New Jersey State Library

QandANJ.org: 24-Hour Virtual Reference Service

Description: QandANJ.org is a free statewide web-based reference service open 24 hours a day to respond to online questions from New Jersey residents and students. Answers are provided through an interactive online chat session, with relevant websites displayed on the customer's screen as the searching librarian finds them. The system is staffed by reference librarians from all over the state during the day and evening, with overnight and backup support provided by other libraries across the country and OCLC QuestionPoint.

Scope: The primary focus of QandANJ.org is to provide information in electronic format that is available through publicly accessible websites and proprietary databases. In general, answers are provided within 15 minutes. However, if the librarian and the customer have the time, a search may run longer. If it becomes clear that an answer is not readily available, the customer may be referred to a local library, other appropriate agency, or the Statewide Reference Center for additional help as needed. Customers who provide an email address receive a log of the reference transaction with the URLs of retrieved websites included.

Hours: 24/7. Closed on major holidays.

Description: The Virtual Reference Desk contains annotated links to websites that will help you answer many common reference questions. It has been modeled after the Librarian's Index to the Internet, but with more focus on New Jersey information.
Scope: This site is being developed selectively, and does not aim at comprehensiveness (i.e. we will point to the best 1 or 2 sites on a topic, not 10,000 sites...)
Hours: 24 hours a day.