QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

QuestionPoint Maintenance Scheduled for Sunday

Dear QuestionPoint subscribers:

This Sunday morning, August 30, we will interrupt QuestionPoint service to update language files, make a few fixes, and install a network change to address the recent performance hits.

QuestionPoint will be brought down at 7:00 a.m. UTC (3:00 a.m. New York; 8:00 a.m. London; 11:00 a.m. Dubai; 12:30 p.m. Delhi; 5:00 p.m. Sydney). We expect service to be restored within ninety (90) minutes.

It is imperative that you end any in-progress chat sessions at least five minutes prior to the scheduled service interruption to avoid sudden communication interruptions to your patrons and potential "hung" sessions. (You will be unable to click on any in-progress sessions to get information to communicate with the patron.) When service is restored, please check your "New" questions lists for any interrupted chat sessions or unanswered email questions.

If you experience any outage after the projected service restoration, please contact your Customer Service Provider for further assistance.

We are sorry for any inconvenience the downtime may cause.

The QuestionPoint Team

Release Notes for 23 August 2009

1. New Feature

Qwidget Evolution

Our Qwidget is evolving! With this release, we introduce a more modern, flexible design that also provides clearer distinctions between patron and librarian in the transcript window. A new color palette enables you to choose among more and newer color options; there is also the potential for “power users” to completely customize the colors and color combinations.

· Additional new features are illustrated below, on the set-up page (Fig. 2)

· Pop-out Qwidget: The patron can pop out a separate, floating, resizable window that is persistent and can move with the patron so they don’t “lose” the Qwidget if they change the web page. See the window icon in the upper right corner of the illustrated Qwidget, beside the ‘x’.

· Links to web pages sent by the librarian will open in discrete windows, or tabs, and no longer overwrite the preceding web pages sent.

· Custom sizeability: The library can have a small, medium, or full-size Qwidget, more appropriate to the space allotted it on your web page.

· IP address masking: You can choose to mask even the IP address, to insure total patron anonymity.

· Email options: Libraries can now require the user to enter an email address before a session can be started, or “nudge” them to do so after a session has begun. The nudge would still be voluntary, and the patron can still choose to be “anonymous” (no email attached to the session), if they prefer. When either of these options is selected, an accompanying message box appears for you to enter your message. A default message is provided, but you can choose to enter your own explanation of the option, as you prefer.

· Privacy: The new Qwidget has improved exit-session safeguard, which clears the chat history from the Qwidget. This guards against another patron or PC user reading the transcript at public terminals.

 

2. Maintenance and Changes

Transparent to our users is a great deal of work that has gone into upgrading several QuestionPoint components to move us toward an updated and more flexible architecture. These upgrades should increase our facility to interoperate with other systems, both OCLC and third party, and to move more quickly when introducing new features. The upgrades have also increased our capacity to handle QuestionPoint’s growing number of users and to improve the interface for our international users.

 

3. Fixes

3.1 Cannot Submit Q&As to KB from Questions Lists. Users have been unable to submit answered questions to a knowledge base in batch mode, from a questions list. This is now fixed.

3.2 Follow Up by Me not Listed for Follow Up. In certain, rare scenarios, questions with a resolution code Follow Up by Me were not appearing in the chat librarian’s questions list as New. That problem has now been fixed.

3.3 Can send Answer When There Is No E-mail Address. It has been possible in the past to click on the Answer button and appear to have sent an answer to the patron, even though no e-mail address was provided. The librarian will now receive a caution when they open the Full Question page for a question/transcript with no e-mail address.

Patron email is blank

On continuing to the Answer page, the only actions the librarian can take are to Save Draft, Search KB, or Cancel.

ANNOUNCEMENT: New Release coming Sunday

Dear QuestionPoint subscribers:

This Sunday morning, August 23, we will install a new QuestionPoint release. 

QuestionPoint will be brought down at 7:00 a.m. UTC (3:00 a.m. New York; 8:00 a.m. London; 11:00 a.m. Dubai; 12:30 p.m. Delhi; 5:00 p.m. Sydney).  We expect service to be restored within forty-five (45) minutes.

 
It is imperative that you end any in-progress chat sessions at least five minutes prior to the scheduled service interruption to avoid sudden communication interruptions to your patrons and potential "hung" sessions. (You will be unable to click on any in-progress sessions to get information to communicate with the patron.) When service is restored, please check your “New” questions lists for any interrupted chat sessions or unanswered email questions.

