QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

Did you know . . .

There really is a man behind the curtain . . . or a woman?

Have you ever gotten a question that you worked on pretty hard and now wish you could share with others? Maybe you think others outside your institution could benefit from the research. If you even think it, it’s probably true!

But who has the time to stop and think about the best way to word the Q&A for posterity? And who has time to think about the best way to assign a subject class heading or a question category or good keywords? Also, what about all that self-disclosure the patron did to explain his question—you don’t want just anyone to see that.

The Global Knowledge Base has editors behind the scenes—volunteer editors, actually, who do a terrific job of reviewing submitted records before activating them for indexing and searching.

You see, when you submit a Q&A to the GKB, you are really contributing the transaction for consideration. It is not immediately visible to or searchable by others.

An editor sees an “Inactive” record—s/he sees the institution that got the question and the institution that answered it, but s/he doesn’t see who the individuals at the institution are. S/he sees the question, but s/he doesn’t see the patron name or the patron e-mail. S/he knows only as much personal information about the patron and the librarian as was disclosed in the question or answer text.

• The editor evaluates the record for appropriateness and completeness. If the question is asking for hours of the library, it probably won’t be included in the Global Knowledge Base. (Note: This might be a perfect, often-asked question, however, for your local KB!)
• The editor checks for any spelling or grammatical errors, but will maintain British versus American spellings and usage.
• The editor reads the question and answer for sense. S/he will often delete a lot of text that isn’t necessary to understanding the query; sometimes s/he’ll rephrase the text to “cut to the chase,” thus improving the eventual searchability of the record.
• The editor deletes any personal names or any information that could identify the questioner or the librarian.
• The editor adds the following to facilitate later searching:
  • Keywords to a Keyword field
  • LC subject classification headings, but only to the second level (e.g., CT for biography)
  • Question type or category, such as FAQ, Ready Reference, or Bibliography
  • Link to the title in WorldCat.org (when a title is mentioned), so another user would be able to find the WC record and, thus, a nearby library that holds that title
• The editor indicates whether the record is appropriate for the general public, should a library offer the GKB on its website(s)
• The editor makes sure URLs are hotlinked, after checking to make sure they are valid

So, you see, you don’t have to worry about how well formatted or worded your Q&A is. The important thing is to submit it to be shared for the benefit of your worldwide colleagues and let the editors do the clean-up.

By the way, if you’d like to be a Global Knowledge Base editor, please contact [email protected].

Did you Know Your QuestionPoint Knowledge Base

Did you know that QuestionPoint has a knowledge base component where you can store research that you’ve done for your patrons, search through those answers, and re-use appropriate information?

It’s possible that some of you have not been aware of your local knowledge base, nor of the Global Knowledge Base that is shared by all QuestionPoint users. This series of Did You Know . . . ? notes are intended to increase awareness of the knowledge base module and promote the sharing of research with one another to enhance your service to end users.

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Did you know . . .

That you can save answers to questions (Q&As) that you know you or others might need again?

This might include answers on which you did a great deal of research and would not like to have to repeat . . . or maybe you’d like to spare others the need to duplicate your research. Some users save lengthy instructions on using the catalog or databases, so they don’t have to type the information over and over again.

There are three ways you can same information in the KB.

Method 1: In the Ask module:

1 Click on the question you want to save to open it to the Full Question view.

2 In the upper right-hand area of the question transcript, click on the drop-down menu Move To. Select “Knowledge Base,” and click the arrow button beside the menu.

3 Complete the top portion of the “Add New Record” form, including the Knowledge Base Copies radio buttons, and click <Create Record>.

Depending on your permissions level, you might even be able to activate (generates nightly indexing) the record. Be sure to indicate whether you think this record is OK for potential public viewing or for internal use only (Make Public: Yes or No).

You can click <Save Draft> instead of creating a record, if there is more work you’d like to do in the Question or Answer boxes.

To increase the ease with which the Q&A can later be searched, you can also complete the lower portions of the “Add New Record” form

Within 24 hours, your new record will be searchable. To search your knowledge base:

• Click on the Knowledge Base link in the left navigation bar of the My QuesitonPoint home page. You can even enter a search term right there and click the arrow button.
• OR, you can select “Knowledge Base” from the upper right corner drop-down menu. This takes you to the basic search page.

There’s another way to save your Q&As:

Method 2: In the Ask module, on the questions list page:

1 Click the check box of the question(s) you want to save. You can click more than one box, so this is a good way to save multiple Q&As at one time.

2 In the lower left of the list, click the drop-down menu Select Action. Select “Submit to KB,” and click the arrow button beside the menu. NOTE: A question must have an answer of some kind to save it to a KB.

3 Select the options you want on the new page.

Do you want to edit? Select Yes or No. You can always edit later if you want.

