QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

Digital Reference Summit: Be Where Your Users Are

WebJunction recently presented a 90 minute webinar on digital reference, with featured speakers Stephen Francoeur, Information Services Librarian, Baruch College (NY); Susan McGlamery, 24/7 Reference Cooperative Director; and Alison Miller, Internet Public Library.  The program was presented on September 30 via a Wimba webinar, and had over 323 registrants, 196 attendees, and over 60 tweets.

You can view the recording and get more information here: http://www.webjunction.org/virtual-reference/-/articles/content/82380665

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}

Please Do Not Use Reports and Service History

We are reindexing QuestionPoint reports and archived service history data tonight to improve performance.  The indexing will take place between 9:00 p.m. U.S. EDT 31 July and Midnight U.S. EDT 1 Aug (01:00 – 04:00 GMT 1 Aug).

In order to complete the indexing as quickly as possible, we request that QuestionPoint users refrain from clicking on the “Reports” or “Service History” links between hours noted above. 

QuestionPoint Ask and Chat modules are otherwise unaffected and can be operated as usual.

Thank you for your cooperation.

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 down time this Thursday, July 9th

Dear QuestionPoint Users:

Please be advised that the QuestionPoint service will be unavailable from 0800 UTC (4:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, 1:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 9:00AM UK, 6:00PM AU) Thursday July 9 , to approximately 0930 UTC (5:30 a.m. EDT, 10:30 AM UK, 7:30PM AU) as a result of unscheduled but necessary maintenance. It is imperative that you end any in-progress chat sessions at least two minutes prior to the 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.)

You may begin to try to log in as early as 60 minutes after the stoppage, but rest assured that we will email this listserv to alert you that the program is available, as soon as service is restored.

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.

Regards,
The QuestionPoint Team

ANNOUNCEMENT: Brief Downtime Tonight

Dear QuestionPoint User:

We are aware that some users are experiencing sluggish response times and occasional disconnects while using the chat monitor.  We plan to install a fix for the performance issue tonight, June 24 EDT.  Please be advised that the QuestionPoint service will be unavailable for approximately 30 minutes, from 01:00 UTC, June 25 (9:00 p.m. EDT, June 24) to 01:30 UTC (9:30 p.m. 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 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.
We apologize for the inconvenience this is likely to cause.

Regards
The QuestionPoint Team

QuestionPoint downtime this Sunday June 21

Dear QuestionPoint users:

Please be advised that the QuestionPoint service will be unavailable Sunday morning, June 21, from 6:00 UTC (2:00 AM EDT) to approximately 8:00 UTC (4:00 AM 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 in-progress sessions to get information to communicate with the patron.)

It is possible that service will be restored sooner than scheduled; you may begin trying to login as early as 7:00 UTC (3:00 EDT) if you wish. When service is restored, please check your New questions lists for any interrupted chat sessions or unanswered email questions. An email announcement will be sent to the QuestionPoint listserv after service has been restored.

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

We are sorry for the inconvenience to our users.
Regards,
Your QuestionPoint team

ANNOUNCEMENT: QuestionPoint down time this Sunday, 7 June

Please be advised that as part of the previously announced system-wide maintenance for OCLC services, the QuestionPoint service will be unavailable from 5:00 UTC (1:00 EDT) to approximately 11:00 UTC (7:00 EDT) Sunday June 7.

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.)

It is possible that service will be restored sooner than scheduled; you may begin trying to login as early as 9:00 UTC (5:00 EDT) if you wish. When service is restored, please check your “New” questions lists for any interrupted chat sessions or unanswered email questions.

An email announcement will be sent to the QuestionPoint listserv after service has been restored.

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 to our users.

Regards
The QuestionPoint Team

Do Not Use QP Reports and Service History

QuestionPoint “Reports” links and “Service History” links to the archived stats and transcripts  are currently experiencing technical difficulties.

In order to fix the problem as quickly as possible, we request that QuestionPoint users refrain from clicking on “Reports” or “Service History” until we send an “all clear” message, or until Thursday morning May 28.

QuestionPoint Ask, and Chat modules are otherwise unaffected and can be operated as usual.

Thank you for your cooperation in helping us rectify this problem.

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.