State laws that govern electric scooters on public roads. Historical inaccuracies in the 1970s movie “Patton.” Direction of proton transfer between acids and bases.
The questions posed to the state?s free 24-hour-a-day chat service that links inquisitive minds with librarians aren?t always easy, but the queries are answered.
“We do get some strange questions from time to time,” said Joe Thompson, coordinator of Maryland?s AskUsNow! information service, which expected its 150,000th inquiry Monday or today.
Based in Baltimore County?s Towson, Thompson has run the program since 2003, growing from a partnership between Harford and Baltimore counties that provided online homework help for younger students after school. The program expanded when people began requesting help late at night and in the early hours of dawn. Today, 320 librarians in Maryland log on to field as many as 5,900 questions each month, and librarians in other states back up Maryland whenno one is available.
Promoted mostly to middle and high school students, the state expects to launch an ad campaign within the next six months to encourage more users, said Irene Padilla, assistant state superintendent for libraries.
Now funded with federal money, Padilla said the program will move to the state?s Library Resource Center within the Enoch Pratt Free Library over the next year.
