After the eventThis is a featured page

So, it's Tuesday morning and you've typed your fingers to the bone!
Let's share our experiences. What boards did you work on? What kind of answers did you encounter? Have you had any feedback? (This might take a few days). Most importantly, are you going to stay involved? There's no formal evaulation of "Slam the Boards," but this is your chance to tell your stories.

  • Well, I picked up about 25 questions yesterday (I know some folks did that by midday!). Added most of those to the QuestionPoint account (contact me if your'e interested in doing this). The tough part was digging through categories to find "real" questions, but if you look at what I finally did answer, it looks like an average day on the reference desk (or the VR service!). I also had one user contact me for follow-up. --Bill Pardue bpardue@ahml.info
  • From Kristen Pool, KnowItNow: At least 7 AfterDark librarians (Alex, Ian, Bentley, Chuck, McKenzie, Simon, and Alex2) answered 10 or more questions yesterday during the "Slam the Boards" event. I was only able to answer 5 questions on Yahoo! Answers during the day, but it was an interesting experience.

    My first challenge was trying to create an avatar for my account. I finally gave up and went with the anonymous profile--I figured that character looked about as much like me as the bug-eyed pixies I could choose from in the avatar design area.

    The second challenge was finding some questions to answer--I didn't think the goal was to use my expert researching skills to find info on topics as "What could I say to this guy who was hitting on me?" I found that if I went into the specific categories, I was able to find more "real" questions.

    But this was also the first lesson I learned--people will ask just about anything of complete strangers on Y!A. If this is our patrons' experience with asking questions online, no wonder we get such strange questions. Knowing that this is their experience and probably their expectation, I think should make us less impatient with the kids who are just doing what they think they are supposed to do.

    The third challenge, and some of the other AD Libs said they had this as well, was that I wanted to answer questions that no one had answered yet. But most questions got some sort of answer within just a few seconds! Not always good answers, but something. I started working on one question and by the time I found a good article in EBSCO, summarized a bit and copy and pasted the most relevant paragraph, and then submitted my answer, 5 other people had already answered! The only sources they cited were themselves.

    Not that the answers they gave were all bad. This was the second lesson I learned--in this venue, it seems like patrons are glad for information from someone they believe has "street cred." I got the feeling that for most users, Y!A is more about social networking than actually getting info. And there seems to be no lack of people out there who think they have the street cred to answer just about anything--like one person named "been there before," who counselled a pregnant information seeker to go ahead and drink Coke; afterall, it hadn't harmed any of her kids.confused.png

    And maybe this is why we get the opinion questions on KIN, or have kids so eager to have us just tell them in our own words--they don't understand our obsession, as librarians, to cite our sources. I don't think we can easily explain to our KIN patrons, in a way they'll really understand, why we're "wasting time" looking for expert info rather than just telling them what we think.

    I have to say that I've become a little obsessed with earning a "best answer" rating, but haven't so far (although it I did get a couple "thumbs ups"). I hear that some of the AD Libs have merited the coveted "best answer" already. Maybe someday . . .

    And that was probably another lesson I learned--even "just" on the Answer Boards, I really care about doing a good job, and I want some feedback about how I'm doing. I think this is why some of us feel bad when we search and search for a KIN patron and find something really great, and then they just disappear without even a thank you. And I think it's why some librarians decided that we should get on the Answer Boards and show that we can do a "better" job. It would be interesting to know whether the question askers thought we were all that much better . . .

    Will I keep answering on Y!A? I think so. I definately prefer KIN that has a little more structure, but it is enjoyable for me. Besides, I haven't gotten my first "best answer" rating yet!     wink.png


KristenKIN
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Strawbe I love this game! :-) 0 Oct 13 2007, 4:41 AM EDT by Strawbe
Thread started: Oct 13 2007, 4:41 AM EDT  Watch
I have been Yahoo!answering as "Jagoda librarian" for four weeks now. Stats: 41 answers, 8 best (19%), mostly Arts & Humanities, some Computers & Internet, occasional Health, Home & Garden and Pets.
Amanda Pape described the method I have been using for picking up the questions - older, fact-based - I don't have a problem with my answer not being the first one.
If anyone has difficulties with question related to Eastern Europe, specifically Croatia, I'll be glad to help.
Keep on slamming!
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Anonymous still answering about once a week 0 Oct 3 2007, 9:17 AM EDT by Anonymous
 
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I had good intentions for Slam the Boards, but unfortunately, this is a really busy time of the year at universities, so I've answered a handful of questions at other times. I agree with some other posters--it's really hard to find a question where the user is asking a reference question as opposed to just getting everyone's opinion. I did manage to answer a reader's advisory question (I never get those in academia!) and a few others where I identified myself as a librarian. Others, I've answered as a lay person. I have received a "best answer" but not for my librarian answer. I still look about once a week, usually during my evening reference shift, if it is quiet (and it usually is by 9:30).
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Anonymous observations 0 Sep 13 2007, 4:23 PM EDT by Anonymous
 
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I answered 10 questions on Yahoo Answers. I experienced most of the same things that others (especially Kristen Pool) did on this wiki page. At this point three of my questions have been resolved, but none of my answers were chosen as best. Generally the first correct answer given was chosen as best, even if it was just a one-word answer. It seems to me that most of the people who use these kinds of services don't care about quality or sources, they just want a fast answer. This is pretty typical of what I experience from students at my university as well.

If I were to continue with this, I would probably concentrate on older fact-based questions (as opposed to those that just ask for an opinion) that still hadn't been answered after a couple days, where the effort I might put into researching an answer might actually be welcome and appreciated.

Amanda Pape, Special Services Librarian II, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, Texas
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