Let’s Get Agitated: Knowledge Ontario & AskON

So, not long ago I put an application in for a fairly competitive position as an AskON Intern. Now, if you aren’t aware of AskON I will provide a link, but I am also going to explain what it is because in this post your understanding is too important.

AskON, short for AskOntario, is a program offered under the umbrella of Knowledge Ontario, an organization offering collaboration, a culture of creativity and the use of leading edge digital technology to fill the information and learning needs of the people of Ontario, nurturing their full and equal participation in our province’s life, culture and future (from KO at a glance). AskON provides on demand real-time chat reference services throughout the province to library users regardless of where they are coming from, i.e. if you are a student in elementary school, high school, college, university, you can ask a reference librarian for assistance. If you are a public library user you can use the system. It’s really an amazing reference tool. Here’s what they say about themselves:

Need information? Overwhelmed by what’s out there? Not finding what you’re looking for?

Ask Ontario delivers real-time chat research services throughout the province in English and French. We can help you find better information faster than you can on your own.

Visitors receive one-on-one assistance from experienced staff in public and academic libraries.

Well, here’s the big, disturbing, and important news: Knowledge Ontario will receive no further funding beyond 2010.

Here’s the official announcement that went out to the key library sector partners of Knowledge Ontario last week:

Yesterday, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture announced $2 million in funding for electronic resources – primarily databases – in Ontario public libraries, to be administered through the Southern Ontario Library Service and Ontario Library Service – North.

Knowledge Ontario has been advised it will receive no additional funding.

This means that the cross-sector collaboration and services developed through the unique Knowledge Ontario partnership is in jeopardy. Without the funds necessary to sustain these highly valued services, all database licenses negotiated through Knowledge Ontario are set to expire in December 2010. All other Knowledge Ontario initiatives are also at risk. These include the Our Ontario discovery portal and digital tool sets; AskOntario’s research help services askON and ONdemande; Learn Ontario’s technology help tutorials and focus on digital literacy; and Connect Ontario’s provincial partnership with BiblioCommons to transform the public library user’s online experience. Many opportunities to leverage cross-sector and province-wide benefits and cost efficiencies will also be lost.

Over the next few days KO will be consulting with its library partners in developing options and appropriate response.

So, here’s the thing. KO needs to ko this whole thing! We need to get agitated! This goes so far beyond just the library community, this is about citizens and professionals and about learning and culture and so, so many things. KO needs all of our help. We need to start talking about this. We need to do something about this.

Here are some of the things we can do:

• Blog and share with colleagues and sympathetic friends about what the loss of the collaborative that is KO could mean to libraries, librarians and library services in Ontario
• Use friends and other social relationships to get the issue raised in other blogs and even the main stream press
• Bring the issue up and what is at stake for our libraries at staff meetings, to library managers and directors (if employed in a library) – find out if your library “knows” about it and agitate them to do something about it, too
• Ask about it at your local library – what do they know?
• Get the library organizations that you belong to informed and agitated
• Write to your local MPP, the Minister of Education, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities (cc. Minister of Tourism & Culture - Michael Chan – or the Premier directly to ask exactly how the services and cost efficiencies provided by KO are going to continue?

People definitely need to get behind this now… but KO and AskON are going to need us all again in the fall when there is another chance to make some noise in a concerted effort to raise the awareness and to raise the necessary funds to allow them to bridge their services until fall 2011.

Please also check out their group or page on Facebook.

And, like I said… Let’s get agitated!