QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

Flash Chat Issues

My name is David Leslie, and I work on the QuestionPoint team. I've been helping to organize your feedback for our developers so they can address the Flash Chat pilot issues you’ve raised via the feedback form, webinars, and list serve.

I want to assure you that we’ve read each message and have noted every concern.  We do apologize for any delay in getting back to those of you who asked to be contacted.

Several of the issues raised have already been addressed; the results will be apparent in the install planned for February 12.  An example is the new Patron alert.

We are also working very hard to address the issues you've been having with co-browse during the pilot.  Here are two resources to help you ensure that your workstations are optimized to use Flash Chat.

Several "viewlets", or Flash movies that take you step by step from setting up your browser to working with patrons. You can watch the viewlets using any web browser at

http://www.questionpoint.org/education/index.html

The attached brief checklist of the browser configurations covered by the viewlets as well as how to start a practice session.

BROWSER CONFIGURATIONS CHECKLIST

Network Setup
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Please check with your IT department to see if your network is using a proxy server for your HTTP traffic. If so, please ask them to exempt all traffic from questionpoint.org on port 80.  This is to prevent the proxy server from becoming out of sync with the chat session (which will refresh every 3 to 5 seconds over that port)

Browser Setup
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Currently you must use Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher.  You must also have Microsoft VM installed on your workstation (you should already have this).

A link to the download site is available in the Login Announcements area on your QuestionPoint home page.
1.    Start IE.
2.    Make sure Microsoft VM is enabled. 
a.    Go to Tools/Internet Options/Advanced. 
b.    Make sure Java (Sun) is NOT checked. 
c.    Under Microsoft VM, check the box to enable Java logging and the JIT compiler.
3.    Restart your workstation.

Next, we want to be sure that your browser’s Temporary Internet files or cache is cleared:
1.    Open an IE browser
2.    Click on Tools/Internet Options.
3.    From the Temporary Internet Files section under the General Tab, click on the Settings button.
4.    Click "Every visit to the page," then click OK.
5.    From the Temporary Internet Files section, click the Delete Files button.
6.    Put a check in the "All offline content box," then click OK.
7.    Click OK to close the Options menu.

Starting a Flash Chat Practice session
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1. Log into QuestionPoint

2. Click on 'Flash Chat Pilot'

3. Select Practice Queue Only, click Submit, and close the Queues window.

5. Click on 'Flash Chat Patron Test Form'

6. Submit the practice form

7. From your monitor, click on the Patron

8. Click on co-browse to open the Co-browse window.

To send a page to the patron, fill out the URL and click the ' > '
button

To send a text message, type in the box and then click the Send button.  (In February, you will alternatively by able to press <Enter> on your keyboard. 

To exit co-browse, click on Exit. This does  NOT end the chat session (both the patron and the librarian will be given dialog box alerts)

9. To end the chat session, click on End Session in the lower right of the chat monitor.

Thanks,

David Leslie
Product Implementation & Support Analyst QuestionPoint Team

24/7 Chat transcripts not going into QP

It has come to our attention that 24/7 Chat transcripts stopped flowing into QuestionPoint at approximately 5PM EST on Friday January 20^th, 2006.

All transcripts that should have gone into QRC did appear there, and patrons whose transcript are in QRC, also received their email transcripts.

If you usually use QuestionPoint to take care of your follow-ups, you can see the transcripts that require followup by logging into QP and clicking on “Chat Settings and Info”.  Navigate to the Reports link, and from Summary Reports, choose “All” for the period between Friday evening and now.  You can then view all of the transcripts that came to your service, and sort them by resolution code to see which ones need followup.

We are working now to restore all transcripts to QP, and when they appear there, they will also be emailed to patrons.

We apologize for this inconvenience and will alert you when the mechanism is restored.

