Timeline of IPL History
Return to About the IPL.
The first version of this timeline was created for the IPL’s 10th Anniversary Celebration in 2005. A more interactive version of this timeline was created on June 16, 2008. The IPL decided to cease updating this interactive version on April 27, 2009.
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|
2009 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 2009
|
2008 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 2008 81,678
New Collections at the IPL!December 2008These collections started appearing on the IPL in December of 2008, an official announcement went out over MySpace, Facebook, the IPL Blog, and the IPL’s Learning Community on February 16, 2009. IPL’s Library LocatorOctober 27, 2008The IPL started to offer a page providing useful links for locating libraries called the Library Locator. New Look for IPL’s Teen Poetry WikiOctober 26, 2008The IPL’s Teen Poetry Wiki got a face lift. LII and IPL to Merge; LII hosted at DrexelOctober, 2008Effective in October 2008, the Librarians’ Internet Index (LII) started to be hosted at the The iSchool at Drexel, College of Information Science and Technology with the intention of merging the LII with the IPL, two of the most widely used library-based technological resources connecting individuals, businesses and society with information. IPL Reference Service Gets a New Name and a LogoAugust 18, 2008
FARQs Become FAQsJune 23, 2008On Monday, June 23, 2008, the IPL’s Frequently Asked Questions, or FARQs, webpages were renamed as Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQs. Many FAQs were revised and updated to make them more useful both to our patrons and to our online reference service. New Interactive Timeline of IPL HistoryJune 16, 2008A new interactive timeline of the history of the IPL was created! (The IPL decided to cease updating this version on 4/27/2009.) Blogs Collection Merged into the Main IPL Subject CollectionsApril 2008The IPL merged its blogs collections, formerly in static, harder-to-manage HTML code, into its MySQL Subject Collections database. Blogs can now be found within the IPL’s main Subject Collections and within their own separate Special Collection. Web Technologies CollectionApril 2008The Internet Librarian Conference in Monterey, CA in October, 2007, was the impetus for expanding the IPL’s Net-Based Emerging Technologies Special Collection into a much larger collection of Web 2.0 widgets and technologies. New IPL SearchMar 31, 2008At 9 a.m. EST, March 31, 2008, the new and improved improved version of the IPL’s own site search engine went live. The IPL’s new search now supported the use of quotes for exact phrase searching and the use of pluses (+) and minuses (-) to increase or decrease the importance of finding a particular term. Search results were presented in a simplified, conventional list format with quick access links to one or more related parts of the IPL. The IPL’s new advanced search provided a choice between a more powerful version of the IPL’s new search, called "Traditional Advanced Search," and the IPL’s "Grok It" search. The IPL’s "Traditional Advanced Search" allowed searching of the title, descriptions, and/or URLs of the links in the IPL’s primary database, and provided the option of searching for words or phrases contained or not contained in those fields. All of this was presented in a very simple and highly usable interface. |
2007 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 2007 71,342
New and Updated FARQs (now FAQs) and PathfindersDecember 2007Our collections of Frequently Asked (Reference) Questions and Pathfinder research guides received new additions. IPL Learning Community Goes LiveFall 2007The IPL Learning Community, hosted by Florida State University (FSU), goes live, and IPL students and staff start to use it. IPL's Facebook and MySpace Pages CreatedFall 2007Students at by Florida State University (FSU) create the IPL’s Facebook and MySpace pages. SLIPL!July 27, 2007The IPL stakes a claim in the online virtual world known as Second Life and gets its own "tree" on Drexel University’s "island". Future development projects in Second Life begin to be explored. An IMLS Grant!July 1, 2007The IPL has obtained a 3-year grant from IMLS to explore new ways of teaching and providing digital reference and librarianship and to move the IPL into a new era. New Look for Stately KnowledgeMay 2007Kidspace’s Stately Knowledge underwent a facelift this year, its data was updated, and some of its content was modified. Aside from an improved look, an interactive map of the U.S. provides navigation from the homepage of the site. Drop-down menus allow you to navigate quickly between each state. Governors were updated, and the Size and Population Rankings were modified to include total, land, and water area for each state and to include population density as well as population. Finally, information particular to a state was set on 1 webpage rather than spread out over 2 webpages. Updating POTUS ContentMay, 2007The IPL’s Presidents of the United States pages, created by Bob Summers, were with his permission thoroughly link checked and updated, with some user suggestions incorporated. The "On this day in POTUS history" feature was restored. Improving Our Online Reference ServiceMany improvements have been made behind the scenes to