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No. 62, July 2008

Introduction

Established by the Shanghai Library (SL) in June 2001, CORS is the first cooperative online reference service in China. Its mission is to provide high-quality professional reference services and knowledge discovery to researchers and general users.

The service is a collaborative effort between SL and the other academic libraries, research libraries and related institutions in Shanghai together with Hong Kong Lingnan University Library, Macau Central Library, Macau University Library, Queens Borough Public Library (QBPL) in New York and National Library, Singapore (NLS). The pooling of resources from libraries helped to expand the service scope of CORS from China to cover other parts of the world, including Hong Kong, Macau, United States, Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Through such cooperation and collaboration of libraries from different time zones and the different geographical locations of the world, CORS is able to operate round-the-clock, 24/7 and is available to users from the whole wide world as a “free” web-based reference service.

CORS is the product that reflects the far-sightedness of the Shanghai Library. CORS provides supporting libraries within and outside China an opportunity to connect globally in the Internet world. Shortly after it was launched, CORS became a topic of interest to other institutions and libraries for the innovative service concept and its effective use of the Internet.

The outstanding service performance of CORS and its remarkable contributions to China’s social and cultural development over the years have won the Shanghai Library the prestigious “China National 14th Group Star Award” (Service Award) (第十四届群星奖服务奖) in Nov 2007.

Features of CORS

1) Ask-A-Question

From the CORS website http://zsdh.library.sh.cn:8080/userIndex.jsp, users can ask a question and request for a “Quick” (快速解答) or “In-depth” (深入解答) response. The turnaround time for CORS service is within one working day for the quick reference service, and two working days for the in-depth reference service. The screen below shows the two options open to the user.

Source: SL web-site http://zsdh.library.sh.cn:8080/userIndex.jsp retrieved on 28 May 2008

2) Request for Expert’s Help

For the “In-depth”service, users may choose any one of the 67 (as at April 2008) specialists in the Social Sciences and Natural Sciences located in Shanghai or overseas to help them with their enquiries. Details of the request can be submitted in the electronic form provided. The request will then be automatically routed to the selected specialist who will then answer the enquiry via e-mail.

Users may also select a specific library and choose a subject specialist from the selected library to handle their enquiries. Libraries participating in this collaborative service include the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Jinling Library, Suzhou Library, Wuxi Library, Yangzhou Library, Zhenjiang Library, Hong Kong Information Service Centre, Macau Information Service Centre, Queens Borough Public Library (QBPL) in New York and National Library, Singapore. The screen below shows the list of libraries from which the user may click to select the library to pose the question to.

Source: SL web-site http://zsdh.library.sh.cn:8080/userIndex.jsp retrieved on 28 May 2008

3) A “Chat” with Subject Specialist

The “Chat Service”(实时咨询) was introduced in 2005 for users to have an on-line dialogue with a specialist. The service is available between 9-11am and 2-4 pm daily. The screen below shows where users can request for this chat service.

Source: SL web-site http://zsdh.library.sh.cn:8080/userIndex.jsp retrieved on 28 May 2008.

4) A Platform to Acquire and Share Knowledge

Since its launch in 2001, 14,953 enquiries have been answered via CORS as at May 2006, of which some 10,000 entries have been identified and added into the knowledge database (知识库) for sharing and re-use. Users are able to browse or search through these past enquiries in the database for answers to similar questions. The screen below shows the location of the re-usable enquiries for users to search and find similar questions asked by other users.

Source: SL web-site http://zsdh.library.sh.cn:8080/userIndex.jsp retrieved on 28 May 2008

Participation in CORS by National Library, Singapore

With the rise of China as an economic power and the strengthening of the economic and cultural relations between China and Singapore, libraries in both countries have been actively looking for opportunities to foster a closer relationship for the benefit of library users in both countries and for cost-effectiveness. The service model of CORS supports such a move.

Singapore’s National Library joined CORS in 2002. The rapid economic development of the Southeast Asian region in recent years resulted in the increasing demand for information on Singapore and its neighbouring countries. The NLS nominated six experienced subject librarians in 2006, with the aim to help CORS users gain a better understanding of the unique multi-racial and multi-culture society of Singapore, and its neighbouring countries. The emphasis on bilingual language education in Singapore allows our librarians to support enquiries in both Chinese and English languages, in fields such as education, employment, culture, language, economic, immigration, travel, housing and public policy.

The team of 6 subject librarians handled 140 enquiries via CORS in 2007. A large portion of enquiries relate to people in China who are keen to study in Singapore. Other examples include “What are the available services and products relating to early childhood education in Singapore?” and “How do the Malays in Singapore and Malaysia celebrate Hari Raya Puasa?” The screen below shows the images of 6 librarians from NLS on the SL CORS website. Users of CORS may select any of them to pose their questions to.

Source: SL web-site http://zsdh.library.sh.cn:8080/userIndex.jsp retrieved on 28 May 2008

Singapore is closely tied to China historically, culturally and economically. A majority of its population has ancestral ties in China. The collaboration enables NLS to tap on the rich resources of SL and other Chinese libraries with the help of the subject specialists. CORS allows NLS to get assistance quickly in answering the more challenging questions related to the subject areas of Chinese traditional medicine, Chinese history and literature, and other areas that are not within NLS’ expertise. For example, our SL counterpart helped us to locate information on the history of the white, rectangular 'Good Morning' towel that has been used in Singapore and Southeast Asia for decades. As China opens its door to the world and invites the world to get to know her, CORS serves as a good avenue for users who want to learn more and have a better understanding of the fast changing and rapid development of China.

CORS is a useful tool to connect users, librarians and subject specialists from China, Singapore and other parts of the world together. Through the sharing of resources, staff knowledge, expertise, services and infrastructure, we are able to strengthen our services to our own users at large.

Conclusion

CORS focuses on reference and research enquiries, as mentioned above, involving subject specialists. This service allows its participants to pool resources and expertise to provide an extensive digital reference service round the clock to their users on the Internet with hardly any additional cost. The only investment is in the time and effort by participating librarians and libraries.

The Shanghai Library has introduced various features such as“抢答”(where librarians compete to answer questions posed by users) 、“补答”(where librarians add on to an answer provided by another librarian earlier) in CORS to ensure a short turnaround time for delivery and a good quality of answers. On average, the response to an enquiry is within 20 hours.

This collaboration facilitates NLS’s goal of becoming one of the region’s knowledge hubs. It also brings NLS a step closer to realising its vision of an inter-connected Asian-centric library.

Reference:
Jin Hongya (2006). Digital Reference Service and Library cooperation: a case study of the Shanghai Library CORS http://www.libnet.sh.cn/silf2006/ppt/5207_PPT/jhy.ppt
“网上联合知识导航站”中文网站 http://zsdh.library.sh.cn:8080
王世伟(2005). 图书馆服务创新发展论丛。上海：上海社会科学院出版社。