If you experience any outage after the projected service restoration, please contact your Customer Service Provider for further assistance.

We are sorry for any inconvenience the downtime may cause.
The QuestionPoint Team

QuestionPoint New Release Coming Sunday!

This Sunday morning, August 23, we will install a new QuestionPoint release.  Please see the attached document for details on the release.

QuestionPoint will be brought down at 7:00 a.m. UTC (3:00 a.m. New York; 8:00 a.m. London; 11:00 a.m. Dubai; 12:30 p.m. Delhi; 5:00 p.m. Sydney).  We expect service to be restored within forty-five (45) minutes.  

It is imperative that you end any in-progress chat sessions at least five minutes prior to the scheduled service interruption to avoid sudden communication interruptions to your patrons and potential "hung" sessions. (You will be unable to click on any in-progress sessions to get information to communicate with the patron.) When service is restored, please check your “New” questions lists for any interrupted chat sessions or unanswered email questions.

If you experience any outage after the projected service restoration, please contact your Customer Service Provider for further assistance.

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Release Notes for 23 August 2009

1. New Feature

Qwidget Evolution

Our Qwidget is evolving! With this release, we introduce a more modern, flexible design that also provides clearer distinctions between patron and librarian in the transcript window. A new color palette enables you to choose among more and newer color options; there is also the potential for “power users” to completely customize the colors and color combinations.

Figure 1

· Additional new features are illustrated below, on the set-up page (Fig. 2)

Figure 2

· Pop-out Qwidget: The patron can pop out a separate, floating, resizable window that is persistent and can move with the patron so they don’t “lose” the Qwidget if they change the web page. See the window icon in the upper right corner of the illustrated Qwidget, beside the ‘x’.

· Links to web pages sent by the librarian will open in discrete windows, or tabs, and no longer overwrite the preceding web pages sent.

· Custom sizeability: The library can have a small, medium, or full-size Qwidget, more appropriate to the space allotted it on your web page.

· IP address masking: You can choose to mask even the IP address, to insure total patron anonymity.

· Email options: Libraries can now require the user to enter an email address before a session can be started, or “nudge” them to do so after a session has begun. The nudge would still be voluntary, and the patron can still choose to be “anonymous” (no email attached to the session), if they prefer. When either of these options is selected, an accompanying message box appears for you to enter your message. A default message is provided, but you can choose to enter your own explanation of the option, as you prefer.

· Privacy: The new Qwidget has improved exit-session safeguard, which clears the chat history from the Qwidget. This guards against another patron or PC user reading the transcript at public terminals.

2. Maintenance and Changes

Transparent to our users is a great deal of work that has gone into upgrading several QuestionPoint components to move us toward an updated and more flexible architecture. These upgrades should increase our facility to interoperate with other systems, both OCLC and third party, and to move more quickly when introducing new features. The upgrades have also increased our capacity to handle QuestionPoint’s growing number of users and to improve the interface for our international users.

3. Fixes

3.1 Cannot Submit Q&As to KB from Questions Lists. Users have been unable to submit answered questions to a knowledge base in batch mode, from a questions list. This is now fixed.

3.2 Follow Up by Me not Listed for Follow Up. In certain, rare scenarios, questions with a resolution code Follow Up by Me were not appearing in the chat librarian’s questions list as New. That problem has now been fixed.

3.3 Can send Answer When There Is No E-mail Address. It has been possible in the past to click on the Answer button and appear to have sent an answer to the patron, even though no e-mail address was provided. The librarian will now receive a caution when they open the Full Question page for a question/transcript with no e-mail address.

Patron email is blank

On continuing to the Answer page, the only actions the librarian can take are to Save Draft, Search KB, or Cancel.

3.4 Chat Form Cannot Be Constructed without E-mail Field. It is now possible to create chat forms on which there is no field for an e-mail address.

User Group Meeting, In-Person and Virtual

As most of you know, we have just completed a series of User Group meeting sessions, one in-person session at ALA and three virtual sessions.  One VUG session (recording at http://vidego.multicastmedia.com/player.php?p=son2vp68) was held at a time that would be convenient for European, South African, and Middle East users.  A second session was timed for the western Americas, Australian, and Asian users, and a third session for the Americas.

