At the moment, the topic of individual library cultures merging in a virtual reference consortium is understudied and may be more a question for academic debate rather than practical concern. We conclude our presentation by detailing some questions that do not have immediate answers.

When AskColorado was created, a Letter of Intent was sent to all library directors seeking their participation. The Letter of Intent includes a broad contractual agreement between the individual library systems and the AskColorado consortium. These agreements include:

• Making a modest cash payment to share in the matching requirements for the grant.
• Providing staff for the virtual reference desk a few hours each week (preferably off-desk).
• Sending virtual reference desk staff to a one day training session held in a regional location.
• Having a dedicated Internet connection (at least 56kb).
• Putting the link to the virtual reference service on your library’s website.
• Promoting the service to your patrons.
• Appointing a single person from your library as the contact for the service.
• Supporting the ability to deliver up to 10 pages by fax or online to a patron.
• Having an e-mail address that is checked at least once every business day for referrals.

Though staffed by over 60 libraries from across the state, AskColorado essentially functions as its own library system with its own board of governance. While relying on librarians from many individual library systems, it has its own policies and procedures that all AskColorado staffers are asked to follow.

This can lead to some interesting evaluative issues. Many librarians have been with their institutions long enough to have ingrained certain values—definitions of appropriate and inappropriate questions; expectations of patron behavior; and limits to customer service. Obviously, library systems can and will have very different service policies as well as interpretations of state laws. For example, a metropolitan library system might balk at the idea of staff closely monitoring the websites their teen patrons visit while rural libraries could view such monitoring as routine and expected. Community expectations, though never uniform, do vary by region for a number of reasons and obviously influence a particular library system's service philosophy. Similarly, institutional philosophies can cause conflicts as well. Public librarians are often trained to find the answer for their patrons; academic librarians sometimes see their role as more instructional. AskColorado addresses this conflict by having separate queues. But how can less obvious differences between library systems be addressed?

What happens if a particular question to an AskColorado staffer conflicts with the policies and procedures of that staffer’s physical library? Are there 'loyalty' issues involved? Has the staffer’s system, by virtue of agreeing to help staff AskColorado, also agreed to waive their own restrictions if they conflict with the more open-ended policies of our virtual reference system?