[December 10, 2008] Governor Donald L. Carcieri today joined leaders of the Office of Library and Information Services and the Statewide Reference Resource Center at Providence Public Library to announce the launch of the newly enhanced AskRI, a free online resource for all Rhode Islanders.

“With AskRI, Rhode Island’s libraries have initiated another advance in our ongoing effort to improve the education available to every Rhode Islander,” Governor Carcieri said. “It enables everyone from elementary school students to adults to find authoritative information they need, for free, when they need it. The resource for individual homework help is especially significant because students can work with established tutors in the afternoon or evening simply by going to www.AskRI.org, and accessing Homework Help RI.  This helps improve the student’s comprehension of difficult lessons day by day.”

AskRI is part of the state-funded Statewide Reference Resource Center, which provides electronic resources and services to libraries and all Rhode Islanders. It is a cooperative effort of the Office of Library and Information Services, the Statewide Reference Resource Center at Providence Public Library, and the libraries of Rhode Island.

“For the first time all Rhode Islanders have access to high quality library resources wherever they are,” said Howard Boksenbaum, Chief Library Officer for the State of Rhode Island.  “AskRI is available not only in your public library, but also in schools, community centers and at home.  All you need is an Internet connection, and you have a whole world of authoritative information at your fingertips.  And if you have a card from a public library, you have access to even more information tools.  Rhode Island’s libraries have a tradition of working together to bring services like this to everyone in the state.”

The integration of premium resources and reference librarians with the technological capabilities of online resources is the heart of this new service. The Providence Public Library is the home of the Rhode Island Statewide Reference Resource Center and AskRI.org, which has been providing the online “Ask A Librarian” service through email and chat for the past four years.

“Since 1989, Providence Public Library and the State Office of Library and Information Services have worked together to provide the services of this Library’s excellent reference librarians and staff, as well as the vast information resources here, to all Rhode Islanders.  Today’s news represents the latest accomplishment in our ongoing collaborative efforts to reach and serve everyone statewide with important online services and resources,” said Dale Thompson, director of Providence Public Library.  “We know that education and job seeking services are the top two uses of public internet services that libraries provide today and these new services are exactly what Rhode Island residents need from their library today.”

The core resources for AskRI are Homework Help RI, World Book Web, HeritageQuest, and EBSCO databases. World Book Web provides age appropriate encyclopedias for elementary, middle, and high school/advanced students, and World Book Discover for adult learners and those with reading challenges includes a read aloud feature and a tool that translates articles into 14 languages. World Book Discover also includes employment, financial, health, and  housing resources and more.

HeritageQuest provides genealogy information and local history articles, family and place name indexes and census data from 1790-1930.  EBSCO databases include access to articles from over 10,000 magazines and journals, as well as medical, historical, environmental, general and scholarly publications and information on consumer health, auto repair and home improvement.

Librarians from around the state attended today's event. Students from Classical High School and the Home School Network of Rhode Island helped demonstrate the resources available on AskRI to the Governor, with representatives from EBSCO Publishing, HeritageQuest, Tutor.com and World Book Web on hand to explain their products.

Access to the AskRI resources is freely available to all Rhode Islanders at www.askri.org in any non-commercial setting. The service includes resources in Spanish as well as English.