New Features/Improvements
1. Qwidget
1.1 Notifications to chatting librarian regarding patron email addresses.Two new incident notifications have been added to the Librarian chat interface to help alert chatting librarians to the fact that Patrons have entered an email address.
The first notification: “Patron has added an email address” will appear in the librarian’s chat monitor as part of an in-progress chat session with a Qwidget patron who has added their email address after the session has begun. This will alert the chatting librarian that he or she doesn’t have to request an email address from a patron in order to allow the possibility of the patron’s library follow-up with that patron.
Ex 1:
The second notification: “Patron has chosen to remain anonymous (no email address available for follow-up)” will serve as confirmation that although the patron may have entered an email address in order to receive a transcript at the conclusion of a Qwidget session, they have also chosen NOT to reveal that email address to QuestionPoint.
Ex 2:
This means that the library will not have an email address as part of the record, to use for any follow-up purposes. The incident is displayed to the chatting librarian so that he or she will be aware that follow-up will not be possible if that anonymous check box stays checked. The “anonymous” check box can be changed while the session is in progress however, so the incident may also serve as a point of conversation between the librarian and patron, to help the patron decide whether he or she wants to change the option and include the email address without anonymity in order to allow follow-up if necessary.
The email address is still not visible to the chatting librarian in the patron information area of the chat monitor, but the new notifications in the chat history will serve as an alert that the email address is at least in play for the session follow-up capability.
1.2 Customizable confirmation of email sent from “closed” Qwidget
Patrons who send an email message from the Closed Qwidget screen will now see a confirmation message for approximately 10 seconds after their question has been submitted:
The default message is: “Thank you. Your question has been submitted”. This message can be customized from within theQuestionPoint Admin module.
1.3 Multiple Qwidgets allowed on the same webpage.
Version 3 of our popular “Qwidget” chat widget is now available. By upgrading your Version 2 Qwidget or downloading the newly-revised Version 3 Qwidget code, you can now host up to 5 Qwidgets on one webpage. Some examples of why this was a highly desired feature:
- libraries with multiple SUPs can have several different Subject Qwidgets co-exist on the same webpage;
- “Banner” Qwidgets can display across all of the pages on your site if desired and not impact your embedded LibGuides Qwidgets;
- Multiple language Qwidgets can simultaneously display on one page, if you have bi-lingual WebPages.
2 Email pilot expanded
We have successfully concluded the first phase of the recent “QuestionPoint via email service” pilot, and are happy to announce that more libraries will be invited to participate in offering this feature. If your library is interested allowing patrons to submit reference questions to your library using a simple email address in addition to your web-based “email form”, please contact Carol Bonnefil ([email protected]) for more details.
3 Searches/Reports/Reviews
3.1 Label change on Review Transcripts: Form Field Reports
On the Form Field Reports selection page, the item of “Question Form link” in the drop-down box of types of reports available has been changed to “Webform/Email” to better describe all of the types of questions included in that report. Choosing “Webform/Email” will produce a list of all of the questions submitted using the QuestionPoint “email form” as well as questions submitted to your library’s QuestionPoint email address (a new service currently in Pilot phase. See section 1.2 )
3.2 Label change on Search Transcripts, Transaction Type Limiter:
On the Advanced Search screen of Search Transcripts in the Ask Module, the Transaction Type limiter “Email Transaction Only” has been changed to reflect the actual search function limiter of “Email/Webform/Walk-up (Add Question) only”.
4 Policy Page formatting explanation added
On the Policy Page edit field (available to Admins and Ask Admins in the Profile Module), and explanation of how to create hot-links to URLs within the fields has been added:
“Add angle brackets to any URL to convert to a hyperlink, except where noted in specific field instructions.”
This will remind librarians that html complicated html tags are not necessary to convert URLs to hotlinks. Except for where noted in a particular field, the addition of left and right angle brackets at the beginning and end of a URL, respectively, < >, will convert it to a hotlink on the actual Policy Page display.
5 Transcript exports
A new custom feature is available for libraries that wish to continuously export their transcripts into their own hosted environments. Using S-FTP, transcripts can be exported to a remote self-hosted environment. All incidents that cause a change in transcript content or status will trigger an export of the transcript, permitting nearly-synchronous duplicate transaction information on your locally hosted machine and allowing for data mining, reports capabilities customized to your own liking, and further activity upon all of your QuestionPoint transactions. For more information on this custom service, please contact Carol Bonnefil ([email protected])
Fixes
1 Qwidget fixes.
1.1 Display of URLS in chat history in Qwidget was inconsistent.
Prior to this install, lengthy URLs could fail to “wrap” in the frame, thereby causing Qwidgets to display improperly on the webpage.
URLs are now contained in the frame, regardless of length.
1.2 Patron’s email address is removed from view after email question is submitted from Closed Qwidget.
After a patron enters their email address and question, and uses the “Submit” button, the patron’s email address is now immediately removed from the screen, rather than upon page refresh, in order to better protect the patron’s privacy in a public venue.
2 ISoft Daily Chat Stats report for July 8, 2012 have been recovered.
It was reported that the daily stats for chat sessions which occurred on 7/8/12 were not correctly displaying in the Reports module. This has been corrected and all statistics for 7/8/12 have been updated. Monthly totals for July 2012 cannot be retroactively corrected to include the statistics for July 8th activity. To achieve a correct total for a Monthly, Quarterly or Annual report for 2012, the total from the Daily report for 7/8/2012 will have be manually added to the respective Mnth/Qtr/Yr end report. A note has been added to the Reports page to remind users of this.
3 Online Patron Form Field Reports now match Offline Reports.
Data columns in Online Patron Form Field Excel reports now match same data in the offline reports in Ask Module>Review Transcripts.
4 Patron Account Question Lists
Patron’s sessions in their QuestionPoint Patron account are now default sorted in chronological order.
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