improve our online reference service. For one, our reference service is truly open all of the time now. We will not be closed at all during the year (unless due to technical problems, which should be very, very rare). We have been also revising our training materials and some of our policies to provide better answers via email to our patrons. We are currently engaged in a massive revision of our training manual for new students and volunteers. We have expanded our volunteer base, and we now have more reference administrators than ever due to a new shift structure allowing for more ref admins to participate. More ref admins means more questions answered and faster response time from us. IPL GrowthThe IPL continues to grow, not only by increasing the number of participating schools, students, and volunteers, but also by adding to its permanent administrative staff. Spreading the WordThe IPL attended several professional librarian conferences this year, including those for the Pennsylvania School Library Association, New Jersey Library Association, Maryland Library Association, Delaware Library Association, Special Libraries Association held in Denver, and American Library Association held in Washington D.C., as well as workshops for the Public Library Management Institute at Austin Peay State University and a statewide workshop for Tennessee library managers at Brentwood Public Library. |
2006 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 2006 62,200
The IPL’s New Home!DecemberThe University of Michigan stops hosting the IPL and moves its servers and staff positions over to Drexel University. Rest easy, Wolverines! The University of Michigan does stay on as a major contributing partner, along with Florida State University. Science Fair Project GuideNovember 29In response to the popularity of science resources on our site and the large number of science-related questions asked by IPL users, a group of students and staff investigated how we could improve our resources and reference service in this area. The group examined best practices for science education in libraries and other fields, science questions sent to our reference service, and the availability of science information on the Internet. With special thanks to Cathie Toschach, the Science Fair Project resource guide was completely redone, from layout to content and went up at the end of Novemeber. IPL Consortium BeginsAugustThe University of Michigan hosts representatives from various "ischools", colleges and universities with departments in library science and/or information science in an attempt to open up ownership of the IPL to a consortium. Grokker Search Added to the IPLJuneThe IPL implements a new way of searching its collections, using grokker’s search technology which provides a different way of clustering and visualizing search results. TeenSpace Poetry WikiAprilThe TeenSpace Poetry Wiki, a place where teens can post and respond to other teens’ poetry, and the Graphic Novels Guide, a concise, informative guide to comic books and graphic novels, are added to TeenSpace. The Lit Crit Collection is Back!AprilThe Literary Criticism Collection freed from all technical issues, thanks to a lot of student effort. The Fall class work on updating the Literary Criticism collection. |
2005 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 2005 57,453
AccessibilityDecemberThroughout the year, the IPL worked with Mike Elledge, a Usability Consultant then at the University of Michigan and now Assistant Director of the Usability and Accessibility Center at Michigan State University, to make all parts of our site accessible to users with disabilities. By December, almost all of the HTML code was brought up to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) XHTML 1.0 Transitional, CSS 1.0, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Priority 1 (WCAG P1) (with warnings) standards. Accesskeys were added for navigation, and the site was designed to be enlarged greatly and yet still readable and usable. TeenSpace Redesign and ExpansionA project went underway to update the TeenSpace section of our site. The changes, developed in consultation with Ann Arbor teens, included a redesigned interface, additional content in its Directory, and new ways for teens to engage with the IPL. The new look appeared over the spring and summer. In December, TeenSpace expanded further with two new sections, the FAEQs (Frequently Asked Embarassing Questions) and the Procrastinator (which also has the TeenSpace Thing of the Week). 50,000 served by Ask-A-Question ServiceWhen the IPL began, online reference was a new concept. Over 50,000 questions later, we had learned a lot! We continued to attract new participants and developed new policies to help serve our users better. Read more about the Ask-A-Question Service
Interview with Maurita Holland
NOTE: To watch the interview, you must have either the Adobe Flash Player or QuickTime installed. IPL Celebrates 10 Years of Innovation
|
2004 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 2004 52,332