Flash Chat Tutorials and Webinars

Online tutorials for the Flash Chat pilot are now available at questionpoint.org.  These tutorials and their companion web sessions comprise a two-part program designed to train you on the configuration and use of the production version of Flash Chat to be released in February

 

After completing the first part of the program by viewing the entire series of tutorials, please initiate the second part by registering for one of the companion web sessions, where you join fellow users to discuss the operation of the new chat interface and its features with a QuestionPoint 24/7 instructor.  Each web session is scheduled for one hour and will focus on questions that you and fellow participants provide to the instructor on the registration form prior to the session.

 

To view the tutorials and register for one of the companion web session, point your browser at:   http://questionpoint.org/education/index.html.

ALA Mid-winter QuestionPoint Presentation and Discussion Sessions

On Monday, January 23, please join Valli Hoski, Continuing Education Librarian from AMIGOS and members of the QuestionPoint 24/7 Reference Team in the OCLC Blue Suite at the Marriott Hotel in San Antonio, Texas as they lead sessions throughout the day on various topics, including features of the new Flash-based chat, e-mail follow-up, and what's planned for future releases of the service.

Specific times and topics are:
9:00 - 10:00 a.m. QuestionPoint 24/7 Chat - Logging onto the Flash-based librarian chat monitor, conducting a chat session with a patron, co-browsing, transferring a chat session, and instant messaging with another librarian.

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. QuestionPoint 24/7 E-mail Follow-up - Chat resolution codes, using e-mail reference to follow up on chat sessions, activating and using shared follow-up, and closing a session.

4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Participation in the QuestionPoint 24/7 Cooperatives - Overview of how the Cooperative works, optimizing QP 24/7 Reference tools for the Cooperative, and maintaining a quality service Each session begins with a short technical demonstration followed by open discussions with the QuestionPoint 24/7 Reference team around the featured topic, the February release, and planned innovations for 2006. So be sure to bring your questions about the operation of the service, the new chat, and our future development plans.

To attend one, two, or all three of these sessions, register now at: http://sporg.com/registration?org_id=34242. Seating is limited. If you have questions about your registration or experience any problems with the form, please contact David Leslie at [email protected] or 1.800.848.5878, extension 5315.

We look forward talking with you in San Antonio

QuestionPoint user group meeting at ALA Midwinter

If you are planning to attend the ALA Midwinter conference in San Antonio, please join us for the QuestionPoint user group meeting. We will discuss the new Flash chat software as well as get feedback from you.

Here are the details:

User Group Meeting: Saturday January 21, 4:00 - 6:00 pm Gonzalez Convention Center, Room 212A In addition to the user group meeting, we will be discussing the software at our program "Delivering Reference Service at the Point of Need with OCLC QuestionPoint". In this session, we will discuss the entire QuestionPoint suite, including chat, integrated question follow up, Global Reference Network, knowledge bases, and 24/7 Reference Cooperative.

Product Presentation Sunday January 22, 4:00 - 6:00 pm La Mansión del Rio, Concepción Room.

To attend one or both of these sessions, register now at: https://www3.oclc.org/app/ala_registration/default.asp

Restoring Inadvertently Deleted "My Scripts"

Dear QuestionPoint subscribers:

Many of you noticed in late December that some of your personal scripts were disappearing.  On January 5 we posted a message to the list serve explaining what had happened and asking you to not make any further deletions to "My Scripts" until today.

Tomorrow morning, about 7:00 a.m. EST, we will restore scripts deleted from My Scripts since December 11.  It is important to understand that this procedure will not replace any of your existing scripts; it will add your scripts back into the system-numbered position they were in before December 11.  If you have since added scripts manually in those positions, the new scripts will remain and the old scripts will not be added.

Because we can automatically only restore to the same position from which a script was deleted, it is possible that some of your deleted scripts cannot be restored.  If after the restore you find that you are still missing a large number of inadvertently deleted scripts, please contact '[email protected]'  We will try to work with you, individually, to complete the restoration of your scripts.

Once again, we are very sorry for this inconvenience and hope that the restore process will take care of most of your missing scripts for you.

Paula Rumbaugh