Internet resources: Virtual “Help a Librarian” reference service launched for librarians

The first virtual reference service aimed exclusively at librarians has been mounted on Internet. Help a Librarian (HAL) service (http://www.helpalibrarian.com) brings together librarians from different countries to help each other answer questions, share resources and knowledge and enhance cultural understanding. HAL is comprised of librarians from over 50 different countries.

HelpALibrarian was founded in 2010 by Heather Negley (American librarian, IT specialist who had worked several years at the Library of Congress in Washington) and is a free reference service which helps librarians to connect anonymously to another librarian a world away.

This service is especially important for librarians of developing countries, as it enables them to interact with advanced specialists from the USA, Australia and Europe.

First virtual reference services, rendering services to various user categories were launched in the USA in the beginning of the 1990s. Those question-answer services became widely popular in other countries as well. In Russia to the most famous services of this kind refer "Library.ru", virtual reference service of the National Library of Russia "Ask a Librarian" and the Russian State Library service.