a copy of it without a paid subscription.
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We encourage you to take this citation to your local library, which may have a subscription and be
able to provide this resource to you for free. Your library may also be able to obtain this resource
through interlibrary loan services or some other means.
To find a library near you a good resource to try is LibWeb, found online at:
http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/
1979. "Women and priestly ministry : the New Testament evidence." Catholic Biblical Quarterly 41,
no. 4: 608-613. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed May 2, 2011).
This is a licensed print and/or electronic resource that we are recommending to you. You will not be
able to access it or get a copy of it without a paid subscription.
We encourage you to take this citation to your local library, which may have a subscription and be
able to provide this resource to you for free. Your library may also be able to obtain this resource
through interlibrary loan services or some other means.
To find a library near you a good resource to try is LibWeb, found online at:
http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/
From my third search I believe these articles will be of use to you, Women in Islam : Equity,
equality, and the search for the natural order and Sexuality and the moral "construction" of women
in an Islamic society. I selected these articles, as they will be useful for your research about
women’s roles in Islam.
Smith, Jane I. 1979. "Women in Islam : Equity, equality, and the search for the natural order."
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 47, no. 4: 517-537. ATLA Religion Database with
ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed May 2, 2011).
This is a licensed print and/or electronic resource that we are recommending to you. You will not be
able to access it or get a copy of it without a paid subscription.
We encourage you to take this citation to your local library, which may have a subscription and be
able to provide this resource to you for free. Your library may also be able to obtain this resource
through interlibrary loan services or some other means.
To find a library near you a good resource to try is LibWeb, found online at:
http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/
Bauer, Janet L. 1985. "Sexuality and the moral "construction" of women in an Islamic society."
Anthropological Quarterly 58, no. 3: 120-129. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials,
EBSCOhost (accessed May 2, 2011).
This is a licensed print and/or electronic resource that we are recommending to you. You will not be
able to access it or get a copy of it without a paid subscription.
We encourage you to take this citation to your local library, which may have a subscription and be
able to provide this resource to you for free. Your library may also be able to obtain this resource
through interlibrary loan services or some other means.
To find a library near you a good resource to try is LibWeb, found online at:
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http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/
For the first search I preformed, I searched the ATLA Religion Database using EBSCOhost, which is a
paid subscription database.
I choose to perform an advanced search and searched these terms, ‘Women’ AND ‘Christianity’ OR
‘Islam’ the search mode I selected was Boolean, and I also limited my results to only articles with
Abstracts and Peer Reviewed and Scholarly journals. I choose to search with OR between
Christianity and Islam for my first search, because this will provide me with articles that have to do
with Women in Islam, Women in Christianity or articles that are about both Women in Islam and
Christianity.
This search provided me with 345 results. Most of these results seemed to be more about Women
and Christianity rather than Islam.
For the second search I preformed, I searched the ATLA Religion Database using EBSCOhost, which
is a paid subscription database. I choose to perform an advanced search and searched these terms,
‘Women’ AND ‘Christianity’ AND ‘Islam’ the search mode I selected was Boolean, and I also limited
my results to only articles with Abstracts and Peer Reviewed and Scholarly journals. I choose to
search with AND between Christianity and Islam for this search, because this will provide me with
only articles that are about both Women in Islam and Christianity.
This search provided me with 2 results, which I did not think you would find to be particularly
helpful.
In order to find you more sources for information on women in Islam I modified my search by
removing the search term ‘Christianity’. I choose to perform an advanced search and searched these
terms, ‘Women’ AND ‘Islam’ the search mode I selected was Boolean, and I also limited my results
to only articles with Abstracts and Peer Reviewed and Scholarly journals.
This search provided me with 12 results, some of which I believe you will find helpful for your
research about women in Islam. You can perform the searches exactly as I have or you can adapt
them to better fit your research criteria. I suggest using synonyms or like terms for the search
terms I have used. For example, instead of ‘women’, you may search ‘female’, or the term ‘gender’.
You may also choose to search more narrow terms like ‘sexuality’ or ‘marriage’ in combination with
the search terms ‘Christianity’ or ‘Islam.’
I hope this response will help you in your research. If you need more information, please don't
hesitate to contact us again.
Thanks for visiting the ipl2!
Reflection 2:
1. Amount of time spent on each question
For this IPL question I spent about 3 hours from start to finish. Having done my undergrad at a Catholic
University and studies Women’s Studies, this question was a great fit for me and I actually enjoyed doing
the research and thinking useful information for the user.
