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About AskAway

AskAway serves students, faculty and staff at all publicly-funded, post-secondary institutions in British Columbia. We will accept questions from the general public and from users outside BC, but we may refer you to your local library.

We are open to all questions, but primarily we expect to help students with course-related research tasks such as finding books, journal articles, and other resources. We emphasize teaching users to be self-sufficient researchers.

We will do our best to answer questions, but if necessary we may also refer users to their own institutional library for further assistance.

Participating Libraries

AskAway staff come from the following British Columbia post-secondary libraries:

British Columbia Institute of Technology, Camosun College, Capilano University, College of New Caledonia, College of the Rockies, Douglas College, Emily Carr University, Justice Institute of British Columbia, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Langara College, Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, North Island College, Northern Lights College, Northwest Community College, Okanagan College, Quest University Canada, Royal Roads University, Selkirk College, Simon Fraser University, Thompson Rivers University, Trinity Western University, University of British Columbia, University of the Fraser Valley, University of Northern British Columbia, University of Victoria, Vancouver Community College, Vancouver Island University, Yukon College

Netiquette

Please try to avoid caps lock. Using caps lock while chatting is considered rude (it's like shouting), and is often difficult to read.

Don't worry about minor typos - we're all human!

Please do not ask AskAway staff for their A/S/L (age/sex/location) information.

Please do not give your contact information, full name, student number, or library barcode while chatting. For more information, please see the Protection of Privacy Notice

If there is a miscommunication as to what sort of info you would like, please indicate this. For instance, you could say: "This isn't quite what I'm looking for. I would like something more like..."

If you click on AskAway by accident, please indicate this to the person who answers you. That way they will know that there is not a technical problem.

Protection of Privacy Notice

The BC Electronic Library Network and its partner libraries make the AskAway virtual reference service available to you for your convenience. Your use of the AskAway service is voluntary. Although the service is anonymous to protect your privacy, please be advised that other information you provide to initiate an AskAway reference chat session and a transcript of that session is stored on servers located in the United States.

Personal Information Collection Notice

The AskAway service receives and retains a copy of the chat transcript. It is related directly to and needed by B.C. libraries to administer their participation in the provincial AskAway service. The information will be used solely for service evaluation and analysis. This information is collected under the authority of the University Act (R.S.B.C. 1996, c.468, s. 27(4)(a)) and the College and Institute Act (R.S.B.C 1996, c.52, s. 41(1)(4)). If you have any questions about the collection and use of this information please contact Anita Cocchia, BC ELN Executive Director at 778.782.7004 or anitac@eln.bc.ca

Browser Compatibility and Firewalls

If you are using a supported browser, and you have "session cookies" enabled, you will be able to chat online with the librarian, and she or he will be able to show you webpages which may help with your research.

Supported Browsers	Unsupported Browsers
Internet Explorer Firefox Safari Mozilla Netscape 6 or lower	Opera AOL's browser Netscape 7 WebTV

If you have a software firewall enabled, such as ZoneAlarm Pro, Symantec Norton Internet Security, or Macafee Internet Security, you may not be able to see chat from the librarian after you connect. If you experience such a problem, please exit the service, disable the firewall, and then log in again. Remember to re-enable the firewall after the session is over.

Bookmarking & Printing

Please do not try to bookmark or print anything during the session, and do not use the back, forward, or refresh buttons on your browser, or you may be disconnected. At the end of the session, you can enter your email address to receive a transcript of the session along with a list of all the webpages you visited.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter technical difficulties while using this service, please check your browser compatibility. There is more detailed troubleshooting info available on the Vancouver Public Library's Troubleshooting your chat session guide. If that does not solve the problem, please consider trying again later, or send us your question by email instead.

Some technical glitches can be resolved by clicking on the Refresh or Reload button on your browser. You can also try opening a new browser window and returning to AskAway to ask your question again.

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