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.

Chat and desk settings

Hi, all, a reminder to leave the sound on and turned at least relatively high so that chats aren't missed. the dinging can be annoying but more annoying to patrons is our failure to respond. And I'm going to set up the blog as the home page on Firefox and IE, please don't change. this is the best way to remind people of critical info. Please read every time you are at the desk at the very least, and interns should review back several months when there is free time, just to see what tidbits have been shared. I'll try to do some cleanup of outdated posts today.

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.

Checking on chats

Just occured to me that all might not know this trick. If you want to view previous chats or even look at an ongoing chat, you can click on Actions in the top right hand corner of the screen. Choose Monitor Activity and you can look back at chats from that day or previous days - very handy if somone returns and you didn't conduct the previous chat - you can check on all the info. that they already have been given. be aware of - an ongoing chat doesn't indicate anything that clearly shows it is ongoing, so in looking at the most recent chat in the list, it may still be in progress and thus incomplete.

Going the extra mile - beware of long post!

We had a Reference Dept. discussion I wanted to share with all desk staff in terms of going the extra mile with reference service. I consider that this level of service should be our expected standard - and there are lots of examples of this. Here are a couple - walking with a patron to the Reading Room and helping them find a call number, calling 6Tech for them to help resolve a problem, going to the basement with people and making sure they know that we all think it is confusing down there! Asking questions to make sure we understand what people need and whether the information we've provided is understood is another element of going the extra mile - and being friendly and approachable. Now here's a challenge and let's have it last until Valentine's Day. If you observe someone else providing really great service at the desk or through chat or phone, share that via this blog. Be specific - we may all get some great ideas for improving our own interactions!


And I'm putting several recent examples of chat interactions that I think demonstrate great service. I'm including chat because these are easy to find and copy, but these ideas apply to all reference service. You may recognize yourself, although I've stripped out identifying info, except in the case of iminerva. Some of the things I like about these are asking questions, getting emails for followup, signing off by checking to see if we've answered the questions by using a variation of "anything else?"

RECENT CHATS that went the extra mile (if the line starts with Lib, comes from the library)


Lib - okay, so something a little broader would work?

Patron - Awesome! Thanks for your help!
Lib - sure! I can hang out if you want to try searching and see what you come up with


Patron - was going to ask you how many books we can check out at once
Lib - are you really ready to know? – (and this chat continued with a little joking as the number 300 was revealed and the person expressed amazement – also good because questions were asked about the status of the person asking the question)

Alright, thanks so much for your help!
iMinerva@libraryh3lp.com No problem! Can I do anything else for you?

iMinerva@libraryh3lp.com Does this look like what you are needing?

Lib - Does that work? Can I help with anything else?
No that's all I need to know thank you

Lib - If there is anything else you need or if you have problems with anything please let me know

LIB - try this link
guest840792@libraryh3lp.com alright, I'll look around that website for something
guest840792@libraryh3lp.com Thank you!
iMinerva@libraryh3lp.com okay i will also keep looking if you would like to leave your e-mail I can send you anything I may find later

Lib you can request an article through Interlibrary loan. Do you know how to do this?
12:34 guest838755@libraryh3lp.com no
12:34 iminerva@libraryh3lp.com ok
12:34 iminerva@libraryh3lp.com go to ... (followed by link and instructions)
FROM Mary

Warm fuzzies

From a chat patron this fine Saturday morning: "iMinerva rocks! you have never let me down"

Chat suggestions

I fairly often review chat logs, particularly since we've been getting repeated questions - a couple of general suggestions from some things I've noticed.

I'm sure most of you are very aware that patrons fairly often mispell book titles, author names, have wrong dates, think something is a book when it's actually an article etc. and of course this applies to walk in patrons and email too. While I know it gets hectic on chat, if you find that we don't have a title with a quick catalog search, try a follow up question to verify that you have the information correct. If I don't find something by title, I often ask for author and search that way too, or verify that I'm searching a correct title through World Cat. And of course, using World Cat, you can also let someone know if a book is available in another local library if you do locate it. The new one search (Articles +) can be an effective way to search something if you have incomplete information.

A STERN warning about sound

OK, I'm too big a wimp to be very stern, but please don't mute the sound on the desk computers or turn it very low. that often causes the next person on the desk to miss chats because they don't hear the ding! There also appears to be an IE problem with sound, so use Firefox for chat to avoid complications. thanks, Mary

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.

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.

Chat Service Changes

Our Plugoo widget that shows on the Ask Us page has died. There is no problem with either the IM accounts or the aggregators (Digsby, Pidgin, etc.). The Plugoo widget has been replaced with a Meebo Widget, and will require using Meebo as the chat aggregator. For those that have not used our Meebo account, this is completely web based and the only software installed on the computer is the Meebo Notifier that appears in the tray as an icon ( show at left). The notifier is now installed on both stations at the desk.

How to use:

• The notifier will load automatically when the workstation starts, but will not login to Meebo. The icon will be greyed out.
  
• To login, double click on the icon. A pop window will tell you
  
• The notifier will show a popup window when there is a new chat message. The desk computers are configured to keep this window open until clicked on.
• If you double click on the popup (or the Meebo icon) the website will open in the browser.
• When you reply to the chat questions the popup(s) will disappear.
• Then you chat as you would on Digsby or other program.
  

Never assume with ischool students ...

Earlier today I chatted with an ischool student and let them know they needed to IM the ischool for further information and gave them the link to the ischool info page. They told me they didn't know what IMing was. I had to tell them IM=instant messaging=chat.