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Note: This is a work in progress.
Welcome to Andover Answers!
Andover Answers is a collection of information about Andover that the staff of Memorial Hall Library has gathered over the years. It started out as a "snag file" of 3x5 index cards used by our reference librarians to help answer patrons' questions, but it has since grown so big that we decided it would be easier to maintain electronically. This has several advantages:
- it's easier to search
- it doesn't take up space on top of our reference desk
- it's easier to add new entries and edit old ones
- those of us with poor handwriting don't have to endure comments from our co-workers about how we should have become doctors
Another advantage is that by making our old snag file electronic, we can bring it out from behind the reference desk and present it to the public in the form of these web pages. We still consider it a tool to be used primarily by and for us librarians, but there's no reason we can't make it viewable to everybody, so that's what we're doing.
What kinds of information does it have?
The entries in Andover Answers cover people, places and events that in one way or another have some connection with Andover. Beyond that, it's hard to characterize them. Some of the entries answer frequently asked questions, others answer questions that are hardly ever asked but are useful and/or interesting nonetheless. Some entries contain a full answer, others just a reference to where the answer can be found. Some of the entries have information that can be found easily enough through the likes of Google, but a good deal of it is obscure enough that finding it required library tools and skills that typically aren't available to the public.
How does it work?
In the search box, enter terms describing what you're interested in, then click the Go or Search buttons. You can also click on the Answers Index link to see an alphabetically arranged list of entries.
How to get (and give) more information
For general questions, you can contact our Information Services Desk by sending an email to rdesk@mhl.org or by calling us at 978-623-8400 x32. If we're closed (or even if we're not), you can chat online with a librarian anytime day or night through the MassAnswers service.
You can also share your comments or questions about a specific entry by following these steps:
- go to that entry's page
- click on the discussion tab above the entry's title to open the entry's "talk" page
- write what you want to say
- when you are finished, you can click on the Show preview button to see what it will look like
- once you're satisfied, click the Save page button and your changes will be applied immediately
Please understand that your contributions can be viewed by anybody, so including personal information is not recommended. We do monitor the talk pages, and if questions are posted to them, we will reply on the same page.