Chat update

It used to be that if a chat patron navigated away from the Ask Us page they would lose their chat window and on our side, we would see "[Patron] has left the conversation," the bubble in the upper left hand corner of the chat would turn black, and if you tried to chat with them further, you would see "Message not received." Also, their patron number would disappear from the buddy list.

Now, however, possibly due to an update of the program, when patrons navigate away from the Ask Us page, they can use the browser's Back button to return to it, and their chat will still be in tact. On our side, it still says "[Patron] has left the conversation," but they are not disconnected. The bubble in the upper left corner will go to "Busy" and their patron number will still show up on the buddy list.

If this happens, you can still chat to them and whatever you say will be in the window waiting for them when they come back to the page. If it looks like a patron has left in the middle of your conversation, check the bubble--is it black? or "Busy?" Check the buddy list--is your patron's ID number still listed? If so, just continue the chat as normal.

Library H3lp Connectivity

Library H3lp did a system upgrade this weekend. As a result, their chat service is experiencing system-wide connectivity issues. What this means is that, although you may be logged on, some chats may not pop-up on your screen. You may also be sent back to the login page without being completely logged off of chat. Library H3lp has been made aware of the problems and assures us that they are working diligently to fix them. They have not, however, given us a concrete timetable for when the issues will be completely resolved.

Changes in Chat Reference Login for Interns at the Reference Desk

The login for iMinerva at the reference desk for the Interns has changed to refstud with the same password as the work station.  It is active even thought it isn't showing on the Buddy list (yet).  The iMinerva account is still there as the master account but no longer monitors any queues.

Libraryh3lp Update

The admin module is back up.  You can see transcripts, Ques and transfer chats.

Sending Links for Database Articles in Chat

I have been getting requests for access to links for database articles that patrons have received via chat. These links are not accessible unless you are logged into a campus work station, so it would be better to show the patrons how to access the information using the library's databases and let them save the article themselves.

Libraryh3lp chat transferring

Just a reminder that when you transfer a patron chat to another librarian, there is no indication on their end that there has been a "handing off" of the chat.

Some possible options to let the patron know that they are going to be transferred:

[transferring]
I'm going to transfer you now. Have a good day.
I'm going to transfer you to [insert name here], they'll be right with you.
Have a good day. [transferring]

Some possible options to let the patron know that they have been transferred to you:

Hi ... I'm just reading over your transcript.
Hi there, I'm [insert something here]. How can I help you?
Hello, how are you?
Let me read over your chat transcript and I will be right with you.

EndNote support & product improvement

Hi all,

Please note that there is now an internal EndNote queue in libraryh3lp to help chatting library staff who have not used this product. The following library staff have awesomely agreed to staff the queue when they are available for libraryh3lp work: Lea, Steve, Lynda, Michael, and Hannah.

As usual, you can also provide a traditional referral to Lea or others listed on the EndNote Support page: http://library.uncg.edu/depts/ref/endnote/support.asp. Steve is taking the lead in answering EndNote questions when I go on maternity leave from mid-March through April 2010. The support page will be updated with this info closer to zero hour.

EndNote Web product improvement - it's just been fixed to allow users to directly insert citations from "Groups" (folders) that have been shared to their EndNote Web account.

Previously, an EndNote Web buddy would have to go into EndNote Web, inside a "Group" being shared with him/her, and COPY those references into his/her main EndNote library in order to use them in a Word doc.

If this is Greek to you and you'd like to have more familiarity with the quirks of this product, please let me know!

Thanks,
Lea

FAQ and troubleshooting libraryh3lp

1. (Reference Only) Are we still recording Irma chats in the Google stats system? Yes, we are. But why? We want to see how much we are underreporting our statistics and we want to have something with which to directly compare our other stats.

2. What happens if there is a troubleshooting problem and libraryh3lp goes down? If you have any immediate questions during the day, you can contact someone on the chat team (Steve, Michael or myself). Otherwise check the libraryh3lp twitter page where they post relevant LibraryH3lp system updates and other maintenance issues: http://twitter.com/libraryh3lp You DO NOT need to be on twitter to see their updates, although you can follow them if you have an account, or you can add it to your news reader (like Google Reader or Bloglines).

3. (Reference Only) Who is supposed to be logged in at the desk, irmaminerva or myself? It depends. If it is an intern it will be Irma Minerva. If it is another desk staff, they have the choice of logging in as Irma Minerva or as themselves. Regardless, someone will ALWAYS be monitoring libraryh3lp from the desk. Please note that these are individual accounts, and only one person can be logged in as themselves at a time. For example, you cannot be logged in in your office and at the desk; only one person can be Irma Minerva at a time.

4. (Reference Only) If I log in as myself, won’t patrons see my name answering the chat instead of Irma Minerva? No. The students will only see the librarian named Irma Minerva

5. I am logged in but I still getting "pinged" whenever there is a question and I don't want to be. The system only "pings" people who are monitoring a chat queue. If you do not want to answer chats but would still like to be able to communicate internally, simply click on "Select Queues" at the top left hand side of the webchat screen. Unclick the queues you do not want to monitor, and click OK. If you wish to later monitor the chats, click on "Select Queues" again and select the queues you wish to monitor.

6. There isn’t any sound. Test to make sure your volume/speakers is on. If it is and you are still not getting any sound, try a new browser. Also, for those using Internet Explorer, you may need to update.

7. I don’t see any buddies showing up and I know people are online OR lots of people are online who I know are not. Make sure the Buddy "folder" is open on the webchat screen. Try logging in and out. If that doesn't work, please see someone in the chat team or your department administrator.

8. There is a buddy in another department that I know is online, but I don’t see them. Because of the hierarchical system within libraryh3lp, you may need to ADD a buddy if they are in another department. (See the plus sign in the Buddy List window.) A complete listing of Buddy names -- like a phone directory for libraryh3lp -- will be available shortly and routinely updated. Until then, please see your department administrator or someone in the chat team for help.

9. Who is my department administrator? For SCUA, see Jennifer Motszko. For Music Library, see Sarah Dorsey. For Administration, see Michael Reeder. For Reference, see Hannah, Michael or Steve. For Technical Services, see Stacey Krim. Other departments may be added later.

10. Someone’s computer is pinging and pinging and pinging. How can I make it stop? You’ll have to wait until they come back or you can turn their sound or computer off (I don’t suggest this. They might get mad.) Remember to ask them to log in the morning and log off at night.

We discovered that there can only be one iminerva at a time. I logged in as iminerva at the lower desk and the chat program was confused about which computer should have the chat, sending it back and forth. So one must log on as oneself and let Irma stand alone. Thought I'd pass this on in case anyone else was wondering. -- Jenny R.

Libraryh3lp: logging out when you leave for the day

When you leave for the day and keep your office work station running, please logout of libraryh3lp. There were two people still logged in at 6:00 pm Tuesday and one was beeping constantly with old chat requests.