1. What is QandANJ.org?

2. How does QandANJ.org work?

3. When are librarians available to answer my question?

4. Why should I use QandANJ.org instead of a search engine like Google or Yahoo?

For more information, visit the About the Service section of the QandANJ.org website or visit our MySpace page.

1. What is QandANJ.org?
QandANJ.org is a free online service that allows New Jersey residents and students to chat live with a librarian for immediate assistance 24 hours a day!

2. How does QandANJ.org work?
When you click on the connect button, you are asked to fill out a form with your question, a screen name, and your zip code (so we can track where most of the people using the site are from). After you submit this information, your question enters a queue for the on-duty librarians. Librarians answer questions in the order they receive them. Typically, depending on the expected traffic, between two and seven librarians staff QandANJ.org, with back up from other librarians from across the country.

When the librarian accepts your question, you are able to chat one-on-one with that librarian while he or she helps you find what you need by guiding you through the myriad of resources available.

If the librarian cannot answer your question during the session, he or she may suggest other sources for you to try that cannot be accessed in the online environment, or ask for your contact information so he or she or the QandANJ.org Referral Center may follow up with you.

Once the session ends, you will be given the option to e-mail the session to yourself for later use. The transcript will provide links to all of the resources you visited during the session.

3. When are librarians available to answer my question?
We are available 24/7!

4. Why should I use QandANJ.org instead of a search engine like Google or Yahoo?
Librarians are experts at sorting through information and finding what you need from a credible source. With over 100 million sites on the Internet, searching on Google and Yahoo can return millions of Web sites filled with information that’s not quite what you were looking for. And often, those sites have questionable authority. With QandANJ.org, you have a professional to help evaluate resources, access to great resources hidden from search engines, and access to full text journals and books.

Studies prove that having a librarian assist you with your research can help you get better grades and save you time. Librarians will not only help you find information but will also help organize and evaluate that information. With so much information available, it’s important to sort out fact from fiction, and librarians can help.

QandANJ.org brings this valuable resource straight to you – when and where you need it. 

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