the Internet Public Library
the Internet Public Library
| Sending Questions, Getting Answers: About the Service
The Ask-A-Question service at the Internet Public Library is experimental. We can help get you started with some ideas and places to begin if you've got a big project, but we can't perform lengthy research for you. Each day, we receive many more questions than we can answer with our current staff resources. The librarians who work at the IPL Reference Center are almost all volunteers with other full-time librarian jobs, who answer questions for us out of support for the IPL's mission and goals, and because answering reference questions for people on the Internet is an interesting and fun experience. If you are a librarian or a student attending library school, and would like more information on volunteering, please see our recruitment page. How do I send in a question? Use the Reference Form. Fill out a form with information about your question.
If your Web browser doesn't support forms, you can also send us a question by email. Please read our Privacy Statement before submitting your question. Note that your question will be saved and archived by our staff so that we can build a database of questions and answers. However, we won't save any personal information about you to the database, just the question you asked. |
What happens to my question after I send it to the IPL? Your question is received at the IPL Reference Center inbox, where once a day, an IPL staff member reviews the mail and moves accepted questions to a place where all the librarians can see them and answer them. You will receive a message as soon as possible, advising on the status of your question (accepted or rejected), and if accepted, you should receive an answer to your question as soon as possible -- in a couple of days , possibly a week if it's a harder question. Unfortunately, We cannot help you if you need an answer in < 3 days! (Sorry -- we're working to change this, but in the meantime, see some of the recommendations we make here .) What kind of answer will I get? You'll get a brief factual answer if you've asked a specific question, or, if you have a broader topic of interest, you'll get a short list of sources that you can use to explore your topic further. These sources will be primarily Internet-related, but may include traditional library resources. |
We truly regret that we can't answer all the questions we receive at IPL Ref. We may return your question to you with a "quota" message. This message means that we just couldn't accept it because we already have too many questions ahead of yours. Please feel free to resubmit it, and we'll try again. Or, we may return your question because in our judgment, it requires resources that aren't available to us, medical research, and/or legal research. You should ask your local librarians for further information, or find an information consultant who will find your information for a fee.
Alternately, we may refer your question to another reference service. The IPL has partnered with the Library of Congress' Collaborative Digital Reference Service and the U.S. Department of Education's Virtual Reference Desk in order to get their help with questions that the IPL staff are too busy to answer and/or would be better handled by a subject expert. You will be notified if your question has been taken over by one of these services. Both services will continue to protect your privacy. You can read their policies here and here.
We are continually trying to evaluate and make improvements to our reference service with our Internet community in mind, and we have lots of plans for the IPL Reference Center! It helps if we hear from you! Please feel free to send us comments of any kind.
Return to Reference Division | IPL Lobby.