QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

Quality Tip: “Reject” when you need to say “Look at this!”

Have you ever inadvertently coded a session with an incorrect Resolution Code when staffing the Cooperative?  The resolution code you select has consequences, as follows:

Answered:  session will appear in the patron library Active question list

Follow Up by Patron Library:  session will appear with a ? (red question mark), in both the patron library’s New and Active list

Lost Call:  session will appear in the Closed list (and not in the Active question list)

Most libraries tend to look at the New list first, because that list contains all sessions that need following up.  This includes any chat sessions coded Follow Up by Patron Library as well as new email questions and sessions where a patron has sent a reply to a previous librarian response.  Then, if there is time, the library will look at the Active list.  Very often, no one looks at the Closed list.

If you intend to code a chat session for follow up, but accidently code it as Answered or Lost Call, then the Patron library may not realize that their patron is expecting more information.  Unfortunately, you can’t change the Resolution Code of a session after the fact, but you can bring a session to the Patron Library’s attention by using the Reject feature.  Reject will change the status of the question to New, so that it will now appear in the Patron Library’s New list, with a red question mark.  

Only use Reject if follow up is needed and you did not use the Follow Up resolution code.  You do not need to use Reject if you *did* use the Follow Up resolution code, or if no follow up is needed (in other words, if you meant to code a session as answered and you accidently used Lost Call, there is no need to Reject the session).  You may, however, wish to add a Librarian Note, from the chat monitor.

Webinars: Best Practices in Virtual Reference, Spring/Summer 2013

Please join us for these upcoming webinars in our popular series on Best Practices in Virtual Reference. All webinars are free, and they’ll be recorded and posted on the QuestionPoint website for future viewing. Each webinar begins at Noon Eastern Time (-4 UTC) and lasts approximately one hour.

- Register for the meeting

- You will get a confirmation email with instructions for joining the meeting

1. Engaging with Patrons Online: June 14

What makes a chat session good and what makes a chat session exceptional? How do you know you’re truly helping a patron? Sometimes it’s not always clear from working with a patron in a virtual setting to know when you have satisfied their request. There has been a large amount of research done on how to reach and engage with patrons in that online environment. Carla Pfahl, Coordinator of AskMN (Minnesota’s statewide virtual reference service), and Merrie Davidson, Social Sciences Librarian and fellow AskMN librarian at the University of St. Thomas, will look at how to conduct a reference interview and what makes an exceptional reference transaction.

Date: June 14 at Noon, Eastern Time (UTC –4)

To register for this meeting:

- Go to

https://oclc.webex.com/oclc/j.php?ED=200677787&RG=1&UID=0&RT=MTgjMTE%3D

- Register for the meeting

- You will get a confirmation email with instructions for joining the meeting

2. Chasing the Sun: a 24/7 chat service by medical librarians for health professionals: July 2

The Chasing the Sun service enables health professionals to contact a medical librarian whenever help is required in using information resources after normal library hours. Although most hospital-based health professionals have 24/7 online access to a collection of bibliographic databases and full text products via their library services, but sometimes expert help is needed to use the resources or to perform a search outside of normal business hours. Chasing the Sun was started by medical librarians in Australia and England to take advantage of global time differences and offer out-of-hours librarian support for health professionals, in a cost-effective way. Join Mary Peterson, SA (South Australia) Health Library Network Knowledge Manager to find out more ... and, if you are a medical librarian, how your library can join this global cooperative group!

Date: July 2 at Noon, Eastern Time (UTC –4)

To register for this meeting:

- Go to

https://oclc.webex.com/oclc/j.php?ED=200678197&UID=481807147&RT=MTgjMTE%3D

- Register for the meeting

- You will get a confirmation email with instructions for joining the meeting

Stay tuned for additional webinars in the series!

Quality Tip: Harvard Referencing? Look at the Policy Page!

Academic students often have questions related to citing their sources, and it’s important to ascertain which citation style the students need.  In the U.S. the most common citation styles are APA, MLA and Chicago Style.  In the UK, a popular style is Harvard referencing.  The chief distinction with Harvard referencing is there are no footnotes.  Instead, partial citations— for example (Smith 2010, p. 1)—are enclosed within parentheses and embedded in the text, either within or after a sentence.  The list of full citations, or “references”, appear in an end section, in alphabetical order.  

