Research Services

Chat is a form of instant messaging and refers to software that allows a live, text-based conversation between a patron and librarian.

When reference staff are available Chat will also be available. If Chat is offline, please submit your question in the box provided and we will get back to you with a response via email as soon as we can.

This service is staffed by librarians and library reference staff of ISU Libraries. Depending on the nature of your question, we may refer your query to a subject specific librarian who will get back to you via email.  However, we make every effort to provide fast and competent reference help to all patrons.

We provide chat reference services to university patrons (undergraduates, graduates, and faculty/staff) and community members of Idaho. 

• Research questions
• Locating specific university or library sites
• Search strategies, keywords, or subject headings
• Topic discovery, narrowing and broadening
• Help finding an article or book
• Problems with or how to request an interlibrary loan
• Library information such as hours or events
• Local information
• Help finding reference information
• Help evaluating sources (Information Literacy)
• Help finding relevant websites or news databases
• Referral information for resources outside of our scope

We strive to assist researchers and community members to search and evaluate available resources while teaching them to be information literate, independent searchers. 

Reference staff concurrently help patrons via chat, telephone, email, and face-to-face. If we are already helping a patron, then we will let you know and be with you as soon as possible.

Transcripts may be reviewed for research and evaluation purposes, but patrons' names will be removed once a transaction is complete.