The agenda and content for all sessions were the same:

• Update on network issues
• Upcoming enhancements and features
• Community update
• Joining a virtual group for referral purposes
• Discussion questions:
  • What would you like to see in a QP reference service using texting/SMS?
  • What do you need to see in library policy pages

Some users present acknowledged that response time problems had improved somewhat over the last few weeks as we continue to tweak the the QP database to optimize it in its new environment.  We will continue to work with this to return QuestionPoint to its remarkably good response-time state before mid-May.

Attendees demonstrated considerable interest in the Qwidget “evolution” by the number of questions they asked, particularly concerning the plans to optimize the Qwidget for operation from an iPhone, Android, and Palm pre.  We’re looking forward to user-librarian reception when we introduce the mobile Qwidget in the next several months.

Our first foray into texting via QuestionPoint also sparked interest and questions.  Using the popular Twitter service—free to all, independent of mobile phone communications providers, and available worldwide—library users with Twitter accounts will be able to “tweet” a question to the library via the library’s Twitter account (posted on the library’s website and, behind the scenes, bound to its QuestionPoint account) and receive a private response back in the same format.  The librarian, however, will be working within the familiar QuestionPoint interface to read and respond to all tweets.

After noting that we have added Peru and Brazil to our list of countries using QuestionPoint, we listed the newest members to the community.  Reinforcing recent posts to this blog and to the QuestionPoint-L list, we also talked about the opportunity for 24/7 Cooperative users to join a virtual group online, so they can refer user misdirected questions to the proper 24/7 library.  Details and step-by-step procedures to join are here: http://questionpoint.blogs.com/questionpoint_247_referen/2009/07/refer-sessions-to-other-coop-members-by-joining-the-247-cooperative-virtual-group.html.

At the in-person meeting at ALA, attendees said the following were the features they most wanted to see in a text-messaging service:

1. Have “texting as a Cooperative”, identifying local library with available policy pages

2. Automatic scripts with categories

3. In Ask mode, separate viewing only email, chat or text messages

4. Send text messages to email for possible further answer/referral

5. Be nimble: compete with ChaCha and KGB

6. Text to speak converter

During the VUG sessions, a couple of libraries in each session remarked on their experiences with a texting (SMS) service.  The experiences they related seem to range from very slightly used to good, steady use.  One attendee noted that their druthers would be to have all enquiry statistics rolled into one service, so they would want to see similar features for SMS and chat.  Another suggested that like chat, they would want SMS as a cooperatively covered intake method, seconding one of the suggestions coming out of the ALA UG meeting.

Suggestions from all four sessions for additional information needed in policy pages included:

• Job hunting info/links to pages and library’s own employment information ; minimum age to work @ library; volunteer policies for library;
• No broken links – last updated note. Make sure all URLs are hyperlinks;
• More dummy library cards. Specify the PIN protocol. Specify how patron should get PIN if it’s forgotten;
• Define library lingo and who can do what: “hold”, “recall”, “reserve”;
• Specify how to locate fulltext articles. Information on how to access e-books and audio books;
• Step-by-step directions on “My Account” area, or provide dummy bar code so librarians can assist patrons;
• Be sure the policy page email contact is filled in – send any corrections to this;
• Be sure and put stuff not on the library web page into the policy page;
• Get your librarians to USE THE POLICY PAGES;
• Library equipment location and use;
• Links to library floor plan, if available online;
• Details of policies of library use (repeating some of what may appear in various places on a library’s web site);
• Policies of lending among campuses in big university systems, such as the University of California;
• How to retrieve/recover passwords;
• Word policy page information as though speaking directly to a patron, since this information is often pasted right into a response;
• Automatic reminder to update policy pages, as they all too quickly become outdated.

We hope all attendees and others who could not attend will be able to join us at our next Virtual User Group meeting, to be scheduled during the fall quarter.  Our next in-person UG meeting will most likely be at ALA Midwinter 2010.  Watch this space for announcements!

OCLC Minority Fellow Opportunity in QuestionPoint

We are delighted to be part of the OCLC Minority Fellowship program for 2010.  Please read the following announcement and spread the word!

Call for Applications for the
2010 OCLC Minority Librarian Fellowship Program

Application deadline: September 8, 2009

OCLC has announced the expansion and increased support of the OCLC Minority Librarian Fellowship program designed to provide a unique opportunity for aspiring library professionals from historically under-represented groups.

