Ask-A-Librarian

Henry Whittemore Library > How do I?, Tutorials

For questions with your research, you can contact a Reference Librarian by:

Phone E-mail Instant Messaging (IM) or SMS Text Skype Reference Question Form

Phone: If you are unable to ask for assistance in person, call the Reference Desk at 508.626.4654 during hour regular hours.

Email: To contact the reference librarian via e-mail, send us your questions at reference@framingham.edu.

Instant Messaging: You can IM the reference librarians from 1:00pm - 4:00pm Monday through Friday. The library IM screen names are:

• AOL Instant Messenger: fscrefdesk
• MSN Windows Live Messenger: fscrefdesk
• Yahoo Messenger: fscrefdesk
• Google Talk: fscefdesk
• Meebo: fscrefedesk

If you are using a public access computer and the computer does not have any of the instant messaging software mentioned above installed on the computer, you are able to IM us through web-based instant messaging services. You can use AIM Express (to contact us through AOL), MSN Web Messenger (to contact us through MSN Window Live) or Meebo (to contact us via AOL, MSN, Google Talk and Yahoo).

Regarding ASK A LIBRARIAN IM service:

1. We will respond to questions as they come to us. We might have to IM you back if we need to help someone at the library.
2.  We will respond to questions only from FSC students, faculty and staff. Those from the community can e-mail reference, call or visit us in person.
3.  On certain instances, we will save the transcript of the chat session in order to assess our services. Your information will be deleted from the transcript records we keep. 

The Whittemore Library is part of the collaborative text reference project called MyInfoquest. Academic, public and school librarians from all over the country are participating in this program and are eager to answer your questions. Details to remember:

• Text a question to: 309.222.7740
• Include the library code ‘fsc' w/ your question
• Hours of text service: Mon-Fri 9am-11pm, Sat 10am-6pm
• The service works best for short, quick answers.

Skype: To contact a reference librarian through Skype, you need to download the free Skype software onto your computer and you must have a microphone and/or webcam. Contact the reference department at the Skype address fscrefdesk. You can reach us through Skype from 1:00pm - 4:00pm Monday through Friday. We recommend that you send us an email beforehand to set up a time to Skype.