Ask Ontario

Ask Ontario, also known as askON, is a collaborative digital reference service for students in Ontario, Canada. It connects users with staff from participating college libraries through real-time online chat and SMS-based assistance. Rather than functioning as a conventional consumer brand or commercial information provider, the service operates as a shared library-support initiative: participating institutions contribute staff time, knowledge, and service capacity so that students can obtain research guidance beyond the resources available at their own campus. The service was launched on January 31, 2008, as one of five projects established by Knowledge Ontario. Its creation reflected an effort to pool the resources of Ontario’s publicly funded libraries and to make library expertise more accessible through digital channels. The mandate had two related dimensions. First, askON aimed to help visitors locate authoritative information and develop stronger research strategies. Second, it sought to demonstrate that libraries could provide responsive, technology-enabled services to people accustomed to finding information online without direct assistance. Ask Ontario’s staff help users navigate the Internet, identify and evaluate information sources, use library services, and locate relevant online resources. The service is designed to provide research guidance rather than simply deliver answers, supporting information literacy and more effective independent searching. Its use of secure, licensed chat software also allowed the service to offer a structured environment for interactions involving library and research questions. The operating model is distributed. College libraries contribute staff members who work scheduled shifts, creating a shared service that can cover more hours than a single institution might provide on its own. The participating libraries collectively made it possible to offer more than 60 hours of weekly service to post-secondary students. Ask Ontario also involved library and information science students as volunteer interns. These interns assisted with the service while receiving practical training and professional-development experience. In June 2012, askON became an opt-in service of the Ontario Colleges Library Service (OCLS), aligning it more directly with the province’s college-library support infrastructure. By March 2021, 12 libraries were participating. The available reference material does not establish whether the service remains active after that point, so its current operating status is uncertain. Its documented role, however, is that of a province-wide, library-led digital reference network focused on student support, authoritative information discovery, and digital research literacy.

Ask Ontario, branded as askON, emerged from the province-wide library collaboration work associated with Knowledge Ontario. It was launched on January 31, 2008, as one of five Knowledge Ontario projects intended to connect and strengthen Ontario’s publicly funded library resources. The service applied that collaborative principle to online reference: instead of limiting research assistance to the hours and staff of a single campus library, it enabled participating college libraries to share coverage and expertise through a common digital service. The initiative was established at a time when students were increasingly using Internet search tools as their first point of contact for information. Ask Ontario’s purpose was therefore broader than answering isolated reference questions. Its mandate included helping visitors find more authoritative and useful information than they might locate independently, improving their online research practices, and increasing awareness of libraries as active providers of digital services. The service treated library staff as guides to information discovery, evaluation, and use. Ask Ontario used licensed secure chat software to support real-time conversations, while also offering assistance through SMS. Staff could help users navigate the Internet, understand their library’s services, and identify relevant electronic or other online resources. The model relied on participating college libraries contributing scheduled staff time. By working in shifts, the institutions collectively provided more than 60 hours of coverage each week for post-secondary students. The service also incorporated a professional-development component. Library and information science students could participate as volunteer interns, assisting with the reference service in return for training and practical experience. This arrangement extended the service’s capacity while exposing emerging information professionals to virtual reference work and digitally mediated user support. A significant organizational change occurred in June 2012, when askON became an opt-in service of the Ontario Colleges Library Service. This placed the initiative within a more focused college-library support context while preserving its collaborative participation model. The available account does not identify a single founder, commercial owner, or corporate parent; the service is described as an institutional collaboration involving Ontario college libraries and OCLS. By March 2021, 12 libraries were participating. The source material does not provide later operational data, a closure date, or a confirmed current operator. Accordingly, the service’s present status cannot be established from the available references. Historically, Ask Ontario is best understood as a public-service library brand rather than a conventional commercial company: its value lay in aggregating professional expertise across institutions and making that expertise available to students through familiar digital communication channels.

• 2021

  Participation reaches 12 libraries

  [1]Ask Ontarioen.wikipedia.org

  By March, 12 libraries were participating in the shared reference service.

• 2012

  Becomes an Ontario Colleges Library Service opt-in program

  [1]Ask Ontarioen.wikipedia.org

  In June, askON became an opt-in service of the Ontario Colleges Library Service, strengthening its connection with Ontario’s college-library support network.

• 2008

  Ask Ontario launches

  [1]Ask Ontarioen.wikipedia.org

  Ask Ontario, also known as askON, launched on January 31 as one of five Knowledge Ontario projects. It was created to connect Ontario library resources and provide students with online and SMS-based research assistance.

A collaborative, library-led digital reference service that gives Ontario post-secondary students rapid access to research guidance and information-literacy support.

• Digital library reference service · 2008

  askON

  The core askON offering is a province-wide virtual reference service for Ontario post-secondary students. Through real-time chat and SMS, users can communicate with staff from participating college libraries. Assistance covers Internet navigation, library services, online resources, source discovery, and research direction. The service is intended to improve users’ ability to find and assess authoritative information, rather than replace formal academic instruction or provide a simple answer-only search function.

• 2012

  Adoption as an OCLS opt-in serviceStrategy

  Background

  Ask Ontario had been operating as a collaborative Knowledge Ontario project involving publicly funded libraries and shared staff coverage.

  Action taken

  In June 2012, the service became an opt-in offering of the Ontario Colleges Library Service.

  Aftermath

  The change connected askON more directly with Ontario’s college-library service infrastructure. Later reference material records participation by 12 libraries in March 2021.

  Source

1. 1Ask Ontarioen.wikipedia.org