2. Sources consulted and strategies used (besides the ones used for the answer)
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In order to answer this question I first consulted the Temple University Library website in order to
determine what databases the user would have available for their use (the user provided an email
address from Temple University). I also browsed the Drexel Libraries website to see if there was any
overlap of databases that both libraries provided. When answering the question I tried to ensure that
the resources I was using from Drexel’s library would be the same as or similar to the resources that
Temple University could provide the user.
3. Critique of each question that indicates your level of satisfaction with the answers you provided
With my background in Women’s Studies I found this question to be very enjoyable and I believe that I
provided useful information for the user. I was able to provide several example articles as well as sample
search strategies for the user to then adapt and use themselves to find more information for their
research. One of my goals for IPL questions was to provide the answer the user was looking for but to
also show users how I found the answer and how they could perform similar searches. I think that this
question gave me a great opportunity to do so and I hope that I was able to not only give the user some
example articles but give them enough information and tools for them to be able to perform a search
for themselves.
4. Anything that you would do differently in the future.
I do not think I would do much differently for this type of question. The user specifically asked for
scholarly sources, which I was able to provide examples of. When providing these sources I also tried to
ensure that the user would have access to the databases and materials that I was using through their
own University. I also provided search terms for their own search, and gave suggestions on how and
where to search.
Question 3:
Question:
where can i find places to fish for steelhead trout in british
columbia canada?
name: Tara
location: thessalon, ontario, canada
area: Hobby
reason: for my fishing trip!
school: No
sources_consulted: none
Response 3:
Hello, from the ipl2!
Thank you for your question about where to fish for steelhead trout in British Columbia, Canada. I
found a couple websites that I believe you may find helpful for your fishing trip!
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1. First, try this website: HelloBC.com
This website is a publication of the Province of British Columbia. It features information about the
cities and town, attractions and things to do in BC. The link I have provided will go directly to the
fishing page, where you will be able to find out about different regions of British Columbia and
where to fish. It also provides listings for professional fishing guides in each area.
http://www.hellobc.com/enCA/SightsActivitiesEvents/NaturalSightsParksWildlife/Fishing/BritishColumbia.htm?Lev1=8
This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened version for your convenience.
http://tinyurl.com/dyqj9t
2. Second, try this site: The British Columbia Government webpage.
This website is the official government page for British Columbia, Canada. Here you can find
information on Fish and Wildlife. From the link I have provided you can learn about the different
types of sport fish in British Columbia and get information on how to get a fishing license.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/fish/
To find the first website I started at Google.com.
http://www.google.com/
I then searched ‘british columbia tourism’ (without the ‘’ marks) and selected the first result.
http://www.hellobc.com/
From the home page of HelloBC I selected the tab “Things To Do” and was directed to the Things To
Do page, where I selected “Natural Sights, Parks & Wildlife” from the list of Things To Do. I then
selected “Fishing” from the list and this takes you to the fishing page where you are able to read
more about fresh and salt water fishing.
http://www.hellobc.com/enCA/SightsActivitiesEvents/NaturalSightsParksWildlife/Fishing/BritishColumbia.htm?Lev1=8
This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened version for your convenience.
http://tinyurl.com/dyqj9t
For the second website I knew I wanted to look for official government information on Fishing and
Wildlife. I began my search at Google.com and searched “province of british columbia fish and
wildlife” (without the “” marks)
http://www.google.com/
I selected the first search result which took me to the home page for the Fish and Wildlife Branch of
the British Columbia Government.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/
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From the menu on the left hand side I selected “Fish” which brought me to this page, where you will
be able to read more about licenses, regulations, sport fishing and other information on fishing.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/fish/
I hope these websites will help you on your fishing trip. If you still need more information, please
write back.
Thanks for visiting the ipl2!
Reflection 3:
1. Amount of time spent on each question
This question was a little more difficult that I had thought it would be when I claimed it. I started my
search looking for specific locations, rivers and such for steelhead trout fishing. I soon realized that all
my searching was leading me to private fishing guide company websites. I decided that because these
are biased sources of information, each claiming that they know where the best fishing places are, I
needed to look for something more unbiased and official. Over all my search and answer for this
question took a little more than 5 hours to complete.
