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Scope note: This page details the Ask Us Virtual Reference Service, provided by Social Work Library staff and University Library Reference Staff.
The Social Work Library extends its in-person and telephone reference assistance service with its "virtual reference" service, which uses electronic mail and text chat technology. The virtual reference service is intended to serve the research needs of the students, staff, and faculty of the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan as well as the social work-related research needs of others on the U-M campus and elsewhere.
| Some of the kinds of questions that can be answered by this service are: |
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| -- questions about the Social Work Library and its services, or resources (including renewals, fines and borrowing periods) |
| -- questions with brief answers (such as, the hours of campus libraries, the identification of statistics related to social work topics, or the verification of a bibliographic citation) |
| -- questions for factual information that can be answered by basic reference tools (such as, almanacs, directories, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.) |
| -- questions about how to begin to locate information on social work related topics |
| --questions about how to connect to library resources from off-campus |
| Some questions that cannot be answered via this service include: |
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| -- interdisciplinary research questions or complex questions which may involve using many resources across campus. These types of questions are better investigated in person, or by setting up an Individual Research Consultation Appointment with a reference librarian. |
| -- questions requiring interpretation or analysis, or questions seeking medical or legal advice |
Please be aware that the Social Work Library's Ask Us Virtual Reference Service may not be the best place to ask your question. If you live outside the Ann Arbor area, your most effective strategy may be to contact your local university library. Social Work Library staff strive to respond to questions from School of Social Work faculty, staff, and students within 24 hours of receipt of the question. The response may be that answering the question will take additional time. Questions from researchers not affiliated with the University of Michigan are processed as resources allow. U-M researchers may want to consider the Ask Us service, for immediate assistance during selected hours using text chat or instant messaging.
Content last updated on: 23 April 2007
Created by: Karen Reiman-Sendi
Social Work Library | (734) 764-5169 | social.work.library@umich.edu
B700 School of Social Work Building, 1080 S. University, Ann Arbor MI 48109-1106
