It’s fairly clear when patrons submit an email address via the traditional chat form: the patron is presented with a chat form, which may or may not require an email address, and may (or may not) allow an anonymous option. Any information provided by the patron in the chat form…
will appear in the preview window (the green box) while patron is waiting, then -- once you are in session -- it appears in the patron “Info” tab (lower left corner) in the chat monitor:
However, with Qwidget sessions the patron has the opportunity to enter an email at any time. All the patron has to do is click on the small envelope icon, where there is a choice: (1) enter an email address or (2) enter an email to get a transcript but remain anonymous. If patron chooses to enter an email address (option 1), the librarian sees the notification: "Patron has added an email address” in the chat conversation area of the monitor. This alerts the chatting librarian that follow-up is possible:
In the example above, the Info tab (lower left) still indicates that patron did not provide an email, because the Info tab is pulling data from the initial patron form. When the patron enters an email address at any time after submitting the question, then the email address is not part of the form information. The chatting librarian will not be able to see the actual email address. However, the complete email address will appear in the Ask module once the session has ended, in the usual place:
If the patron decided to enter an email address in order to get a transcript but wants to remain anonymous, then the notification will state: “Patron has chosen to remain anonymous (no email address available for follow-up)”. During the course of the session, the chatting librarian may suggest follow up, but will need to be sure the patron does enter an email address, either directly into the chat, as part of the conversation, or with the envelope icon.
Remember, before coding a question for Follow up, make sure the patron has provided an email address!
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