MassAnswers 24/7 Reference A Professional Librarian,
on Your Computer,
at Your Convenience.
MassAnswers is an innovative service that lets you ask questions and get answers, in real time, right here on the Internet, from reference staff at some of the best libraries across Massachusetts and the nation. This system combines the immediacy of the telephone and the preciseness of written e-mail with the ability to "look over" the librarian's shoulder and see what he or she sees on screen. Once you submit a question at the right side of this screen, it will be picked up by a Massachusetts Librarian from one of the MassAnswers participating libraries. If all are busy, or if it is off-hours for Massachusetts, a librarian from one of our nationwide cooperating libraries will pick up. These include strong libraries such as the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg in North Carolina or libraries throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties, California

Usage Tips 

Once you have clicked the connect button on the right side of your browser window, please do not use your "forward", or "refresh" buttons, or you will be disconnected. If you must open a second browser for any reason while connected, please use the "start" menu or taskbar shortcut, not control "n" or File "new". If you do so, you will crash. 

Please do not try to bookmark (add to favorites) or print anything during the session!  At the end of the session, you will receive a list of live links, which will allow you to go back and visit all of the pages the librarian showed you. You can bookmark anything you want at that time. If you try to bookmark during the session, you may experience a disconnect. 

If you are using Internet Explorer, or Netscape 4.73 or below, and have "session cookies" enabled in your browser, the librarian should be able to take you to various Web sites to show you the answers. Newer versions of Netscape or other browsers should allow you to "chat" with the librarian, but may not allow you to share screen views.

The 'Email Address' field is a recommended field, because at the conclusion of the session, a complete transcript, including all chat and links to Web sites visited will be emailed to you. If you do not have an email address, or do not wish to have a transcript sent to you, you may leave that field blank.

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