Add to: Choose which knowledge base(s) you want to put the Q&As in. You will probably have access to a local KB and the Global KB. If you do not, and you want to contribute records, check with your QuestionPoint administrator.

Make Public: Select Yes or No. Yes means these records will be accessible to your public if your library decides to enable a KB link.

Do you want to close? And, finally, you can decide whether or not you want to close the Q&A(s) at this time, saving an extra step.

4 Click <Submit>.

Method 3: Coming in next week’s tips!

If you believe you should be able to contribute records to your local knowledge base or to the Global Knowledge Base, but you don’t see the appropriate links or menu options, ask your administrator if you could have access. They may not be aware that they need to give permission in the Administration module.

Please contact [email protected] if you have questions.

New QuestionPoint Release coming Sunday

Dear QuestionPoint subscribers: 

We are planning to install an important new release of QuestionPoint this coming Sunday, March 2, in the early morning. 

The system will be brought down at 0800 GMT and is planned to remain down for 60 minutes. As always, the announced duration of downtime is an approximation: the system could be available in less than an hour, or it could extend beyond that. Should we become aware of the need to remain down longer, we will notify this list. 

At the end of this post will be a brief description from the release notes of the new features and changes to existing features. Most of the additions will have little immediate effect on your daily work; they are capabilities that your institution can choose to implement if it wishes. 

Exceptions for some users are the chat patron viewport change from left to right (section 1.1) and the enhancement to queue management (section 1.7). The impact of the feature changes, Section 2 in the attached, is also likely to be minimal to your daily workflow, but you should read about them to be aware of the changes. The attached file will also be posted to the QuestionPoint blog at http://questionpoint.blogs.com. 

We will hold two virtual user group meetings the second week of March, to discuss the new features and answer any questions you have. The first meeting is planned for March 12, 1400 - 1530 GMT. The second will be March 13, 2200 - 2330 GMT (March 14 for our Australian and Asian institutions). To register for one of the meetings, please follow the appropriate link: 

March 12, 10 - 11:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (1400 - 1530 GMT) 

https://www.sporg.com/pom/registration?cmd=event_info&event_id=103177 

March 13, 6 - 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (2200 - 2330 GMT) 

https://www.sporg.com/pom/registration?cmd=event_info&event_id=103179 

We look forward to your reactions to the new features of QuestionPoint. 

Paula Rumbaugh on behalf of the QuestionPoint Team 

1. New Features

1.1 Chat Infrastructure 

The patron chat interface will now more closely resemble what has been available for preview as Chat 2. To meet accessibility requirements, the viewport and chat box/transcript area have switched sides: the viewport for the patron will now appear on the right side of the screen, and the chat box and transcript on the left. Co-browsing will also take place on the right side instead of the left.

In addition, patrons will be able to set preferences, changing font faces and sizes, color combinations, and whether or not they want an audible signal when a new message comes in.

1.2 Forms Manager

The first phase of the QuestionPoint Forms Manager is now available to create email web forms.

Institution Administrators can now have QuestionPoint host all patron email web forms for your library’s QuestionPoint service. Further, the administrator can set up the forms that are e-mailed to the QuestionPoint service exactly as they want them to look. (In the future, they’ll be able to do the same with the chat forms.) Having QuestionPoint staff manage your chat forms for you remains an option until the chat form manager becomes available in future releases. 

Advantages in having QuestionPoint host your forms and managing them yourself are:

· Easy to use and reduces the need for IT staff involvement in your forms. 

· Lets you customize your forms. 

· Provides forms in multiple languages. 

· Supports improved access to data about reference transactions. 

· Provides improved protection against spam.

Complete instructions for form set-up will be available in Administration module Help, as well as at http://questionpoint.org/support/documentation . A walkthrough tutorial will also be provided. Forms management is accessible at Administration/Institution/Forms/Forms Manager. Administrators will be able to control the logo and colors of the form, the elements for which they want to collect information from the patron, the order of the fields (e.g., Zip Code, status), and whether or not they are required fields

1.3 Widget for Point of Need Communication

With this install, the QuestionPoint team introduces the Qwidget, a Meebo-Me-like chat box that libraries can place anywhere on their website, at the patron’s point of need. Like similar widgets (see below), the Qwidget will enable the library to indicate when a librarian is on duty and when not. You’ll also be able to set the widget up to give the patron the option of redirecting a question through e-mail if chat is not “open.” But unlike the familiar, commercially available widgets, the Qwidget will allow multiple concurrent sessions on the librarian side.