2. Sources consulted and strategies used (besides the ones used for the answer)
As stated, I tried to begin my search looking for specific locations for steelhead trout fishing; I did this by
browsing in Google. I also tried to locate information on the IPL website. Once I decided I needed to look
for official websites I decided to try the British Columbia tourism page and the Fish and Wildlife page.
3. Critique of each question that indicates your level of satisfaction with the answers you provided
As with some of my other questions, I really have a hard time not being able to provide an exact answer
to a question. For example, I wish I had been able to say something like “the best place for steelhead
trout fishing in British Columbia is the XXX River.” Knowing that a specific answer cannot always be
provided I believe I provided unbiased information about fishing in British Columbia. I also pointed out
that there are several fishing guide companies should the user be interested in that.
4. Anything that you would do differently in the future.
One of the things I might do differently with a question like this would be to research more on the
species of fish and try to find out where they live and breed most, rather than look for information on
fishing in general. I think this might have provided me more information and helped me to identify some
specific locations that I would have been able to provide to the user.
Question 4:
Question:
From where did Taoism originate from; what are the basic beliefs
that Taoists hold?
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name: Katelyn
location: Plympton Wyoming, Canada
area: Religion
reason: For a research paper
school: Yes
Response 4:
Greetings from the ipl2!
Thank you for your question about Taoism. I was pleased to search for the answer to this
interesting question.
I did some research, and I was able to find some resources that I believe you will find helpful.
I have found that Taoism (also spelled Daoism) is based on the teachings of the Tao Te Ching. It was
founded around 550 BCE in China and there are two main groups of Taoism, known as
Philosophical-Taoism and Religious-Taoism.
I think that these websites can help you with your research:
1. Religion Facts: Taoism
From this website you can access basic information on Taoism, a glossary of terms, timeline of
Taoism, sacred texts of Taoism as well as other links to websites on Taoism. This website describes
the religious philosophy, saying, “Taoism (also spelled Daoism) is based on the teachings of the Tao
Te Ching, a short tract written in the 6th century BC in China. Its emphasis on spiritual harmony
within the individual complements Confucianism's focus on social duty. Today, there are 20 million
Taoists worldwide, most of whom live in China, Taiwan or Southeast Asia. Taoism is also
increasingly influential in the West, especially in the field of alternative medicine and in martial arts
like Tai Chi.” (Religion Facts)
http://www.religionfacts.com/taoism/index.htm
2. Religious Tolerance: Taoism
This website provides Taoist concepts, beliefs and practices, historical texts and other information
sources on Taoism. This website says, “Taoism is an Eastern religion/philosophy with perhaps 225
million followers. Although it is more accurately referred to as a philosophy, books on world
religions inevitably include it with other religions from Buddhism to Zoroastrianism. The exact
number of followers is impossible to estimate because many of its followers also identify with other
religions – often Buddhism and Confucianism -- and because it is impossible to obtain reliable
polling information from individuals in China.” (Religious Tolerance)
http://www.religioustolerance.org/taoism.htm
In order to find these sources I took the following steps:
1. For the first website I started at the ipl.org website and searched “Taoism” (without the “”
marks).
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http://www.ipl.org/
I then choose the Religion Facts link from the list of results which took me to the home page for
Religion Facts.
http://www.religionfacts.com/
From the home page, in the list of religions, I selected Taoism and was directed to the website I
have given you. You may also navigate this site and use the links to other information from this
page.
http://www.religionfacts.com/taoism/index.htm
2. For the second website I have provided, I searched from Google.com, again I used the search term
“Taoism” (without the “”marks).
http://www.google.com/
I selected the second result, Religious Tolerance: Taoism, which directed me to the website I
provided you with. You may also want to navigate this website and use the links provided to get
more information or other sources.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/taoism.htm
I hope this helps answer your question. If you need more help or have any more questions, please
don't hesitate to write us back.
Thank you for visiting the ipl2!
Reflection 4:
1. Amount of time spent on each question
I found this IPL question to be a little more complicated than some other questions, mainly because I
wanted to be careful about finding unbiased sources for information. I did not have to do much
background research for this particular question because I took an Asian Religion and Philosophy course
and studied Taoism, so I had some good general background knowledge of the topic. Most of the time I
spent answering this question was dedicated to looking for sources that I felt would be unbiased and
informational. I did not want to find a “religious” website that focused solely on Taoism, but rather
websites that provided basic information about many different religions and philosophies. All together I
spent about 3 hours searching and answering this question.