OCLC’s Minority Librarian Fellowship offers an opportunity unlike any other. As the world’s leading library cooperative, OCLC offers global exposure through its enterprise-wide product portfolios and operations. OCLC Minority Librarian Fellows will spend time in one of two assigned host units, Metadata Contract Services or QuestionPoint, working on content-specific projects in cataloging or cooperative reference services. In addition, the Minority Librarian Fellows will spend time in the Global and Regional Councils division, with an orientation to OCLC and the OCLC member community, participation in OCLC governance meetings, and opportunities for shared learning experiences with many library and information professionals. Each Fellow will have a unique and specifically tailored experience. More information is available online at:
http://www.oclc.org/us/en/community/careerdevelopment/minorityfellows/
Description of the fellowships
In 2010 there will be two fellowships with different assignments.
Cataloging and Metadata Services
The Cataloging fellow will participate in several Metadata services, including cataloging for client libraries with emphasis on non-English materials, assistance in the selection and cataloging of materials for language sets, quality control work for WorldCat, and CIP upgrades. The opportunity to work with and create NACO authority records, along with exposure to a book vendor warehouse operation is included. This fellow will spend 3-4 months each in Metadata Contract Services, Quality Control, and the Cataloging in Publication Upgrade. (The fellow will spend 8-9 months in Dublin, OH and 3-4 months in Blackwood, NJ.)

Specific requirements:

• Strong interest in specializing in cataloging/technical services
• Fluent reading skills in a language other than English
• Some familiarity with MARC, AACR2, Dewey decimal classification or Library of Congress Classification, Library of Congress subject headings (course work would be acceptable).
• Good communication skills
• Flexibility
• Self-directed

QuestionPoint—Cooperative reference service
The QuestionPoint fellow will have a unique opportunity to help develop an intern/practicum program for MLIS students geared towards virtual reference. The fellow will make contact with MLIS schools in the U.S. and Canada and work with designated faculty or staff to outline areas of possible interest, research, and work within the QuestionPoint platform, cooperative, and databases. The fellow will have a significant role in launching the program and overseeing MLIS interns during the fellowship year.

Specific requirements:

• Strong interest, with significant MLIS coursework or experience, in library reference services
• Strong interest, with significant MLIS coursework or experience, in virtual reference
• Some experience at a reference desk or other public services desk is highly desirable
• Good communication skills
• Flexibility
• Self-directed

Salary and Benefits
· Salary will be very competitive and commensurate with experience and applicable market compensation
· The Fellows will be eligible for health & welfare benefits such as is provided to other similarly situated term-limited employees

· Relocation Assistance will be offered in the form of a lump sum distributed in two installments (50% at signing of offer and 50% after 90 days). The amount of the lump sum will be determined by the distance required for relocation during the term of the fellowship

Eligibility
Listed below are the position requirements:
· ALA-accredited MLS/MLIS or other graduate degree in technology with a special emphasis in libraries or other cultural heritage institutions (granted by January 2010)

· Have less than three years’ post graduate work experience
· Demonstrated awareness and sensitivity in issues of inclusion/diversity: strong awareness of other cultures and viewpoints, appreciation for the benefits of diversity in the workplace and library community, behavior which demonstrates the ability to work with people at all levels and from different backgrounds

· Strong organizational skills which include the ability to organize work plans and processes toward a targeted outcome
· Exceptional communication skills – written, oral, small group presentation
· Selected individual must represent historically underrepresented groups (i.e., defined in a manner consistent with the 2007 EEO-1 reporting classifications)

Applications are initiated by applying to a specific fellowship. The Metadata Services Job ID number is 1763 and the QuestionPoint cooperative reference Job ID 1764, OCLC Minority Librarian Fellowship Program, at the OCLC Careers Center Internet site, www.oclc.jobs, where you will need to create an OCLC candidate profile. The application deadline is Tuesday, September 8, 2009.

IFLA 2009: invitation to virtual reference meeting

Dear QuestionPoint librarians,

If you are attending IFLA in Milan, or if someone from your institution will be attending, please consider joining us for a discussion with your colleagues around the world as we explore the state of virtual reference services today. This will be an opportunity to network and to share your experiences with colleagues,  best practices, and ways to better serve our users.  All are welcome, so please do pass along the invitation to whoever is attending IFLA and would be interested.

The meeting will be held on Monday 24 August, 11.30 – 12.30, at the Hotel Melia Milano, La Palma Room. If you are able to attend, please register here: https://www3.oclc.org/app/ifla_registration/

Please let me know if you have questions about the meeting, and I hope to see you in Milan!

Regards,
Susan

Susan McGlamery
QuestionPoint senior product manager

_{edited to update the meeting room}