QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

HTML Chat retirement date is upon us

On September 27, 2009,  at 00:00AM EDT (4:00 UTC/GMT)  QuestionPoint will close a chapter in its history by reitiring the original librarian html chat monitor. We have been messaging this upcoming change for several months, and provided links to information and trainings covering  the flash version of the librarian Chat monitor.(http://www.questionpoint.org/education/index.html) 

As you all know, QuestionPoint has grown considerably in the last 4 years, and it is no longer feasible for us to maintain 2 different chat architectures. The flash-based  chat monitor has been a part of QuestionPoint for 3- ½ years, and current and future development is concentrated on that product.  On Sunday Sept 27^th, all links to the html chat monitor will be removed from the program In addition, all options and schedules for setting up chat coverage via self-managed “virtual cooperative coverage groups”  will be removed.    If your library was using such a group to share chat responsibilities, and you have not yet moved to using Queues and Flash Chat,  you need to contact Carol Bonnefil at bonnefic@oclc.org to review your groups structure and arrange for us to set up a Cooperative Group within the Flash structure OCLC .

No 24/7 Cooperative libraries are affected by this, nor are any previous 24/7 Reference libraries.  In fact, the majority of QuestionPoint libraries have moved to flash chat over the last 2 years. If you do have any doubts about which version of chat you have been using, here is a screenshot of the My QuestionPoint page with the "Launch html chat" link circled and X’d  in Red. That is going away, and you will need to begin using the "Launch Chat" link that is boxed in Green.

ANNOUNCEMENT: QuestionPoint downtime Saturday 25 July

Dear QuestionPoint subscribers:

Please be advised that QuestionPoint will be unavailable this Saturday, 25 July, for a brief time, while we make adjustments to improve system performance. The system will be down for approximately one half hour, from 6:00 - 6:30 a.m. UTC (7:00 - 7:30 a.m. UK; 2:00 - 2:30 a.m. U.S. EDT; 4:00 - 4:30 p.m. Australia ET).

It is imperative that you end any in-progress chat sessions at least two 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 period, please contact your Customer Service Provider for further assistance.

As always, we regret the inconvenience this may cause you and your users. We appreciate your patience.

The QuestionPoint team

ANNOUNCEMENT: QuestionPoint downtime

Dear QuestionPoint subscribers:

Please be advised that QuestionPoint will be unavailable this Sunday, 19 July, for a brief time, while we make adjustments to improve system performance. The system will be down for approximately one half hour, from 6:00 - 6:30 a.m. UTC (7:00 - 7:30 a.m. UK; 2:00 - 2:30 a.m. U.S. EDT; 4:00 - 4:30 p.m. Australia ET).

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.) 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 period, please contact your Customer Service Provider for further assistance.

As always, we regret the inconvenience this may cause you and your users.  We appreciate your patience.

The QuestionPoint team

ANNOUNCEMENT: Must bring QuestionPoint down

Dear QuestionPoint subscribers:
Please be advised that the QuestionPoint service will be brought down tonight, Thursday, April 23, at midnight Eastern Daylight Time (0400 UTC tomorrow morning). We expect the system to be available again within 15 minutes.

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 sessions left in-progress 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 period, please contact your Customer Service Provider for further assistance.

We regret any inconvenience.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Scheduled Maintenance for QuestionPoint

Dear QuestionPoint User:

Please be advised that the QuestionPoint service will be unavailable for the following time period for scheduled maintenance and service. Sunday, 19 April 2009, 0700 UTC (3:00 a.m. EDT) to approximately 0730 UTC (3:30 EDT).

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 sessions left in-progress 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 period, please contact your Customer Service Provider for further assistance.

We regret any inconvenience.
The QuestionPoint Team

Internet Explorer 8, Java and QuestionPoint

As many of you are aware, Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8)to the public.

During our tests with IE 8 and QuestionPoint, we found that the combination of Internet Explorer 8 and the Microsoft Virtual Machine (MSVM) is not compatible with our cobrowse functionality. If you use chat and want to use cobrowsing in any transactions, and your Virtual Machine is set to use MSVM (as opposed to Sun Java) please do not upgrade to IE 8.

The following combinations of Internet Explorer and Java engine have been successfully tested with our cobrowse functionality.

Browser	Java version
Internet Explorer 6	Microsoft Java Virtual Machine
Internet Explorer 6	Sun Java Version 6 Update 7
Internet Explorer 7	Microsoft Java Virtual Machine
Internet Explorer 7	Sun Java Version 6 Update 7
Internet Explorer 8	Sun Java Version 6 Update 7

Note Sun Java Version 6 is supported up to Update 7.

