Questionpoint.org : Knowledge Bases--Using

Post here how you have made use of your QuestionPoint knowledge base.

Why the Knowledge Base? 

October 03, 2007

Tam Dalrymple, an expert research librarian in our OCLC Information Center, shared this with us recently. We thought some of you would be interested in how the Info Center is making use of its local KB. Tam says please feel free to post comments or questions about this method—she’d be glad to respond!

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While the OCLC Library has used our local knowledge base for years, we did so to store answers to questions we’d been asked.  Recently it occurred to us to store answers to questions we had NOT been asked – yet. 

RSS feeds bring hundreds of messages to both library and company staff, and many of the feeds include or point to statistics and stories that are pertinent to OCLC services, or might be of interest to our members.  Rather than simply bookmark an item or add the feed to De.licio.us, I’ve been adding a description of the information to QuestionPoint and adding the “question” to our knowledge base.

For example, an OCLC staff member brought this site - http://galbithink.org/libraries/circulation.htm - to my attention.  It’s a report by Douglas A. Galbi, a Senior Economist at the Federal Communications Commission that provides historical data on book circulation and library use: Book Circulation per U.S. Public Library User since 1856.  This kind of resource can be invaluable for future publications such as OCLC’s Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources.  And it’s the kind of information that can be disseminated in OCLC Abstracts.

Answers to other “questions” often surface while researching a “real” request.  While an article might not be on point for a particular patron’s question, the citation may be perfect for a future question, so into the knowledge base it goes.

I think of these question/answer pairs as the online equivalent of the card file we kept at the desk years ago at the public library – the ones that answered elusive questions like how much snow fell during the 1950 OSU/Michigan game.

--Tam Dalrymple

Senior Information Services Specialist

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