For 21 years, Cornell's Information and Referral Center (IRC) has answered questions as varied as "What's the elevation of Cornell?" and "How do I get a new ID card?" to "When is graduation in 2001?" On Sept. 8, the IRC will officially add Cornell directory assistance to its mission, providing student, staff, faculty and departmental telephone numbers to thousands of callers each day.

The integration of the IRC and directory assistance will eventually result in increased hours of operation for the Information and Referral Center and the availability of directory assistance on Saturdays. These changes are essential to serve the significant number of contacts from people in other time zones, including parents, prospective students and alumni.

Directory assistance was formerly the responsibility of the Network and Telecommunications Services section of Cornell Information Technologies (CIT), at 120 Maple Avenue.

"It's always been confusing to callers that there are separate offices for directory assistance and for general information," said Joel R. Seligman, director of campus information and visitor relations. "Functioning separately did not allow us to reach our full potential. We spent a lot of time transferring callers back and forth."

Pat Searles, deputy director of CIT's Academic Technology Services, agrees that the move will avoid the previous role confusion of the two operations. She said one full-time CIT employee has moved to the Information and Referral Center with the merger. The other switchboard positions are now being staffed by IRC personnel, most of whom are students.

"Calls to the IRC and to CU directory assistance will go to a highly trained information team," said Celisa Manly, assistant director of campus information and visitor relations. The IRC staff now includes four full-time employees and 35 students.

During the academic year, over 3,000 calls per day will be answered by as many as six information specialists working together at the IRC. A computer-driven call management system efficiently distributes calls among employees to minimize the time that callers wait.

Planning for this transition began in 1995, culminating in the move of the call center from Maple Avenue to Day Hall this summer. Since the move, IRC staff members have been integrating their telephone and information retrieval systems with those used for directory assistance and retraining 35 information specialists to provide the new service.

"We view this function as part of the university's public relations program," said Heather Stakich, a senior communication major and student manager at the IRC. This weekend, Stakich and the whole CIVR staff will work with a professional communications and customer service trainer from Dun & Bradstreet of New York. "These are skills we'll use for the rest of our careers," said Stakich.

A unit within the Division of University Relations, the IRC opened in 1976, consolidating visitor information, campus tours and general information. Since 1976, the demand on the center has increased steadily.

In 1996, the department's name was changed to Campus Information and Visitor Relations (CIVR) to reflect its broader function. The IRC retained its name and presence in the Day Hall lobby and continues to be the core of CIVR. Besides directory assistance, CIVR is responsible for campus tours, the CU Home Page on the World Wide Web, four visitor information booths at the entrances to campus, and a variety of publications, including the Campus Map, the Help Sheet and Cornell Facts.

"In many situations, our staff is the first human contact that people have with Cornell," said Seligman. "In order for that relationship to begin on a positive note, we attempt to meet their needs right from the beginning -- directions, hotel listings, parking information, whatever they need." Seligman believes that the benchmark for good customer service on university campuses is constantly being raised.

"Our goal is to provide the appropriate amount of useful information," said Manly, "with the minimum number of transfers to another person. We have no qualms about researching questions and calling people back once we've found the answer."

"We have grown and changed in the past two decades, but our core function of introducing people to Cornell University in the most positive manner remains intact," said Seligman. "Whether it's via the Web, on a tour, in a visitor information booth, or over the telephone, we represent the interests of the whole university."

The IRC is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and can be reached by calling 607-254-INFO or by dialing 0 from campus telephones.