DATE:    7/23/99
CONTACT: James Blake, (864) 656-2068
WRITER:  Bill Baker, (864) 656-3875

Information Center Provides Answers for Consumers

     CLEMSON -- Clemson Extension is providing thousands of
consumers more information than ever before on food safety and
preservation topics, as well as home, yard and garden topics,
through its new Home and Garden Information Center.
     The center, which began operation May 5, provides
information via a toll-free phone call using a computerized 
interactive voice response (IVR) system. The phone number is
1-888-656-9988.
     "About 600 recorded messages on topics including food safety
and preservation, landscaping, gardening, plant health and
household pests are available," said Clemson Extension specialist
James Blake, who is directing the project. In addition, the
information will soon be available on the web at gic.clemson.edu.
     "We have developed topics based on the most-often-asked
questions county offices receive," said Libby Hoyle, Clemson
Extension food specialist. So far, about 280 food-related
messages have been written. 
     In addition, many of the home and garden- related topics
relate to food safety, in that they deal with the correct use of
pesticides and herbicides, as well as ways of ridding homes of
household pests that can harm stored food.
     Callers will enter four-digit codes to retrieve the message
they wish to hear. These codes have been published in a user's
guide and distributed throughout the state.
     Callers who do not have a copy of the user's guide can
access some of the messages through a recorded menu system.
     "There are eight telephone lines into the IVR system to
access recorded messages," said Blake, who also serves as
director of diagnostic services for Clemson's Agricultural
Service Laboratory.
     "In addition, there are up to five information specialists
available from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday to answer
questions not covered by the recorded messages," he said. "These
specialists all have either BS or MS degrees in various areas of
specialization, and are receiving additional training from
Extension personnel."
     Also during that time, an information assistant will take
requests for fact sheets, which will be sent by surface mail. In
the future, callers who access the center at other times may
receive fact sheets by fax from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. through the IVR
system, and the center will also maintain the computer web site
that will contain all of the fact sheets and the user's guide.
     "It used to be that we could post a 7 p.m. meeting at a
local Extension office, and those that were interested in the
information could be there," Hoyle said. "But today, because of 
our busy lifestyles, our working habits and our family
responsibilities, that's no longer the case. So it's our job to
take the information people need and put it in a form they can
use."
     The system does not replace Clemson's network of
professionals and volunteers, but merely complement their
efforts.
     "The recorded system being available 24 hours a day is
targeted toward answering the routine type of phone calls," Blake
said, "so that we can free up agents, specialists and Master
Gardeners to deal with more complex questions."
                         END