While you can find style guides for Harvard referencing on the web, be cautious!  There are two main styles of Harvard referencing:  author-date and author-title, with variations.  Several UK universities use a modified version of Harvard which varies by school.  Students must use the version of Harvard approved by their school.   So, when helping a student with formatting citations, be sure to determine the citation format required.  If the student says “Harvard”, please consult the library’s policy page!  The University of the West of England, for example, has a nice web page (linked from their policy page) specifically designed to help students format their citations based on UWE-specific citation principles.  Open University also has a link to their specific Harvard reference guidelines – which are different from UWE – in the Alerts section of their policy page.

Following the correct referencing guidelines is important:  UWE had a formal complaint this year because a student failed coursework having been given incorrect referencing information.  If in doubt, be sure to code the session for Follow Up, so the patron library can provide the correct information.   This is preferable to the chatting librarian sending an incorrect guide, and having the student rely on this to their detriment.

Don’t just give the students a guide – give them the correct guide, and to do that, consult the library’s policy page. 

Quality Tip: Transfer Tips

Last week’s Quality Tip discussed using the importance of sending an IM message FIRST, as part of the transfer process.  This week we’ll look in more detail at who you can transfer to, and when it’s appropriate to do so.

The general rule is when you pick up a patron, stick with him.  Thanks to our Policy Pages, most questions – even local ones – can be handled by any librarian in the Cooperative.  But there are times when transferring will result in better service to the patron, such as the following scenarios:

1. You (the chatting librarian) suddenly have an emergency and must end the session.  Rather than leave the patron in the lurch, find another librarian monitoring the Cooperative queues who is not already busy and send an IM requesting permission to transfer.  If you don’t have time for that, or the Coop librarian doesn’t respond to your IM, then transfer the session to the After Hours queue.  Note:  Be sure a librarian is monitoring the Cooperative before transferring a Coop question!  If the librarian is monitoring less than 50 queues, she probably isn’t monitoring the Cooperative (she may just be monitoring her local service).
2. End of shift:  generally you should try to finish the session or offer the patron the option of a follow-up from the local library.  However, if the session is not at a good stopping point and you must leave, transfer to a librarian monitoring the Cooperative.  Note:  if you are ending your shift, chances are many of the other Coop librarians are too.  Try to pick someone who is (1) monitoring the Coop queues and (2) hasn’t been logged in for long – a good indication that person has just started their shift, rather than just ending it.
3. Patron does need very local information (and you can find nothing on the policy page or via a web search) and you see the local librarian online, then send that local librarian an IM message and see if they are available for transfer. 
4. Academic librarian with a public patron/public librarian with an academic patron: Transfer is possible to any librarian monitoring the same queues that you are.  Some Coop groups do cross-sector monitoring, in other words academic librarians monitor for their state’s public queues, and vice versa. For example, an easy way for an academic librarian to see if any public librarians are available for transfer:
1. Go to the Librarians Tab
2. Click the Queue column header to sort by queue.  This will sort all public librarians at the top and all academic libraries following
3. Send an IM to the librarian you’ve selected, to get permission for the transfer.

For more detail on IM and Transfer policies, see the 24/7 Policies, section 5.3.  If you’d like more information on how the QP IM and Transfer works, see the QP Tutorials on our Training page.

Quality Tip: Jumping in/out of chat sessions

Sometimes chatting librarians are so eager to end their shift that they transfer their current session to another librarian without bothering to send a preliminary IM message to their “target” librarian.  We call this a blind transfer and it can be disruptive, as the target librarian is taken by surprise.  On the other hand, there are librarians so anxious to help their own patrons that they jump into on-going sessions with their patron – without warning the original chatting librarian.  While at first glance these two situations seem diametrically opposed (in the first case the librarian is anxious to leave, in the other case anxious to join in), both reveal a lack of courtesy to the chatting librarian – and the patron.

QuestionPoint has a backchannel IM, available to each QP librarian. Click on the IM tab in your chat monitor and you can send (and receive) chat messages to or from any librarian who is monitoring the same chat queues.  Consider these best practices if you must leave your current session, or are ready to join a session currently in progress with another librarian:

If you are with a patron but need to leave, you can transfer that patron to another librarian -  but ask the librarian recipient first, via IM.   You can send the IM message as part of the transfer process:  there is a link to IM once you click the Transfer tab.   See Section 5.3 of the Policies for best practices regarding transferring sessions.

If, on the other hand, you are tempted to jump into a session currently in progress with another librarian, be sure to first check with the chatting librarian who is currently handling the session, via IM.  Usually the chatting librarian will be happy to transfer the session to you, and this will free him or her up to pick up another patron.  We’ve added a new policy to cover “jumping in”: Section 5.4: http://wiki.questionpoint.org/w/page/13839422/247-Policies#54nbspJumpingintoSessions

For more information on the mechanics of IM and Transfer, please view our tutorial: http://www.oclc.org/support/training/portfolios/discovery/questionpoint/tutorials/using-im-and-xfr.en.html , and take a look at our blog posting from March 12 as well.

