Residents of Lopez Island can now receive assistance from librarians at the Lopez Island library even if they can’t visit the library in person. And the librarians are available anytime day or night.

Anyone who needs information from a librarian may submit questions on the library’s web site. Questions are answered by staff at the Lopez Island Library library or by any librarian participating in our worldwide network of reference librarians.

“The service is very easy to use. All you do is click on the ‘Ask a Librarian 24/7 button,’ and you’re on your way,” said Library Director Lou Pray. “In response to our users’ growing use of online resources and internet access, the Lopez Library has implemented this on demand reference service. We now provide reference over the Web in addition to the more traditional modes of phone, email, or in person requests for information. Our reference service spans all hours of the day or night, whether or not the physical library is open. In fact, our library is never closed to people who need information — they just enter through a different door.”

The Lopez Island Library provides this reference service through QuestionPoint, developed by OCLC Online Computer Library Center, the Library of Congress and the 24/7 Reference Cooperative. In addition to providing access to librarians 24 hours a day, the service includes a global network of cooperating libraries that work together to provide authoritative answers to reference questions.

If staff members at the Lopez Library Library are unable or unavailable to answer a question, it can be sent to experts at another library, even if those experts are across the country or around the world.

“Just think about all the possibilities,” Pray said. “If you have a question about New Zealand, you could actually get your answer from an expert in New Zealand.”

Submit questions to the service at www.lopezlibrary.org.