If you have any questions about setting up Java with IE, please see the QuestionPoint Guide to IE browser setup at http://questionpoint.org/support/documentation/gettingstarted/chatsetup.pdf.

Note that the setting for IE 7 and IE 8 are the same.

If you have any questions about IE 8, you can learn more at http://www.microsoft.com/ie

QuestionPoint webinar: Take a Second Look

QuestionPoint is a unique reference management service that provides tools for libraries to interact with their users (chat and e-mail), enhanced by the global network of QuestionPoint libraries worldwide. Membership in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative is available, which provides libraries with the ability to provide live chat reference services to their users, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

On January 21, come and join us to learn how QuestionPoint helps you and your users:

• Take the library to the user
• Open more doors to your library
• 24/7 help for 24/7 resources
• Integrated management of your reference services
• Provide the best answers from experts around the world, or within your network

We’ll also demo some of the major improvements, including the new look and feel for the flash chat interface.

Plus, find out special offers for new and current QuestionPoint users for a limited time!

Register today! This live webinar is free and open to everyone. Registration is easy, and online at the following webpage:

https://www3.oclc.org/app/request/bin/request.asp?specialCode=QP090121

ANNOUNCEMENT: Brief downtime Sunday

Dear QuestionPoint Subscribers:

Please be advised that the QuestionPoint service will be unavailable for the following time period so we can perform  scheduled maintenance and service: Sunday morning, January 11, 0800 GMT to 0830 GMT.

Please make sure to end any in-progress chat sessions prior to that time to avoid sudden communication interruptions to your patrons. 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 period, please contact your Customer Service Provider for further assistance.

As always, we regret any inconvenience.
Regards,
The QuestionPoint Team

Latest SUN Java 1.6.0_11 download incompatible with cobrowse in QuestionPoint

Dear QuestionPoint Users:

This alert concerns librarians who use cobrowsing in QuestionPoint’s Flash chat.

If you use cobrowse while chatting, please be advised that Sun has released a new version of the Java engine. (JRE 1.6.0_11) 

In testing, we have discovered that this latest version is NOT compatible with cobrowsing on the librarian side. If you download and install this new version, your cobrowse window may open normally with viewport and active buttons, but any attempts to send pages to patrons from the Cobrowse window will fail.  Although the patron’s cobrowse window also looks normal, they won’t receive any pages sent from the Cobrowse screen and eventually the session will founder, with various cobrowse opening and closing messages.  Chat will continue as normal, but you won’t be able to close cobrowse and resume pushing pages.

Patrons with the new version of Java CAN successfully participate in a cobrowse session with a librarian who has not upgraded to the new Java version.

Here are our recommendations:

If your IT department requires you to use the new Java engine or has already downloaded it, you shouldn’t attempt to cobrowse.

If you wish to resume cobrowsing capability, you can choose from the following options:

1) Download an older version of the Sun Java engine and overwrite your new version. Here is a link to an archived version of Sun Java that we do support: http://java.sun.com/products/archive/j2se/6u5/index.html

or

2) XP and Windows 2000 users can also use the older Microsoft VM, a link to which is available from your “My QuestionPoint” home page.  If you choose to use the Microsoft VM, you will have to download it, (if you don’t still have it from years ago on your computer) and then choose to use it from “Tools>Internet Options>Advanced  menus in Internet Explorer.    You should check the Microsoft VM only and uncheck the Java VM if you choose this method.

If your IT department doesn’t require you to download this latest Sun Java, just disregard the periodic upgrade messages that you may be receiving from Sun and stick with the older version until you hear otherwise from us about compatibility.  We are not sure at present, if / when we will be able to address this issue!

Brief install tonight

Dear QuestionPoint subscribers:

We wanted you to know that tonight we will be implementing a change to the way a new patron arrives in the chat interface.  In the new version installed last Sunday, every time a new patron arrived and was acknowledged, the New tab became active again.  This will no longer happen: whatever tab is active for you at the time you click OK will still be your active tab.

We expect no downtime with this change tonight.

A couple of other points to make:

1.  If you mouse over the clock, you will see the date and time.  So now you have access to both time elapsed since you logged on (or refreshed your monitor) and the date/time of day of the QuestionPoint server.

2.  A new option installed on Sunday enables you to obtain more information to help you and us troubleshoot any problems you encounter.  With your cursor on the monitor, right click and look, especially, at the "About" option.  This shows information about your system that is helpful in pinning down certain problems.  A Copy to Clipboard button makes it easy to copy all the contents so you can paste them into an email or document.  Please report this information, if you can, when reporting problems to our support folks.

3.  Viewlets on the chat interface have been updated!  To review, offline, how to use the chat interface, go to the training page at http://questionpoint.org/education/index.html.and look at the tutorials.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Paula Rumbaugh and the QP Team