During late 2003, the Library Directors of the South African Consortia GAELIC (Gauteng and Environs Library Consortium) Member Institutions were invited to apply to participate as a pilot site in the QuestionPoint virtual e-reference project that was approved by the GAELIC Governing Board in October 2003.
QuestionPoint is a Web-based virtual reference service and set of tools for libraries of all sizes. QuestionPoint connects hundreds of experienced reference librarians around the world who share a common purpose: to answer users' questions with quality information, and to save these answers in a central location for even more effective service in future. It is a collaborative project of the Library of Congress and OCLC (Online Computer Library Centre) and is offered to South African libraries by the South African agent, Sabinet Online Ltd.
Six academic institution libraries from GAELIC were selected as six pilot sites namely:
Unisa Library and Information Services (Florida campus)
RAU Library Services
University of Pretoria Academic Information Services
Vaal University of Technology
University of the Witwatersrand (Wartenweiler) Library
University of the North
An exciting development was the request by the library consortium in the Western Cape, CALICO (Cape Library Co-Operative), that the University of Stellenbosch Library Services participates as the seventh pilot site in the project.
The duration of the project is from January to December 2004 during which the QuestionPoint Project will be supported and coordinated by project manager, Doreen Rab'e, of Sabinet Online Ltd (the OCLC/PICA agent in South Africa).
The implementation of QuestionPoint is regarded as an important step towards the establishment of a collaborative digital reference service for the GAELIC consortium. The long-term vision is that once the e-reference facility is tested in a regional collaborative environment and its benefits quantified and evaluated, the e-reference model has the potential to be applied in other consortia in SA.
The QuestionPoint Pilot Project was launched on 12 February 2004 in central Johannesburg at the America Culture & Information Centre. As part of the launch, the American Culture & Information Centre hosted a panel discussion, via a digital video conference link, with a number of American colleagues who are experts in the use of QuestionPoint and e-reference services in a consortia environment. The South African panel consisted of Nomoya Mahlangu, HOD: Library User Services from the Vaal University of Technology, Hilda Kriel, Leader: Learning Centre and Service Unit Economic and Management Services from the University of Pretoria, Hanneri Botha, GAELIC: Coordinator of the e-Reference Workgroup and Dr Anette van Vuren, GAELIC: Team Leader of the Information Resources Team.
The US panel consisted of representatives from the Baltimore Public Library, George Washington University and The Library of Congress. The panel discussion allowed an opportunity for SA panel members to learn from the extensive e-reference experiences of colleagues in the US.
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