FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Linda Holland, Lee County Library System
                479-4629
                or Andrea Carter, 390-3211

NEW LIBRARY SERVICE: E-MAIL REFERENCE

FORT MYERS, Fla. (December 28, 2000) – The Lee County Library System will mark the new year of 2001 with a new service to the public: e-mail reference.

The service will be available beginning January 3.

Library Director Cynthia Cobb views the new service as a solid step toward fulfilling the library system's vision of "accessible library services to meet community needs in an evolving world." She also sees the service, which will function through the Lee County Library System's web site (www.lee-county.com/library), as a way to reach an untapped segment of the county's population: the "unpatrons" who never enter a public library.

Here's how the service will work:

• Visitors to the Lee County Library System home page will be able to click on an "Ask a Librarian" icon, which will take them to an e-mail reference mailbox form. Reference librarians will check the mailbox regularly, rotating the duty according to a prearranged schedule.

• Most questions will be answered quickly, and even the most difficult questions will receive a response within 48 hours, says reference librarian Andrea Carter.

• The e-mail questions and answers will be archived, Carter says, to provide information for a "Frequently Asked Questions" page, which will be added to the Lee County Library System's web site as use of the service increases. Usage statistics will be kept in order to evaluate the service and to plan for the future.

"The Lee County Library System believes that e-mail reference is a viable way to reach new users by embracing technology while still fulfilling a traditional library role," Cobb says.