[1] askON's mandate is to help visitors find better information than they can on their own, and to raise the profile of Ontario's libraries as providers of services and tools, responsive to the needs of an increasingly digitally literate society.

[2] It was launched on January 31, 2008 as one of five projects of Knowledge Ontario, to leverage the collective resources of Ontario's publicly funded libraries in different sectors, and to foster information and digital literacy by helping Ontarians to find authoritative digital information and improve their online research skills.

Using licensed, secure chat software, askON staff provide research guidance and help to users navigating the Internet, their library's services, and other online resources.

askON is a collaborative effort with college libraries, each of which has offered up some of their staff time to make the service possible.

The various libraries' staff work in shifts to provide over 60 hours a week to post-secondary students.