New Chat Reference Service for Ontario Lawyers

This is a follow-up to the May 9, 2005 post New Real Time Virtual Reference Service for Ontario Lawyers.

LibraryCo and the Law Society of Upper Canada's Great Library have finally launched AdvoCHAT, a new interactive Web-based reference inquiry service for lawyers in Ontario. LibraryCo brings together the 48 County and District Law Libraries of Ontario into a cooperatively operating province-wide law library system.

The new service, tested by a pilot group in the fall of 2005, allows for live chat, co-browsing by a librarian and the offsite inquirer through electronic databases, and the e-mailing of selected documents to the patron at the end of a session.

AdvoCHAT currently operates in 6 participating law libraries (Carleton, Essex, Middlesex, Toronto, Hamilton, and the Great Library) from Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The January 9, 2006 Law Times article New online service provides realtime chats - Librarians’ expertise just a few mouse clicks away describes the new service in more detail.