Quality Tip: No email, No Follow Up

Since it is the end of the year, the next several Quality Tips will focus on best practices for ending your chat session. 

The 24/7 Reference Best Practices, section 6, state:

Concluding the session

• Before closing, ask the patron if their question has been answered ("Does this completely answer your question?") or if they need additional information.

• If the request cannot be adequately answered during the session, code the session for Follow Up (see Resolution Codes, below)

• Before coding for follow up, verify the patron's email address and deadline. It may take several days for the patron to get an answer back from the library.

• If the patron indicates that they need no additional information, send the appropriate Goodbye script provided by the patron's library. If no Goodbye script is available, thank them for using the service and encourage them to return if they have more questions.

It is important to check that the patron did in fact provide an email address before coding the session for Follow Up.  If no email address is provided, then the librarian won't be able to get in touch with the patron with additional information.

Many times the patron will initiate a chat request without filling in their email address.  You can see if the patron submitted an email by looking in the "Info" tab,in the chat monitor.  If, during the chat, you decide to send the session for follow up, please ask the patron to type in their email address.  Then, after the session is over, the librarian doing the follow up can change the patron email address in the Ask module, so that the patron does get the needed information.  Even if the patron did provide an email address when a chat session was initiated, it is a good idea to ask the patron to verify their email address.

Sometimes you may want the patron's local library to be aware of a session, even if no follow up is needed.  To call attention to a session, some librarians do code sessions for Follow Up.  If you decide to do this, please use the Librarian NOTES option to explain why you are coding the session for Follow Up.

If you have tips to share or comments on this tip, reply below or send to Susan McGlamery, mcglames@oclc.org