This page includes materials to make it easy for educators to both provide information to their students about KnowItNow24x7. In addition to a lesson plan and PowerPoint presentation, logos are available for placing a link to Ohio's statewide online reference service on your school's website. Posters are also available to print out and place in classrooms or media centers. A handout briefly explaining what KnowItNow24x7 is and what it can do for students is also available to share with other educators and library
media specialists.

The following information serves as an introduction to KnowItNow and is also available on the Educator Handout (PDF).

Introduction to KnowItNow24x7

What is KnowItNow24x7?

KnowItNow24x7 is an online reference service offered free-of-charge to residents and citizens of Ohio.

Who answers questions on KnowItNow24x7?

KnowItNow is staffed by public and academic librarians around Ohio. After libraries are closed, freelance librarians are contracted to serve Ohioans using the service.

How can my students benefit from KnowItNow24x7?

K-12 students can get resources to help with homework assignments, college students can get research assistance, and anyone can get suggestions for good books to read or answers to satisfy his or her general curiosity.

When is KnowItNow24x7 available?

Currently, librarians are available online to chat live with students from 7 am to 1 am every day. Messages received when live chat is not available will be replied to as soon as possible when the service re-opens. Beginning on July 1, 2013, KnowItNow24x7 will once again offer live chat reference 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week.

How do I connect to KnowItNow24x7?

Connect to KnowItNow24x7 any one of these ways:

• Go directly to www.knowitnow.org
• Text knowitnow to 66746
• Download our smartphone apps
  • (Search for KnowItNow on iTunes* and Google play)
  • *iTunes app currently iOS5-compatible; updating to iOS5- & iOS6-compatible soon

Some Helpful Tips for Educators About KnowItNow24x7

• Please don’t have an entire class log on at one time. KnowItNow has anywhere from an average of three to ten librarians online at any one time. If every student in a class submits a question, librarians can quickly get overwhelmed.
  • A better strategy: Share one interaction (with a projector or one monitor) to show how its done and what it looks like. Students can then be encouraged to try out the service on their own at home, in the library, etc., to make for briefer wait-times for the students as well as “even out” the question load on librarians.
• Librarians staffing KnowItNow won’t do students’ homework for them, but they can help students to find authoritative resources to do their homework better and more efficiently.
• Finding authoritative information online can take time, so it's not uncommon for a KnowItNow session to last 10
  minutes or more, depending on the question.

Educator Resources

Handouts

• Educator Handouts (2 different handouts in one 8.5"x11" landscape PDF)

Posters

• New Poster with website, texting, and apps: Color, Legal size paper (8.5"x14")
• Poster with QR Codes for downloading iTunes and Android apps (8.5"x11" landscape)
• Poster with QR Code for downloading iTunes app (8.5"x11" portrait)
• Poster with QR Code for downloading Android app (8.5"x11" portrait)

Presentations

• Presentation to the INFOhio Roundtable, April 9, 2013 (PDF)
• Presentation to North Coast Council, April 23, 2013 (PDF)

Lesson Plan

• KnowItNow Lesson Plan for educators (can be used in conjunction with Introduction to KnowItNow PowerPoint for Educators.

Logos for the Web

• To download an image, click on the desired link below to view the image, right-click the image, and choose the appropriate option such as "Save Picture As..." or "Save Image As..." or "Download..." The syntax of this statement will vary depending on the browser you are using. These are all PNG images. When uploaded to your web page, the image should then be made a link to http://www.knowitnow.org (unless you are staffing a KIN local queue).
• KnowItNow24x7: color images, white backgrounds, with tagline:
  • Logo Only (54px x 54px, PNG)
  • Logo on Button (151px x 53px, PNG)
  • Small Logo with Tagline (160px x 78px, PNG)
  • Small Logo, no Tagline (110px x 60px, PNG)
  • Large Logo with Tagline (415px x 205px, PNG)

Suggested Descriptions for the Web

• To accompany the logos above, educators may also want to include a brief description of the service on their web pages. Here are some suggestions you may copy and paste or use as drafts to create your own text:
  • Suggestion 1: Simply use the logos above
  • Suggestion 2: KnowItNow24x7 is an online reference service for the citizens and residents of Ohio brought to you by the State Library of Ohio and libraries throughout the state. Professional librarians are available to answer your reference questions and to assist you in finding information.

  • Suggestion 3: KnowItNow24x7 is the place on the Web where Ohioans can get live help from a librarian for finding resources for homework or research on any topic, suggestions for good books to read, or answers to satisfy your general curiosity.