QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

Internet Explorer Update

Dear QuestionPoint Administrators and Librarians,

On 17 December 2008, Microsoft released a patch for Internet Explorer to address a critical security issue. The name of the patch is KB960714  and download information for it is located at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960714.

We have tested the patch and find no conflicts with QuestionPoint software.  

Those of you who wish to return to using IE to access QuestionPoint and use Chat  may feel free to do so after  installing this critical patch if you have not already done so.

Please  contact your IT department   for specific directions about installing the security patch or for any assistance in your environment.  Note that http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960714 contains  the download with additional  with information and installation directions .

QP events at ALA Midwinter

QuestionPoint will be hosting two events at ALA Midwinter:

1.  Best Practices in Cooperative Reference:  Innovations in VR: multilingual, multinational networks and Reference Extract

The panel will present two innovative approaches to improving reference service for our users: building a better search engine using the knowledge of reference librarians, and building a multilingual, multinational reference service.  

David Lankes, Information Institute of Syracuse, will discuss Reference Extract, an exciting new project that envisions taking the work that librarians do as part of a reference transaction and using this information to bring more credible results to web searching.  The Reference Extract project is currently being planned to aggregate the power of librarians to improve how people find information on the web. The session is both an overview of building a "credibility engine," and an invitation to be a part of and guide the project. 

Paul Ulrich, Berlin Central and Regional Library, will discuss how he has formed partnerships with librarians throughout the world to provide reference services in 27 languages to his users.

Join us to learn more about these two exciting projects!

Saturday January 24
1:30 – 3:30 PM
Colorado Convention Center
Room 502

About our speakers:

R. David Lankes is director of the Information Institute of Syracuse, and an associate professor in Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. He is also a fellow at ALA's Office for Information Technology Policy. Lankes has always been interested in combining theory and practice to create active research projects that make a difference.

Paul S. Ulrich is an American who has worked in the Berlin Central and Regional Library (until 1995 in the America Memorial Library) for over 30 years. For the past 13 years he has been in the Information Services Department. He has published many professional articles and books, is on the editorial board of Online Information Review and regularly conducts workshops on using the internet for reference services for the Goethe Institute.

2. QuestionPoint User Group meeting

Vince Mariner, of Pennsylvania’s AskHerePA, and Julie Strange, of Maryland’s AskUsNow!, will co-chair the QuestionPoint user group meeting at ALA Midwinter. The QP product team (Jeff and Susan) will provide a QP update, then it is your turn to tell QP “5 Things You Want QP To Do”.  This will be followed by small group discussions, topic starters to be provided.  Light refreshments will be provided!

Sunday January 25
4:00 – 5:30 PM
Colorado Convention Center
Rooms 605/607

Please register to attend these QP events at ALA Midwinter: www.oclc.org/info/ala/

New Policy Page Guidelines (24/7 Coop)

A library's policy page is one of the key resources that ensures the proper working of the 24/7 Reference Cooperative. An informative policy page helps the Cooperative librarians do a better job answering questions for your patrons.  However, over the course of time, we have found that libraries are not always consistent in how the policy pages are completed.  So, to reduce confusion and ensure greater consistency, we have provided guidelines to help you fill out your library's policy page.  The new guidelines can be found on the QP wiki, at: http://wiki.questionpoint.org/Policy+Page+Guidelines

To commemorate the new guidelines, we are announcing a special Policy Page Day for today, Thursday, December 18.  On Thursday, please take a few moments to review your library's policy page and make sure it is consistent with these new guidelines.  We will also be available via QP chat on Thursday, from 9 AM ET to 2 PM ET,  to answer any questions you have as you review your policy page.  You can find us online next Thursday at: http://www5.oclc.org/questionpoint/quality/ask.html

To create or update your library's policy page, follow these instructions: http://www.questionpoint.org/crs/html/help/en/profile/pr_policy_task.html

Thanks in advance for helping our Cooperative provide the best service possible to your users by updating your library's policy page!  If you have any questions about your policy page, please come chat with us this Thursday during our "office hours" (9 AM ET to 2 PM ET), or email me at mcglames@oclc.org

Internet Explorer Security Alert

 Dear QuestionPoint Users:

You may have seen or heard an announcement recently, regarding a severe security flaw in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser.  Our own OCLC security team has advised us internally to avoid using I.E. for “surfing” but that it is OK to continue using it for applications that “require it”.

