How does Global Librarian work?

Global Librarian takes advantage of international time differences to provide an out-of-hours reference service to partner libraries’ communities of users.

For example, if you live in Southampton (UK) and want to ask a librarian a question after Southampton Central Library has closed for the day and before 4:00 a.m. the next morning, you can submit your inquiry through Global Librarian. A fully-qualified library staff member in Vaughan (Ontario) or Surrey (British Columbia) will start work on your inquiry within the hour.

On the other hand, if you live in Vaughan (Ontario) or Surrey (British Columbia) and want to ask a librarian a question when your local library is closed, you can submit your inquiry through Global Librarian. As soon as staff in Southampton City Libraries (UK) arrive for work in the morning, they will start work on your inquiry - at least five hours before your local service for the day!

If your inquiry cannot be answered through reference resources available to the remote library, they will let you know that your inquiry will be passed to your local library for a response during your local library’s next operating hours. Partner libraries use their own library collections, Web-based resources, and your local library’s catalogue to help them answer your inquiries. They have received orientation relating to your country and your library.

The staff of your local library service will respond to any inquiries you submit through Global Librarian during your local library’s operating hours. Partners in other locations respond during designated hours only, when your local service is not available.

Click here for full details about hours of operation.

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What kind of libraries are answering my inquiry?

Libraries belonging to the Global Librarian Partnership are the official public library service in their local community. The partner libraries are all administered according to their country’s legislation for public library services and are therefore subject to the legal requirements of their country. Librarians answering or supervising Global Librarian inquiries have the nationally accredited qualifications for public librarians.

Other public libraries offer e-mail reference services 24/7 without having to partner up with libraries in other countries. Why can’t you do the same?

Some proactive public libraries do offer extended coverage for e-mail or interactive reference services over the Internet but - as far as we know - these services are not comparable to Global Librarian which is currently offered for up to 17 hours a day, Monday through Saturday.

Some other public libraries claim to offer an e-mail reference service 24 hours a day, seven days a week but in fact only offer their users the ability to submit inquiries 24/7. The inquiries are not responded to outside regular libraryhours.

Global Librarian is a unique initiative in public libraries which seriously takes on the challenge to meet public demand for round-the-clock reference services cost-effectively. At present, the Partnership is in its early days, and as the service grows, new partners will be sought around the world until a full 24/7 service is achieved.

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Can anyone e-mail Global Librarian with an inquiry?

Only people entitled to use the public library services of the Global Librarian Partners may use the Global Librarian service. See Conditions of Use.

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What kind of questions will you answer?

Why do you need personal information such as my name, e-mail address, phone number and postal code?

We don’t need your name, but we do like to reply to someone by name. You can give us a made up name if you prefer (but not someone else’s name, please).

We need your e-mail address in order to reply to you.

We need your phone number and postal code to measure the success of Global Librarian, in particular to see which part of the World e-mails are coming from. We will not phone you or write to you without getting your permission first. See also Privacy.

The time shown on Global Librarian e-mails is inaccurate. Why?

The Global Librarian Web site server is located in Eastern Canada and therefore all e-mails received from Global Librarian give the time as Eastern Standard Time, even if your inquiry is answered by a partner located elsewhere. Eastern Standard Time (EST) is 5 hours behind UK time (BST).

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Why haven’t I received a reply within the ten hours you guaranteed?

You should always receive a reply within ten hours if you submit your inquiry between Monday, 9.00 a.m. and Saturday, 3.00 p.m. local time. The only exceptions is if one of the Partners is celebrating a Statutory Holiday (Public or Bank Holiday), and the library is closed. The other possibility is that the staff are experiencing a problem contacting you - for example, you may have submitted your e-mail address incorrectly. If this may be the case, please phone your local partner during theirhours and they will assist you.

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I would like to get in touch with the person in charge of Global Librarian.

If you have a comment, question or suggestion for the administration of Global Librarian, contact your local partner

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