By LJ Staff

The New York Public Library (NYPL) has launched a live, online reference service in Spanish, ¡Información en Vivo! (preguntas.nypl.org). The service, which the library claims is the nation's only Spanish-language chat service, will be offered from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday. New York City's Spanish-speaking population has grown enormously over the last decade. In the Bronx--one of the three boroughs served by NYPL--immigration increased by 33 percent between 1990 and 1994, mostly Latino residents from the Caribbean.

For ¡Información en Vivo!, NYPL is contracting with LSSI, Inc. to use their Servicios de referencia en español--bilingual reference librarians supported by a Spanish language reference collection. According to Steve Coffman, LSSI's Vice President for Product Development, NYPL is their first Spanish-language customer, but the Cleveland Public Library has also signed up for the service and should be offering it shortly. Coffman wants to expand online reference services in Spanish to midnight, "but the challenge has been finding good bilingual librarians." The next element in serving Spanish-speaking patrons, according to Coffman, is telephone reference in Spanish, "since 75 to 80 percent of all remote reference questions still come over the phone."