Quality tip: IM and Transfer for Cooperative librarians

One of the Top 10 Quality issues of 2012 relates to IM/Transfer:  the chatting librarian either (1) incorrectly transferred a chat, (2) transferred a chat without using IM first or (3) the librarian should have offered the transfer option but did not.

QuestionPoint’s IM feature is a backchannel chat that enables librarians to chat with any other librarian monitoring the same queues. It’s important to know how the QP IM works so that you can send and receive messages with other Coop librarians and QP Backup staff.  IM is used whenever a librarian wants to transfer a patron to you (or if you want to transfer a patron to another librarian).  It is also used by the Backup librarians as a way to communicate with Cooperative librarians who may not be picking up patrons. 

To send or reply to an IM message, you must use the IM tab in the QP librarian chat monitor.  The IM tab is next to the Patron Chat tab.  Here is the process to follow when a librarian sends you an IM session:

1.  An alert will pop up accompanied by a sound.

2.  Click the “Close” button in the alert box, to dismiss the alert.

3.  Click the IM tab. 

4.  Click on the name of the person who sent you the message in the “My Active IM Sessions” list. (this can be found in the lower left part of your screen)

5.  This will open a session between you and the librarian who sent the message.  You can now read the IM message in the transcript box.

6.  Type your response in the Message box, then press the Enter key or click Send

For a nice demonstration of how the IM works , take a look at this video prepared by Jaclyn McKewan, coordinator of Ask Us 24/7 (our NY state cooperative group). The group uses this in their training to illustrate how to contact other librarians who are concurrently monitoring chat and how to transfer a session. IM and Transfer

For further information:

Documentation: http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/support/questionpoint/C_003_qp_flashchat_im_transfer_guide.pdf

24/7 Policies on IM and Transfer: http://wiki.questionpoint.org/w/page/13839422/247-Policies#53TransferringSessions

QuestionPoint install Feb. 24, 2013 7:00 UTC (2:00 a.m. EST) to approximately 8:00 UTC (3:00 a.m. EST)

We will be installing a QuestionPoint features upgrade this Sunday, February, 24, 2013.

 Please be advised that the QuestionPoint service will be unavailable for the following time period: from 7:00 UTC (2:00 a.m. EST) to approximately 8:00 UTC (3:00 a.m. EST).  Release notes are available here. It is imperative that you end any in-progress chat sessions at least one minute 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.)

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

Release Notes for February 24, 2013 install

February 24, 2012 Release Notes 

1        Improvements

1.1       Notification emails to librarians

Three important automatic email notifications sent to librarians have been updated to include additional account information.

New librarian account email notification, “Question assigned” email notification, and “Question reassigned” email notification now all include the librarian name, and account number of the addressee, and Library name with which the account is affiliated, in order to help librarians with multiple accounts at different institutions or SUPs clearly understand where and how to log in to handle the issue being raised by the email.

1.2       New explanatory text added to QuestionPoint Qwidget code snippet

It has come to our attention that when Qwidget code is copied and pasted into various communication tools (Word, Outlook, etc.)  to forward to webmasters for inclusion on client websites, or directly into certain Content Management interfaces, certain characters necessary to the functionality of the code such as quotation marks, can become corrupted or converted into “Smart quotes”.  To remind those who are working with the content management or interface tools to check the quotation marks and return them to “plain text” quotation marks, the following explanation has been added to the code snippet:

<!-- NOTE - After pasting the code to your page, check it to ensure it does not contain any text formatting such as smart or curly quotation marks.-->

Please note that it is NOT necessary for existing Qwidget code on any of your websites to be changed, updated, or altered to include this explanation. It is purely informational; to help the web designers insert new code correctly for new Qwidgets.

2        Fixes

2.1       “Custom Message” settings in the Admin module are now applied to “email pilot” clients .

If your library is configured to allow the use of an email address for patrons to submit new questions into QuestionPoint, confirmations, responses and notification emails outgoing from QuestionPoint to those newly submitted questions will now apply the custom messages configured in the Admin module.

2.2       Translation

A number of QuestionPoint email notifications and various terms in QuestionPoint have received updated entities, to facilitate or clarify terminology or grammar used in other languages.

3        24/7 Reference Cooperative

3.1       Quality comments are now private.

When sessions are referred to Quality, the notes or comments included in the referral are now private and only visible to the Quality team, the librarian who submitted the referral, and the admins of the patron’s library.    All concerned parties can see that the referral has occurred by virtue of the yellow “referred” bar in the question detail in “Review transcripts”, but comments remain private.

