Official Certificate of Participation
This certificate verifies that Barbara King served as a volunteer at the Internet Public Library
(IPL) from January – March 2009 as part of Information Resources and Services II at Drexel
University’s College of Information Science and Technology.
Under the direction of their professor, Dr. Belinha de Abreu, the students in this class went
through the IPL’s online training process to learn about the challenges of online reference and
the procedures involved in working at the IPL. They then became part of our reference service
and answered questions from our actual users from all corners of the globe.
Work in the reference service required the following
• Knowledge of effective and efficient search techniques
• Knowledge of high-quality information resources, both online and print/subscription
• Ability to evaluate resources and select the most authoritative and appropriate
• Ability to communicate clearly in written English with users of all ages and from all
over the world
• Ability to provide concise written instruction on the use of sources and search tools
About the Internet Public Library
The IPL is an online library serving the Internet community since 1995, founded at the University ofMichigan
School of Information and hosted by Drexel University’s College of Information Science & Technology. Our site
includes over 40.000 links to authoritative free websites as well as special exhibits and features
(http://www.ipl.org/). We offer a free e-mail reference service that is open to people of all ages from around the
world (http://www.ipl.org/div/askus/).
The IPL also serves as an educational and research laboritory for the library and information science community.
Most collection development and maintenance and the answering of reference questions are done by graduate
students and professional librarian volunteers from around the world. Students like those at Hochschule der Medien
gain invaluable experience in providing digital library services. Since 1995, thousands of librarians have participated
in the IPL doing collection and reference work. You can read more about the mission and history of the IPL
at:http://www.ipl.org/div/about/ .
For more information about the process and skills required to participate in the IPL, you may reach a member of the
IPL staff using the online contact form: http://www.ipl.org/div/contact/
Adam Feldman Manager of Reference Services
The Internet Public Library, the iSchool at Drexel University