Blogs CollectionAprilThe IPL put up a blogs collection to help users navigate the blogosphere, offering general information about blogs, links to blogs on a variety of subjects, and even including our own blog about blogs! Sun Microsystems GrantSun Microsystems provided 9 new servers for the IPL; the IPL began moving from Solaris to Linux. Research on the Economics of Funding Public GoodsProfs. Yan Chen and Jeff MacKie-Mason at the University of Michigan undertook research evaluating several incentive-compatible public goods mechanisms for IPL fundraising. Interactive Middle East Newspaper MapIn partnership with the Universal Map Company, the IPL developed an interactive map of the Middle East for use in our Newspapers collection. Users could navigate through the geography of the region to find online newspapers specific to each area. Biblioteca Publica por InternetThe IPL assisted Mexico’s Technological Institute of Monterrey in creating a Spanish-language virtual library that will provide services to students in Community Learning Centers, as well as the public at large. |
2003 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 2003 46,654
Intel GrantIntel provided laboratory workstations and laptops for the IPL, greatly improving speed. The IPL Goes Open SourceThe IPL made its software available through SourceForge at http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/hypatia/. |
2002 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 2002 40,384
Second Major RedesignJun. 12th
Computerworld Honors Program
AIHEC Virtual LibraryThe IPL provided interface design and technical assistance to this project of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). The Virtual Library collected resources related to the curriculum of tribal colleges and their communities. |
2001 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 2001 35,005
|
2000 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 2000 27,853
|
1999 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 1999 20,792
IPL World WideOct. 5thThe IPL goes World Wide. With mirror servers across the globe, such as in North America, South America and Europe, the IPL can now serve a greater audience world wide. Interview with David S. Carter
NOTE: To watch the interview, you must have either the Adobe Flash Player or QuickTime installed. |
1998 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 1998 13,791
Literary CriticismThe Literary Criticism collection was added. The collection contains links to online literary criticism as well as biographical information on authors and other relevant materials. Originally focusing on major American and British authors, the collection was later expanded to include authors from around the world. |
1997 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 1997 8,259
POTUSOct. 12thCreated by Presidential trivia buff Bob Summers, POTUS: Presidents of the United States contains links to biographical and historical information about all 43 presidents. Summers asked the IPL to host his site to give it more publicity. It quickly became one of the most highly used sections of the IPL! First Major RedesignJan. 12th
Stately KnowledgeThe Stately Knowledge collection was added. This popular KidSpace collection provides facts about the U.S. States as well as links to other sites students can use to learn about each state. The collection received another major update in 2004. |
1996 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 1996 4,012
Just for TeensDec. 18thThe Teen Division Originals featured a multitude of resources guides and collections. From how to write A+ Research papers to career pathways, teens were sure to find very valuable information and indispensable tips to get through their teenage years! This section was later renamed TeenSpace A New SchoolThe School of Information and Library Studies gave way to a new school: the School of Information. |
1995 |
|
Total Reference Questions Answered for 1995 1,142
Interview with Michael McClennen NOTE: To watch the interview, you must have either the Adobe Flash Player or QuickTime installed. Interview with Josie Parker
NOTE: To watch the interview, you must have either the Adobe Flash Player or QuickTime installed.
QRC & Early Reference QuestionsAug. 3thThe IPL’s online reference service had been handled through a system called HyperNews up to this point, but on this day, QRC became the database management system helping the IPL’s reference administrators process and categorize reference questions and the IPL’s volunteer librarians answer accepted questions. See examples of some of our early questions
Welcome Kids!
The Grand OpeningMar. 17th
The BeginningJan. 5
|
 |
 |
The IPL was recognized by this 
Besides the original reference center, a youth division was added to educate and familiarize young children to the IPL. Together with J.J. the librarian, the children could play math games, take a tour around the world, do fun science experiments and even learn some new jokes! There was even an Internet newsletter just for kids. This section later became known as 
Return to About the IPL.
What is the IPL?
The Internet Public Library is a public library for the world wide web.
Students from a consortium of colleges and universities with programs in information science develop and maintain the IPL!
Here are some of the partners in the IPL Consortium. A complete list is found on the IPL Consortium page.
The Internet Public Library is hosted by The iSchool at Drexel, College of Information Science and Technology,
with major support from the College of Information at Florida State University.
© 2009, Drexel University, All Rights Reserved