2. Sources consulted and strategies used (besides the ones used for the answer)
I used the IPL website and Google to browse in order to get an idea of what types of websites could
provide me with unbiased information. I also knew, from my Asian Religion and Philosophy course as an
undergrad, that Taoism is also spelled and referred to as Daoism. I used both Taoism and Daoism in my
search terms. While I did not find that there were very many different sources by searching with Taoism
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verses Daoism, I did want to make sure that I would not be missing a source that would be helpful
because of a spelling difference.
3. Critique of each question that indicates your level of satisfaction with the answers you provided
This was another question that I had a bit of background knowledge on and so I enjoyed searching and
looking for information for the user. I felt like I did a good job of providing unbiased sources for
information and that my directions for searching further were clear and concise.
4. Anything that you would do differently in the future.
One thing I might do differently would be to provide more sources than the two that I did provide. While
I do feel that these sources did provide the information that the user was looking for, I also feel that
they gave basic information on Taoism and perhaps I might have been able to provide a source that gave
more in-depth information on Taoism and its traditions. In an effort to provide unbiased information
from websites that gave general information on all types of religions, I think the information was more
basic that it could have been.
Question 5:
Question:
How do you get google to read to you?
name: Keke
location: Ohio
area: Hobby
reason: To recerch
school: No
sources_consulted: Google , my public library
Response 5:
Greetings from IPL2.
I understand you are looking for an application that allows Google to read text aloud to a user.
I have found three websites that you may find helpful.
1. Read2Me – Google Code
This Google Code site provides information about a downloadable application for text to speech
translations. You must install this application on your personal computer.
http://code.google.com/p/read2me/
2. Text to Speech – Google Gadgets
This Google Gadgets site also provides a downloadable application for a text to speech translation
program. This application also needs to be installed on your personal computer.
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http://desktop.google.com/plugins/i/texttospeech_bijoy.html?hl=en
3. Read The Words
This website allows free text to speech translations right from the home page, the translations are
limited and to gain access to more usage you must join the website.
http://www.readthewords.com/
I used the following searching methods to find these websites. Because your question specifically
inquired about Google programs I began my search there.
1. For the first website I started my search at Google.com.
http://www.google.com/
I searched “Google read aloud text” (without the quotes). I then selected the first result, Read2Me
and was directed to the website I have provided you with.
http://code.google.com/p/read2me/
2. For the second I also began at Google.com.
http://www.google.com/
I search “Google text to speech” (without the quotes). I changed my search terms because after
performing my first search I found that many of the programs and applications are called “Text to
Speech” programs so I decided to use this term in my second search.
I then selected the second search result Google Gadgets: Text to Speech, and was directed to the
website I provided you with.
http://www.readthewords.com/
3. For the third website I wanted to provide you with a free website text to speech translator which
you would not have to download in order to use. Again I stated at Google.com
http://www.google.com/
I searched “text to speech” which provided me with several results that you may find helpful, I
scrolled until I found a website that offered a free online text to speech translation. I selected the
result “TTS Online : Free Text to Speech Voices : Read The Words” and was directed to the website I
provided you with.
http://www.readthewords.com/
Thank you for visiting the ipl2, I hope this information has been helpful. Should you have any
further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us again.
Feedback:
Hi Erin,
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Wow. Great job. I like how you let them know why you changed your search terms. That can be
really helpful direction for the user to employ in any future searches strategies.
There are really only a couple of things to note. First, you may want to let the patron know why you
chose the sites. Were the applications developed by well-known companies? Did they have good
reviews?
Second, for the third search strategy, you may want to include "free" in your search statement. You
let the user know that you wanted to find a free application for him/her, but did you include any
other terms in your Google search?
I think you gave great resources and shouldn’t be overly concerned with needing to give this patron
any more information.
One cool tool that you may want to remember in the future is Google Translate. It now has a feature
that has text to speech.
Check it out at the below link:
http://translate.google.com/
If you type in a phrase, a speaker button will appear below that allows you to hear the text. This of
course only works if you know the exact phrase you want to hear.
Hope my comments helped. Keep up the good reference work!
-Chelsea
Reflection 5:
1. Amount of time spent on each question
I spend about 2 to 3 hours on this question, and found it to be one of the most difficult questions to
answer. None of the pervious questions I have worked on have asked for actual products and it was
difficult for me to format my response to the user. Unlike other questions the majority of my time was
not spent on the research portion and instead I spent more time actually writing up the answer to the
user’s question.