Here is what we recommend to our QuestionPoint Chat users until further notice:   If you are a Windows user, who does not use cobrowse, please  use the latest version of Mozilla Firefox while using QuestionPoint, to log in, chat, and to surf the web while finding sites to push to patrons.  Only push sites to patrons also using Firefox or Macs. (You can tell from the patron information what type of browser they are using.)

Cobrowse requires IE, so if you use cobrowse, while it is safe to use IE for logging into chat,  please cobrowse only to sites within your own domain to send to patrons (things like your catalog).  

Microsoft is reporting that over 10,000 websites have already been compromised by this security flaw, so avoiding cobrowsing or page push to any unknown quantity  with patrons is the only way to ensure the integrity of what you are sending, given that you and patron are both using IE if you are cobrowsing.

All other QuestionPoint users may continue to use IE for work within the QuestionPoint application.  Please do not use IE for any websurfing.  
For details about this issue, please visit the following sites
http://secunia.com/advisories/33089/
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/961051.mspx

Once a patch has been issued and vetted, we will alert you. Naturally,  if  your own IT departments are recommending the complete cessation of IE use, you should follow your own advisors’ recommendations until further notice.

The QuestionPoint Knowledge Base

Did You Know . . .

It’s easy to keep your KB records updated with the Update Required function? 

 It has been said that question-and-answer repositories are more trouble than they’re worth because the answers in them so quickly become outdated.  We have a couple of responses to that argument:

1.       Historical value.  It is true that Tony Blair is no longer the Prime Minister of Britain (see GKB # 61539), but with 11/22/2004 entered as the date of the question and the answer, the fact remains that he was PM at that time. 

2.       Use the Update Required feature to update answers that are known to be temporal, especially if you have a good idea when that information is likely to change, or at least could change.  When creating the record, put a date in this field when the record should be revisited.  If you work review of the Update Required folder into your regular daily or weekly workflow, you might find it easier than you think to stay on top of “expiring” information.

The following screen images illustrate the field and how to browse for records that are due for update review.

 
Browsing by the folder retrieves all records that match the date range.  If you don’t set a date range, you’ll retrieve all dates.  As you can see, you can also set other limitations on the retrieval set, such as subject category, if you’ve used these when you create your local KB records.

Once you select a record to update, there are two ways you can go about that update.

1.     You can leave the original information as it is.  As mentioned above, since the historical information could be useful, this isn’t a bad idea.  In which case you add new information to the Addenda page.  This method (illustrated next) adds the date of the addendum.

 

/span>

The added addendum is visible to the user the next day, after it has been indexed.

2.     You can actually change the information in the original answer.  In fact, you can change most information in your local KB records.  What you cannot change is the date of the original question and answer, however, so actually changing information may not be the best option.  You can, of course, add the new information after the original answer, being careful to also note the date, since that won’t be automatically added in this case.

You do need editorial privileges to update KB records.  Please see your QuestionPoint administrator if you want this ability.

Please contact paula_rumbaugh@oclc.org if you have questions.

QuestionPoint Outage 12:00 AM EST 13-12-08 / 05:00 GMT

Please be advised that at 12:00 AM  EST  13 December 2008 / 05:00 GMT 13 December 2008, we will interrupt QuestionPoint service to correct an issue in the administration module. We expect to have service restored within 45 minutes . There will be no user-apparent changes to Chat or in the Ask module.  If you monitor chat at that time,  please try to end any chat sessions in progress approximately 5 minutes before the outage, so as to avoid sudden session interruptions. After service is restored,  please be sure to check your “New” questions lists for any new questions that might have come in while the service was interrupted.

 

We regret any inconvenience.

Viewport Adminstration issue

Dear QuestionPoint Administrators,

The issue below has been resloved. Thank you for your understanding.

It has come to our attention that there is an issue with the field that controls the administration of the viewport.

While this does not impact the display of the viewport to your patrons, it does prevent you from completing two specific tasks:

1. Adding a URL to the viewport field for the first time (either as a new member or if you are changing from using the default viewport)

2. Changing the URL in the viewport field to another URL or removing the URL altogether (which would display the default viewport)

We are working to correct this issue as soon as we can and will update the blog when the fix is in place.

