"Live Help provides instant customer assistance when you visit the state website searching for government services or resources," Owens said. "This sort of help is available on just a handful of state websites around the country. Colorado has taken a lead in providing live online assistance"

Live Help is available on the state website 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except on major holidays.

From the state homepage, visitors may click on the Live Help icon to reach a member of the Colorado.gov customer service staff or a librarian located in Colorado.

Staff members help citizens find the information or services they are seeking, often by recommending online government services. The representatives also can lead a citizen to the government Web page they need by automatically directing the user's Web browser to that page. The user has the option to receive a transcript of the online help session sent to their e-mail address.

"Live help is a tool that librarians have used with great success for several years," said Eugene Hainer, Director of the Colorado State Library, Department of Education, "We are pleased to partner with Colorado.gov to make this tool available to everyone that visits the official state Web site."

The Live Help service is delivered through a collaboration between Colorado.gov, Ask Colorado, and the Statewide Internet Portal Authority, which was formed in 2004 to oversee the success of Colorado.gov. Ask Colorado is a collaborative effort of 61 libraries from around the state. About a dozen state websites throughout the country offer this kind of service.
KW