Some notes about IPL process

In my experience as a student, Reference Administrator and Senior Reference Administrator at the Internet Public Library's (IPL) Ask-A-Question service, I have found the documentation of what I should do to answer questions properly to be first rate. But one area where there's little documentation is how to answer questions—the mechanical process one goes through.

Well, since August 1 I have answered 16 questions, so figure that since January I have answered roughly 54 questions (.36 questions/day plus 4 as a student). In answering those 54 questions I've come up with a definite technique, although I just took some steps to formalize it last Monday (2007/09/10), for the "Slam the Boards" event.

I. TextPad

The first part of my method: a text editor. You can use Notepad, which comes with Windows, but if you're a Windows user you should check out TextPad, at http://www.textpad.com/. Very flexible, can spell-check your text, edit multiple files at once, save workspaces (sets of files). It supports macros and syntax highlighting, which is not so useful for the IPL but works wonders for that HTML/CSS or VBScript project you've been thinking about (both of which I have used TextPad to code in). It's true shareware, which is to say that you can use it forever without licensing it (although I have paid for it).

Any time I answer an IPL question that's more complicated than a rejection, a FARQ, or a PF, I write and edit it in TextPad. And I usually save a copy of the answer—without the question, to preserve confidentiality—to my local IPL folder.

II. Clipmate

The second part of my method over the months has been ClipMate, http://www.clipmate.com/. ClipMate is an insanely useful program; I probably use it more than any other single program. ClipMate is, as its Web site says, "a better clipboard." ClipMate works with your Windows clipboard, making a copy of whatever you put on the clipboard and keeping it around for later pasting. But also, ClipMate lets you set up clip libraries, from which you can put whatever you like onto the clipboard with a few keystrokes and paste it wherever you like.

ClipMate is relatively reasonably priced, at $34.95 (I originally bought it because it makes repetitive drafting, as with contracts and wills, much easier), and you can try it for free for 30 days.

Here's a screen shot of ClipMate in action, set to my "IPL Templates" collection, which is what ClipMate calls a separate preassembled set of clips.


How do I use ClipMate when answering IPL questions? First, I copy any URLs or text I come across in researching a question, which puts those text clips into ClipMate for later use. But second, there's my "IPL Templates" collection. I did not set this up until Monday—until then, I would either use the Quick Answer template or, for instance, open an old question and use it as a template. But then I realized, especially since the "Slam the Boards" event would involve answering a lot of questions, that I really should set things up right.

So I finally collected a bunch of templates: an opening template ("Greetings from the IPL! Thank you for your question about 'X'."), a closing template ("You may also wish to contact the reference desk "in person" at your local public library. Don't forget to use and support your public libraries! Please write back to us if we can be of further assistance. Thank you for asking the IPL!"), several different answer templates, and the templates I used for quota and rjdp answers during the Slam the Boards event.

How can this help you? Well, I'm going to link to two things from this blog post. First, here is an XML file I've exported from ClipMate. If you use ClipMate, just import this file into it, and you'll have the same setup I do. Second, here is a text file (open it in your favorite text editor) that has the same content as the ClipMate XML file, just set up to be used without ClipMate. All the clips--the individual clipboard copies--are in the text file.

If you have any questions about how this all works, if I've been insufficiently clear, please email me and I'll post a followup answering your question.