Have a quick question? Just text a librarian!

The Criss Library now offers a texting service for students, in which they may text brief questions to a librarian and receive a response within 10 minutes. The text-a-librarian feature is part of a national trial by libraries across the United States. It is designed to assist students using the technologies they are most comfortable with.

"We are trying to meet the information needs of students where they are, " said Linda Parker, an associate professor and social sciences reference librarian at the Criss Library. "We want to understand how students seek information."

The service is best used for short reference questions that are 160 characters or less, Parker said. Students can text their question to (309) 222-7740 and are asked to begin their question with "UNO" so the library can track the number of students using the service.

The text will be sent to one of many librarians across the nation. Site-specific questions - such as those referring to library hours - can be asked, as long as it can be accessed nationwide, Parker said.

The service is better suited for what Parker calls "quick-reference questions." These could be the location of a restaurant, biographical information, the author of a particular book or various other sorts of miscellaneous questions.

It is similar to Google's texting service, however, it is answered by a real person rather than an automated machine. It is also more academic than finding out the latest sports scores, weather updates and movie showings. Standard text messaging fees do apply.

The librarian texting service is available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays, and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You won't get a response on Sundays.

"We're excited," Parker said. "We are examining how we provide info to faculty, staff and students and are looking for the best combination of possible technologies."

Students aren't sure if the new feature will be popular but see some possible benefits, such as when they are away from home or school and can't access search engines for information.

"If you don't have Internet access but have texting, it could be a useful feature," said junior Ciprianna Dudding.

Sophomore Michaela Schenkelberg said that texting a librarian would have been helpful last semester, when she was working on a paper and had trouble finding journal articles.

In such a case, librarians could point out appropriate journals and assist in finding research information. If your question is longer than 160 characters or requires a more in-depth response, the Criss Library offers a wide range of services. Students can arrange private appointments with specialists in the area they're researching to get one-on-one help.

Research assistance can also be reached by phone and instant messaging on the ask-a-librarian page on the UNO Criss Library's Web site, www.library.unomaha.edu. The instant messaging service, unlike the texting feature, is a direct link to a librarian.

Junior Brock Hubert said he's skeptical about the success of the service and doesn't believe it will be widely used.

"The library already has a feature where you can chat online to a librarian. The only problem is about 95 percent of people I talk to have no idea this even exists," Hubert said. "This is a problem that UNO has all over campus. It seems like nothing is promoted."

The Criss Library will try to publicize newer digital services, Parker said, in an effort to demonstrate to students the library's commitment to assistance. If such publicity occurs, Schenkelberg said she believes it will become more widely popular across campus.

Parker said she just recently purchased an iPhone for herself, and is happy with the advance of technologies in terms of how it relates to her job.

"We're just trying to stay up with the times, and maybe be a step ahead of the times," Parker said. "I never want to go backwards, only forwards."

The Criss Library has committed to running the program through December of this year, but Parker says they are looking into keeping it for another year if it is successful.

Beyond that, she plans to do a supplemental study to see what kinds of technologies students are using - if they have iPhones or "smart phones," if they use Google, Twitter or various other methods of finding information.