[Askalibrarianqa] Final votes for September chats

Sat Nov 10 09:35:10 EST 2007

Hi everyone.  I'm thankful for the thoughtful discussion my email generated.  I agree, Pat, that issues with "homework help" and problem are for Diana and Jennifer to sort out.  The point of my earlier email was to discourage Quality Assurance Group members from nominating those types of chats in the first place.  (Neither of Brian's chats were nominated by him) The one I pasted below was in our August bunch of nominations and is exactly what I am talking about. Now that I think about it, I sure wish I'd had access to this type of service when I was suffering through high school chemistry...

Thank you for respecting my opinion and always being open to discussion.

Nicole 

670092663: patron has not entered a question
Brian: Hello. Welcome to Ask a Librarian! Please wait a moment while I read your question...
Brian: Hi, this is Brian from the Tampa-Hillsborough County Library System
670092663: how many meters are in a kilometer
Brian: 1 kilometer is equal to 1000 meters.
670092663: how many grams are in two kilograms
Brian: A kilogram is 1000 grams, so two kilograms would be 2000 grams.
670092663: a millimeter is what part of a liter
Brian: A milliliter is 0.001 liter, or 1/1000th of a liter
670092663: 10 millimeters equal how many centimeters
670092663: what do the letters SI stand for
Brian: 10 millimiters equal one centimeter.
Brian: An SI prefix (also known as a metric prefix) is a name or associated symbol that precedes a unit of measure (or its symbol) to form a decimal multiple or submultiple. The abbreviation SI is from the French language name Système International d'Unités (also known as International System of Units
670092663: what is the SI unit for mass and tempeature
Brian: For mass, it would be kilograms
Brian: For temperature, it would be degrees kelvin
670092663: what is the estimated lengthof a small paper clip
670092663: what is the avrage hight of a wastebasket
Brian: I don't think there are really answers I can give you for those questions. You would have to measure them yourself.
670092663: what tool would u use from the si unit for the mass of arock
670092663: what about your body tempeature
670092663: hello
Brian: For body temperature, you could convert degrees Fahrenheit to degrees Kelvin
Brian: The normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheir
Brian: http://www.metric-conversions.org/temperature/fahrenheit-to-kelvin.htm
670092663: the tool not the unit
Brian: I'm not sure I understand. What tool would you use to measure temperature?
Brian: Is that the question?
670092663: yes
Brian: A thermometer
670092663: mass of a rock?
Brian: A scale
670092663: length of a classroom
Brian: A ruler or measuring tape
670092663: how much water a tablespoon holds
Brian: Again, I'm not really sure I understand the question- the measuring tool would be the tablespoon
670092663: what unit would u use to measure the volume of a plastic block
Brian: The SI unit for volume would be the cubic meter
670092663: what about the tool
Brian: Volumes of straight-edged and circular shapes are calculated using arithmetic formulas
Brian: The volume of an object is equal to its mass divided by its average density. This is a rearrangement of the calculation of density as mass per unit volume.
670092663: what do u use to measure volume
Brian: A graduated cylinder is used to measure liquid volumes.
Brian: The volume of a regular-shaped solid can be found by multiplying the height X the width X the length. 
Brian: So for the block, you would use a ruler   

________________________________

From: Pat Barbier [mailto:Barbier.Pat at spcollege.edu] 
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 2:23 PM
To: Nicole Heintzelman; askalibrarianqa at lists.tblc.org
Subject: RE: [Askalibrarianqa] Final votes for September chats

Hi Everyone,

   I think discussion of the chats and what makes for best practices in doing electronic reference is good. However, I think there should be room given for differences of professional opinion. Remember we have been trying to encourage librarians who are not on the workgroup to nominate transcripts (their own and their colleagues). Some are somewhat intimidated by this process. In fact, if we had gotten enough nominations from the whole group, the workgroup would mainly have had the task of voting on which were the most exemplary.

  It is true that sending a link to a patron is usually "good practice." However, the librarian did find the specific information from a credible government website (gave an accurate answer) and also had a good rapport with the student fulfilling other criteria. So I'm seeing some strong positives in the transcript, also.

  Since the patron was a Middle School Student, it would be important to find a website on the student's reading level that answers the specific question.  I did a search myself on the student's topic using Yahooligans and did not get very good results. It did not look like the kind of search I would have wanted to be co-browsing for either as I found myself not finding what he was looking for right away. 

   Pointing out the need to send the website is an interesting point.What do the rest of the workgroup members think?

   Issues with how much "homework help" should be given I'll leave to Diana and Jennifer.

Pat

________________________________

From: askalibrarianqa-bounces at lists.tblc.org on behalf of Nicole Heintzelman
Sent: Thu 11/8/2007 7:25 PM
To: Pat Barbier; askalibrarianqa at lists.tblc.org
Subject: [Askalibrarianqa] Final votes for September chats

Hello everyone.  Generally I send my chat votes directly to Pat.  This time, however, I am addressing the committee in order to highlight a chat I believe should not have been nominated in the first place.  First of all, Pat, here are my final votes:

Brief Chat: Jill S.

Detailed Chat: Laura Minnich 

Teaching: Deborah T.

The chat I question is a "detailed" from Brian Jaudon of Tampa-Hillsborough. http://www.askalibrarian.org/collaborative/vrl_xscriptdetails.asp?id=68865&process <http://www.askalibrarian.org/collaborative/vrl_xscriptdetails.asp?id=68865&process> =

The first two questions submitted were clearly homework questions:
"Does atmospheric pressure increase or decrease the formation of clouds?"

"How are clouds nucleated by particles in the atmosphere"... and Brian clearly answered them rotely (although he did supply the resource, thank goodness).   Brian should have instead supplied the link to National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office for the student to visit himself.  

This is actually not the first time Brian has supplied such rote answers.  Check out http://www.askalibrarian.org/collaborative/vrl_xscriptdetails.asp?id=68121&process=  

Lest it appear that I am picking on Brian specifically, that transcript was actually nominated in September as an exemplary August chat!   I strongly believe that Ask a Librarian is not a service that answers homework questions but a service that educates students in finding and interpreting information.   Laura Minnich's chat, which I voted Best Detailed, is an exemplary model of a librarian providing appropriate resources for the student to read and analyze.  I sincerely hope Brian's chat is the last of its kind that is nominated.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,

Nicole Heintzelman

Winter Park Public Library

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