This paper presents the Virtual Reference Desk project, its current activities, and a proposed information system architecture to build a human intermediated network of expertise and experience for the K-12 community. The Virtual Reference Desk is a project headed by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology and funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Library of Education and receives support from the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. It seeks to study, support and improve current K-12 digital reference services, so called AskA services, as well as build a foundation for a national cooperative digital reference service. The paper demonstrates the viability of implementing a large-scale information system that directly utilizes human expertise. A preliminary technical architecture is outlined that consists of a meta-triage function to connect digital reference services, and a "shrink-wrapped" software package to help build and maintain new digital reference services.
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