LIANZA

Posted by: Mike Metcalfe | Posted on: 22 Mar 11

AnyQuestions.co.nz is a free online reference service for New Zealand school students. AnyQuestions is open Monday to Friday 1 – 6pm and is staffed by friendly and skilled librarians from the National Library and public libraries around New Zealand. UiaNgāPātai.co.nz is the te reo Māori counterpart of AnyQuestions and is operated on an appointment basis.

The service is conducted through an online chat interface. Students and operators log on to AnyQuestions.co.nz and engage with each other through an online messaging application. The software requires no installation, can work on all browsers and is extremely easy to use. Any links or websites that are found open in a new browser window or tab and students can email themselves a transcript of the chat at the end of their session.

AnyQuestions and UiaNgāPātai operators don’t find the answers for the students, instead they assist students in finding quality online resources for themselves or simply talk the student through their questions.

The following is a question that was asked on the AnyQuestions service by a 14-year-old: "do you know any similarities between minnie dean and jack the ripper?"

Operators are trained to give a reference interview every time they are asked a question.  In this case they found out that the student knew plenty about Jack the Ripper but was struggling to find Minnie Dean information.

With AnyQuestions we advocate the use of quality websites and e-resources so the operator suggested that the student use the NZHistory.net.nz and dnzb.govt.nz (Dictionary of New Zealand Biography) sites and search for their keyword, "Minnie Dean" on them.

Through reading the information on these sites and chatting to the AnyQuestions operator the student concluded that there were only a few similarities: both Jack the Ripper and Minnie Dean were serial killers who killed in the late nineteenth century and both killers captured the luridly morbid curiosity of the public imagination in their respective countries. The student also decided from the information that both Jack the Ripper and Minnie Dean became "bogey monsters" in their communities. The student concluded that there were many more differences than similarities between the two!

Feel free to submit how you would have answered the question to Robert.
We look forward to your answers! 

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