4        Website Update

On March 2^nd, as part of an overall OCLC upgrade, QuestionPoint’s Support, Documentation and Training website will be migrating to a new domain and structure.

4.1       www.questionpoint.org

www.questionpoint.org will continue to function as an information landing page for current users. All of the subject informational pages, such as Documentation, Support, Training, etc. will have new URLS under oclc.org/support directories.  Bookmarked pages will be redirected to these new pages, and you will be able to access them via www.questionpoint.org  as well. 

No links to KB, patron forms, Qwidget code links, Librarian and patron logins, or any other pages that access the QuestionPoint application will be affected by this transition!  All URLs to the QuestionPoint application itself will remain as is.

We expect to have a seamless experience for our users after the migration, but if you experience any difficulty accessing previously bookmarked material, or if you are uncertain as to where to go for QuestionPoint information, please contact us via our feedback form: https://www.oclc.org/forms/questionpoint/feedback.en.html

Top 10 Quality Comments of 2012

It’s time again for the annual list of the most commonly reported comments sent to our Quality Team. In 2012, Quality received comments 528 transcripts: 319 (60%) related to sessions handled by librarians from Coop libraries and 209 (40%) related to sessions handled by QP Backup librarians. In addition to these 528 sessions, we received an additional 89 sessions sent to compliment the outstanding work of the chatting librarian.  To put this in perspective, the Cooperative (including QP Backup librarians) handled 367,128 chat sessions in 2012, so 528 represents 0.14% of the total.

The list below reflects the most commonly reported issues in these 528 sessions (some sessions had multiple issues), listed in order of frequency:

1. Policy Page

Librarian does not check the policy page. This inference arises when the information provided in session by the librarian either ignores or contradicts the information provided on the patron library’s policy page. This was also the most often reported issue in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

2. Resolution Code

Incorrect resolution code is assigned. Examples: incorrect use of the “Lost Call” code; librarian coding a session as “Answered” when telling the patron that another librarian will follow up; librarian coding a session for “Follow Up” when patron did not leave an email address.

3. Reference Conversation

Librarian does not properly clarify the question or otherwise engage in the “reference interview”, thus risking miscommunication with the patron.

4. Incorrect information was provided in the session.

In addition to factual errors, this issue refers to any type of "incorrect" piece of information provided during the chat. This issue is often used in conjunction with other issues, for instance if the librarian provides incorrect information regarding a library policy (many times, this happens when the chatting librarian provides an answer based on his own library policies rather than those of the patron’s library: we may code this issue as both “policy page” and “incorrect info”). It also applies if the librarian says "Your librarians have not given me the ability to access your databases, so I cannot help you" but the library did provide a barcode number on the policy page. Or, if a librarian told the patron to use the Academic Search Premier database but the library doesn't subscribe to any EBSCO databases.

5. Contact/Followup Option (tie with No Searching)

With questions of a local nature, the Cooperative librarian may be unable to provide a complete answer to the patron. This is almost always the case when patrons have circulation issues, problems with their library card, etc. Unfortunately, some librarians tell the patron to “contact your library” rather than giving the patron the option to call the library (in which case the chatting librarian should provide the correct phone number, as per the policy page) or offering to code the session for Follow Up.

5. No Searching (tie with Contact/Followup Option) 

The librarian sent a question to Followup or ended the call without attempting a specific search for the information.  Examples include: patron queries whether the library owns a known item and the librarian tells patron to contact the library rather than searching the library catalog and/or databases.

-- Compliments!! --

6. Patron Info (tie with Source Choice)

Librarian should have checked the patron information section to find out the patron's location. For example, the librarian may have asked the patron, "What library do you use?" when the patron already indicated his preferred branch. It is better to ask, "Is ___ your library?"

This code is also used when the librarian does not review the Patron Info tab in the chat monitor and thus fails to note the patron’s library. Example: librarian assumes a New York customer is a patron of New York Public Library although the Patron Info tab reveals that patron is affiliated with another library in New York State.

6. Source Choice (tie with Patron Info)

This issue arises when librarian could have sent better sources (i.e. more authoritative, more current, more appropriate to the patron's level). For example: Librarian does a Google search or sends a wikipedia article for queries that could better be handled by reference to the library’s online databases or catalog.

7.  Tone/Phrasing

The chatting tone of the librarian affected the quality of the session, or, the librarian used negative phrasing .

8. Abrupt Ending

Ended session abruptly without a natural closure to the conversation or when the patron still seemed to need help.

