Inform Quarterly

              Serving Illinois state employees • Winter 2005
From the
Reference Desk
The Illinois State Library has the sixth-largest
collection of materials in Illinois; is
the Regional Federal Depository and the
Illinois State Depository; has the second-largest
state-owned map collection in the
United States; is one of two U.S. patent
depositories in the state; and has a sizable
collection of materials of interest for Illinois
government.With all these materials, it is
easy to overlook some of the lesser-known
resources of the library's collection.
A few of these resources are discussed in
this issue of Inform Quarterly. Patrons are
encouraged to explore the vast resources
in the Illinois Documents Collection for
work-related needs or to learn more about
the history of this great state.
To request materials or find answers
to your questions, please contact:
Reference phone • 217-782-7596
Reference fax • 217-524-0041
Map Collection • 217-782-5823
Patent & Trademark Division • 217-782-5659
“Ask the State Library”
www.cyberdriveillinois.com
Access the State Library database at
http://library.ilcso.illinois.edu/isl
Illinois State Library hours:
Mon. – Fri., 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
InfoEyes provides reference
service for the visually and
physically disabled
One of the projects the reference section of the State
Library has been working with for several months is InfoEyes.
The project started as a pilot program using the OCLC
Question Point reference service in an effort to reach out to
the special needs of the visually and physically disabled with
regard to reference service.The project began as a brainchild
of the Talking Book and Braille centers in Illinois and became
a cooperative venture with several other states across the
nation.
Using the OCLC Question Point software, InfoEyes allows a
patron to send an e-mail reference question to a librarian at
any time of day or to chat with a librarian using another
software — I-vocalize — at specific times during the week.
I-vocalize has the added advantage of allowing the librarian to
bring up Web pages that will appear on the user's computer
screen. Because it is compatible with many of the screen
reading technologies, such as JAWS, the patron is able to have
what is on the screen read to them.
The pilot stage ended in September, but the program is in the
process of being retained permanently.To learn more about
InfoEyes, please visit www.Infoeyes.org.
Copy fee policy expanded
Effective Jan. 1, 2005, the Illinois State Library will extend its
policy on charging for copies for the general public and state
employees, which are not work-related, to include computers.
This follows a general policy the library currently has on the
use of photocopy machines and microfilm reader/printers but
until now has excluded printing from public access
computers.A $.25 per-page fee will be assessed for
information printed from computers, the same fee currently
charged for other copy machines.
We look forward to hearing from you!