- The QuestionPoint team

Ask Here PA Press Conference Coverage

On Monday, December 1, 2008, Ask Here PA had a press event in Pittsburgh.  Speakers included PA Dept. of Education Secretary Ed Zahorchak, Commissioner for Libraries in PA, Clare Zales, and the Director of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.  The event included a demonstration of the service. 

Some excellent articles resulted from the event.  Here are links to several:

http://www.kqv.com/viewwirereadynews.asp?feed=http://kqv.com/wire/news/5279988_Ask_Here_Pa_134953.xml (radio clip)

http://www.pittnews.com/news/reference_arsenal_adds_new_weapon

http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2008/12/01/news/news/news524.txt

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08337/932059-96.stm

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_601012.html

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08336/931984-100.stm

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/teenscene/s_600931.html

One story from the event is that Representative Costa spoke.  Actually, his brother Senator Costa spoke as well, but Rep Costa started off by telling the story that begins this article - http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08337/932059-96.stm - and as he began this story, which was the fact that he used the service the night before, he proceeded to pull a transcript out of his jacket and tell everyone about the software and his session.  It turns out that he was served by “Librarian 'Jen (24/7 Librarian)” and she did a super job and really sold him on how great the service is.

UK Enquire Service Featured in OCLC Abstracts

The UK's Enquire service was featured in the November 24, 2008 issue of OCLC Abstracts.  Enquire recently sponsored a live chat session at the Edinburgh Festival of Libraries, with Scottish writer Louise Welsh.  Ms. Welsh answered questions from the public about her own works and about her special area of interest, Robert Louis Stevenson.

The event helped to raise awareness of the online library reference service Enquire, and the opportunity it provides the public to direct their questions to librarians—the trusted custodians of knowledge—through the medium of online chat.

Read the full story at http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/design/abstracts/11242008/edinburghfestival.htm . 

If you want to subscribe to the OCLC Abstracts weekly electronic publication, please go to http://www.oclc.org/us/en/news/abstracts/subscribe.htm .

The QuestionPoint Global Knowledge Base

Did you know . . .

That your library can offer your local knowledge base or the Global KB to your patrons to search?

Although it would be an unusual day if two questions were exactly the same, it is possible that one answer can address multiple questions, or that websites sent or resources cited will satisfy the information needs of more than one user.  And, haven’t we been told by various studies that users want to help themselves?

Why not offer your knowledge base on your website, even right on your question form?  Your users can see if they can find an immediate answer to their question if they like.  And if not, the question form is right there for them to approach you if they’re unsuccessful.

In some ways, this serves a purpose similar to FAQs on a website, but the QuestionPoint KB feature is backed up by a pretty powerful search engine (the open-source Lucene).  Perhaps you can include detailed instructions in your KB for using such and so database.  Since you can control the keywords for each KB record, to improve searchability, you can make this instructional record easy to find by including keywords your students are likely to think of.  Remember, a KB search looks in the Question text, the Answer text, and the Keywords.

Actually you can let your patrons search both your local knowledge base and the Global KB if you want.  You might want to do this, for example, if you tend to keep local and community information in your local KB but want your patrons to also have the benefit of the broader set of Q&As available in the global.  Which KB is being searched can be completely transparent to your patrons; the search would simultaneously look in both KBs. 

You can even categorize records, as you add them to your local KB, as public or non-public.  Those for which you or the editor responded “Yes” to the question Make public? will be retrievable by the public.  But a “No” response means that only QuestionPoint librarians can retrieve them in a search.

Consider putting the KB search box anywhere you control the website!   Here’s an example of the GKB offered to the readers of the Criminal Law Library Blog (New York).

 

Or take a look at how the Wageningen UR in the Netherlands has mounted the search box on their digital library site.

. 

Instructions for putting the QuestionPoint knowledge bases on your website are at:

http://www.questionpoint.org/support/documentation/templates/search_globalkb.html

Your patrons don’t see all the fields that you see when you open a KB record.  Below is an illustration of what your patron sees:

If you have any questions about this article or if you would like to be a Global Knowledge Base editor, please contact Paula Rumbaugh at rumbaugh@oclc.org.