the Internet Public Library

The IPL MOO has been shut down

The Internet Public Library held live reference services in the MOO during the weeks of November 5th to December 9th, 1995. This experimental service was provided by over thirty dedicated volunteers -most of whom are experienced librarians or library students. They were available to patrons at the specified hours to answer general reference questions in real-time on the MOO. They had access to the Internet and some print resources depending on their library's holdings and access.

From the end of 1995 through Feb. 2000, the IPL MOO continued to operate, with less regular hours, as a group of volunteer librarians continued to gather there. Usage by patrons with reference questions decreased to the point where the IPL decided the extra burden of maintaining the MOO's computer system was no longer within the scope of our limited resources, so we shut the IPL MOO down in February, 2000.

To learn more about our MOO, see this paper about the outcome of the Pilot Project, written by Liz Shaw, the MOO Reference Coordinator at that time : http://www-personal.si.umich.edu/~ejshaw/research2.html

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