2. Sources consulted and strategies used (besides the ones used for the answer)
I did not use too many additional sources or strategies besides the ones provided in the answer. Even
though this question was in the research questions category I found it to be similar to a ready reference
question in that I basically located different text to speech tools and provided directions on how to use
them.
3. Critique of each question that indicates your level of satisfaction with the answers you provided
After answering this question I was concerned that I did not provide enough information for the user
since the question seemed to be looking for an actual application rather than information on a topic. I
selected to ask for feedback from the IPL staff on this question and was encouraged by the response
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given to me. While they did make a few suggestions overall I believe that they found my answer to be
helpful for the user.
4. Anything that you would do differently in the future.
One of the suggestions made by the IPL staff feedback was to make sure I am clean on why I have
selected sources of information in my answers; I think this is something I can work on and do differently
in all my questions. Another suggestion made by the IPL staff was a fairly obvious tool (Google Translate)
that I missed because I was concerned with providing applications and tools for download. I think in the
future I will remember that sometimes the answer is not as complicated as I make it.
Project Reaction:
Working on the IPL questions this quarter has helped me to develop research skill and how to
answer user questions effectively. I was able to learn about my own research process and I also got
more comfortable with providing information for other users. When I first started answering IPL
questions I wanted to be able to provide an exact answer to a user’s question and I have since realized
that in many cases it is not possible to answer some questions in neat little packages. I have come to
the realization that not all questions have a direct answer and most questions do not have the answer
neatly provided in one spot.
This experience in e-mail reference is the first reference experience I have where I am the one
providing information, and while I do not have in person reference experience to compare it to I do
think that it is an effective and useful tool for information professional. One of the advantages I see
with the e-mail reference is that it is done on the reference librarians own time, so there is less of a
chance of that librarian feeling rushed or getting interrupted when answering reference questions. I
think this helps reference librarians to provide more in depth and detailed answers to user questions.
One disadvantage I have found with e-mail reference is the amount of time it takes from the time the
questions was submitted to the time the user receives an answer. In my own experience with asking a
question via e-mail reference I found that it took days to receive any information. The IPL tries to
combat this issue with a 24-hour policy, ensuring that once a question is claimed it will be answered
within 24 hours, however often questions can sit for days without being claimed at all, particularly
difficult or confusing questions.
E-mail reference clearly has strengths and weaknesses, but there is no doubt that it will have a
place in the future of reference services. I do not believe that e-mail reference can take the place of
person to person or telephone reference completely however I do think it will play a large role in
reference services. In a culture that depends on much of our information from digital sources it only
makes sense that reference should happen digitally as well. However there is an interesting and ironic
issue concerning digital information and reference. Digital information is available almost immediately
for users, where as e-mail reference can sometimes take days to provide answers. On the flip side, an in
person reference interview can provide users with answers much more quickly. I also believe that an
important part of answering reference questions is teaching and guiding users so that they can more
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easily find the information they are looking for. While this can be achieved by step by step directions in
e-mail reference, there is something to be said for hands on instruction that can only be achieved by
person to person reference when librarians can personally show and instruct users on tools for finding
information.
This project has taught me a great deal about reference work. One of the things I struggled with
during the course of this project was not being able to find the answer to a user’s question all tied up in
a neat package from one source. I still want to provide the most accurate and complete answers as
possible but I also have realized that sometimes you cannot provide that neat little package. Another
key thing that I have learned from this project is that sometimes the answer is right in front of you. I
often made the process much more complicated that it needed to be thinking that I needed to dig and
search for every answer when sometimes it truly is simple and right in front of you. I have also learned
that I need to be more aware of why I am choosing particular sources and think about why they are
helpful and what makes them good sources. As pointed out in a feedback response to question 5, I need
to be able to provide a user with information on why I am recommending a particular source, even if it
seems obvious.
This project will undoubtedly help me as an information professional, as it has given me my
“first taste” of being a reference professional. I was able to get an idea of the diverse questions that are
asked by users and think about different sources and strategies for answering these questions. I was
able to explore different resources to help me answer questions and I also was able to explain and
‘show’ users how I came up with the answers I provided. I think over all this project was a great learning
experience and I am excited to continue to use the reference skill I have acquired.
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