If Tommy Tutone had gone to Iowa State, he would have called his hit song “294-HELP” for sure.

The ISU campus information line, 294-HELP, is a number that provides people with “any student phone number, faculty office number, department number or general ISU information,” said Cara Reinert, junior in speech pathology and part-time employee of the service.

Director of Telecommunications John Kingland said the number is a continuation of an old, discontinued information service.

“294-HELP was the number for the Campus Information Center when it was a booth in the Memorial Union,” Kingland said. “Students could either call the number or walk right up to it for things like directories and bus schedules.”

He said after the booth was shut down the number remained unchanged. Kingland said calling 294-HELP is identical to dialing “0” from on campus or 294-4111.

“To my knowledge, the calls [to the number] are forwarded to the Durham [Center] office switchboard so people can get an answer and get help,” he said.

Wendy Garton, freshman in elementary education, said she uses the number about twice a week to get the on-campus numbers she needs.

“Although they can’t always give off-campus numbers, the operators are always helpful and polite,” she said.

The operators are not allowed to give out student and faculty addresses, faculty home phone numbers and off-campus numbers, Reinert said.

The 294-HELP office is located in Room 271 of the Durham Center and is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“People call all day long; the busiest time is from 4 to 5 p.m., after students get out of classes,” Reinert said.

Reinert is one of the four student workers at the office, along with the three adult employees. She works 12 hours per week and said the work isn’t too demanding.

“There’s a lot of down time sometimes,” she said.

When the Durham Center office closes at 5 p.m., the calls are transferred to the Department of Public Safety.

“Since our hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., we generally don’t receive obnoxious calls,” Reinert said. “I’ve received some annoying hang-ups, but in general, it’s a pretty relaxed atmosphere.”