Trends, Discovery, and People in the Digital Age

3

The history of Enquire: the story of UK public libraries on the Web

Joanne John and John Dolan

Abstract

Formalising the collaboration which public libraries have done for decades with ease has added value in today’s budget-stretched times. Building on existing national service models Enquire (a public library collaborative virtual reference service) widens the knowledge and expertise available to the customer with no discernible dip in service. This approach is imperative for libraries’ success in twenty-first-century information provision.This chapter shows how Enquire enables and delivers the ability to have a national service and – within the same subscription – create additional local services. These additional (no cost) local services ...