The Washington State Library today launched new mobile apps for its existing Ask-WA online reference service -- giving iPhone and Android users the ability to ask questions of actual research librarians, in real time, 24 hours a day from their phones. Having just downloaded and tried the app, we can verify that it works.

And we can also confirm that those librarians are pretty darned resourceful.

We decided to test the service by asking a question that wasn't immediately obvious from a quick web search: "When was the first known ascent of Mt. Rainier?" Here's how the chat on our iPhone went.

[Librarian 11:11:10]: Hi, i'm reading your question now. Just a moment, please...

[Librarian 11:11:17]: Let me check.

[Library Patron 11:11:29]: Thanks

[Librarian 11:14:57]: Found an article in Historylink about Fay Fuller, the first woman to have climbed (1890). It mentions the following:

[Librarian 11:15:00]: Philemon Beecher Van Trump, who, with General Hazard Stevens, had been the first to make a verifiable ascent to the highest point on the mountain in 1870.

[Librarian 11:15:14]: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7786

[Library Patron 11:15:50]: Great. Thanks!!

Not bad, huh? The state library says it's the first in the nation to offer an app for online reference service, although technically the app switches users to the phone's browser for the online chat). The Ask-WA service, also available through a traditional web browser, makes use of more than 60 libraries and hundreds of librarians. A national cooperative of librarian helps answer questions after hours.

It's the second app created by the Office of the Secretary of State, which previously launched a corporation services Android app.

Downloads: Android, iPhone