9. Goodbye (tie with Transfer/IM)

The wrong goodbye message was sent (chatting librarian sent their own library's goodbye message rather than patron library goodbye message).

9. Transfer/IM (tie with Goodbye)

When librarian either (1) incorrectly transferred a chat; (2) transferred a chat without using IM first; or (3) the librarian should have offered the transfer option but did not. 

10.  Hello

Librarian did not use a hello message that conforms to guidelines listed in the Best Practices.

A plea to the Cooperative: Help us with Quality!

Thanks to all for using the 24/7 Reference quality process! By sending sessions to Quality, you not only help us provide guidance when needed to the Coop librarians, but you also help us track issues both for individual libraries and the Cooperative as a whole. And, if you think a Cooperative librarian has done a nice job with one of your patrons’ questions, please send the compliment to Quality. We will pass the compliment along to the chatting librarian, and this helps us keep track of our star libraries. So, don’t hesitate to send a compliment – we love passing those along!

How to send a session to Quality:

In the Ask a Librarian (Ask) module, click the Review Transcripts tab. When viewing the full text of the session, click the “Send to Quality Control” button. Type in any concerns or compliments in the text box, and click submit. The Quality Team will receive your comment with the full transcript, and will respond.

If you have questions about quality, don’t hesitate to email me at mcglames@oclc.org

Quality Tip: “Just send me something” vs. BI

Impatient patrons, particularly busy students facing a looming deadline, may not be receptive to bibliographic instruction.  While best practices suggest that librarians should find teachable moments and instruct patrons on how to access library resources for themselves, this is not always possible with patrons in a hurry. In the session below, the librarian is faced with an impatient student working on a school assignment.  Sometimes, students just want the librarian to email some articles, as in the case with this session:

Patron:  the effect of height on speed of tumbling in gymnastics

Patron:  Please hurry, my class starts soon

Librarian: Hi, [patron name]!

Librarian: My name is [librarian’s name]. I am a librarian who is helping to answer questions for your library. I am reading what you wrote to see how I can help you...

Librarian:  Would this be the height of the gymnast?

Patron:  yes the height of the gymnast

Librarian: I'm seeing what I can find.

Patron:  it's for the science fair project

Librarian: Okay.  Are you thinking that you would need to test this out?

Patron:  i need to find specific articles that support the hypothesis that shorter gymnasts tend to do better

Librarian: Ah, okay

Patron: and yes i need to test them out

Librarian: http://coachesinfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=182:gymnastics-isbs-biomechanical&catid=62:gymnastics-isbs&Itemid=108

Librarian: Let me take a look at some databases...

Librarian: [librarian sends link to library databases]

Librarian:  These can be accessed with a library card number...

Librarian: Okay,  see if you can click on the Science Reference Center at the bottom...

Librarian:  "Science magazines, and more! (EBSCO's Science Reference Center)"

Librarian: I did a search for: gymnastics AND height

[librarian sends link to an article matching search results]

Librarian: Can you see this article?

Patron: yes

Librarian: "Short bodies and limbs are also easier to spin fast and flip through curves, which is why most gymnasts, figure skaters and ballet dancers are smaller than average."

Librarian: Does that help?

Librarian: It also mentions weight

Librarian: "Daintier athletes fare best at sports such as ultra-distance running and gymnastics, where their superior power to weight ratio gives them an advantage."

Librarian: Can I help you with anything else?

Patron: thanks :)

Patron:  I am trying to email the article to myself but it won’t work. Can you send me this article to my email?  I have to go, class is starting

Librarian: And is your email: <rpatron’s email> ?

Patron:  yes! Thank you!

[patron disconnects]

Librarian: Okay, you will get this transcript sent to your email

[ Librarian adds note to session that she has emailed the article to patron]

Librarian: Thanks for using our service! If you need help with anything else, just contact us again. Goodbye for now...

In this case, the librarian started the reference conversation by clarifying the request to determine what the student needs.  Next, the librarian did a focused web search to pull up anything that would help the student with the science fair project – information the student could use to “test it out”.  Then the librarian went to the databases of the patron’s library to show the patron (1) which database to use and (2) a suggested search strategy. 

This busy student asked the librarian to email the article, and the librarian did so.  When is this ok?  As with many reference situations, the answer is dependent on circumstances.  In this case, the librarian had made sure the student was aware of his library’s databases and how to locate articles on point.  The librarian emailed an article that the student had access to – in other words, the librarian did not send an article from her own (chatting librarian) database, which the student would not have access to.  So, in this situation, it is fine for the librarian to email an article directly to the student.

Questions about quality? Email mcglames@oclc.org