For the librarian, the Qwidget is another entry point into the chat queue they already monitor. The only difference apparent to the librarian is the term “[Widget]” displayed at the beginning of the patron name. The librarian will also see in the Info area that this patron’s connection has no co-browsing capability

Mounting of the Qwidget is a decision each library can make. Only the library’s primary queue will see sessions coming in via the Qwidget. Libraries must be using the Flash-based chat to see Qwidget sessions.

What Is a Widget? A widget is a small application that adds utility or other information from external sources, via html code that you add to your webpage.  For additional information, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_widget. A common widget used by several libraries is the MeeboMe widget (Meebo is a web-based IM service).  Widgets are popular among users:  according to Jupiter Research (Oct. 2007), awareness and use of Widgets among online users, which was less than 5% in early 2007, has now increased: 39% of online users are aware of widgets, and 26% have used them

Institution Administrators will find the Qwidget set-up at Administration/Institution/Forms/Forms Manager/ Create Qwidget (Preview). Complete instructions for set-up will be in Administration Help and at http://questionpoint.org/support/documentation .

1.4 Branding for the Patron Interface

Group Administrators will now have the ability to brand QuestionPoint’s patron interface. The Administrator can add the logo of the group (or institution, if only one) and change the colors to more closely resemble other group websites and marketing pieces. Links to other group resources can be added as tabs to the top of the pages.

The following illustrations show the set-up page and the page as it will appear to your users. Complete instructions for set-up will be in Administration Help and at http://questionpoint.org/support/documentation .

1.5 CAPTCHA Spam Filtering

Institution Administrators will have three options to help control spam coming into your QuestionPoint service:

1. Have QuestionPoint host the library’s patron intake forms. Although not 100% guarded against spam, the OCLC firewall has proven quite reliable for the 24/7 Cooperative hosted chat forms, and similar results are expected for the newly available hosted webforms.

2. Select the option for QuestionPoint to validate the referrer page before accepting the form information into the system. You may enter more than one URL, to cover all those pages on which you have a form. Since many spam bots are using a cached or a local version of your web form, their submitted forms will not match the referring URL(s) you list. Any form data coming from any site other than those you indicated will be ignored.

3. Use the Captcha tool to force the user to enter the characters they see in the randomly generated graphic. This kind of recognition still requires the human eye, so bots cannot pass the test.

Administrators will find the second two options at Administration/Institution/Forms/Spam Filter. The first option is automatic when you choose to “publish” a form through forms set-up at Administration/Institution/Forms/Forms Manager.

1.6 Offline Reports for Service History

Institution, Group, and Ask Administrators can now produce reports for the institution’s older transcripts and transactions in Service History.

1.7 Queue Management

The first phase of “queue management” to be implemented will make it easier for librarians to claim their own patrons from the chat queue before they are picked up by librarians in the next level queue, e.g., by a Cooperative librarian.

Session requests will first appear only in the home library’s primary queue for 40 seconds. If the patron has not been picked up in that time, the session will roll to the next level queue (e.g., the Cooperative queue), where any monitoring librarian can claim the session. For the Cooperative, as always, only after two minutes of waiting will the patron be picked up by a Back-up librarian.

Important note: There will no longer be an asterisk to let librarians know the home library of a waiting patron is monitoring. Once a session appears in a librarian’s monitor, that session may be picked up by that librarian. No further waiting is necessary.

2. Feature Changes

2.1 Reports Simplification

As QuestionPoint developed and grew, different reporting needs were identified and added to the existing interface. These additions and enhancements eventually resulted in three locations within QuestionPoint from which to retrieve statistics on your usage. Adding to the complexity was the fact that access to reports is based on permissions level. So not only were users sometimes not sure where to go to get which statistics, some librarians could see institution statistics and some could not.

The March 2008 release brings all QuestionPoint statistics together into one module, accessible from the My QuestionPoint page.

Behind the Reports tab, all users will see report links, based on the permissions level of their login number.

All librarians, regardless of permissions level, will be able to see statistics of their own usage and statistics for their institution-wide usage. The next illustration shows that users with institution administrator authorization will see more reports, including those for each librarian of the institution. They will also see a link for suggesting new reports.

Librarians without the administrator permissions will not see those links. But everyone will have access to the system-wide statistics and QP Usage.

Institution and Group Administrators will find that all reports previously available in the Administration module, now appear here, under the Reports tab on My QuestionPoint. All Administrators: Four reports previously available in the Ask module were also moved to the new location.

Old Location	New Location in My QuestionPoint Reports
Administration Module
History Tab	Activity Statistics
Current Tab	Counts of Current Data
Ask Module
Reports Tab
General	No change*
Sessions	Counts of Current Data
Sessions by Authorization	Counts of Current Data
Descriptive Codes	Counts of Current Data
Resolution Codes	Counts of Current Data
Form Fields	No change
Offline Reports	No change

*The location has not changed, but the tab that previously read Reports now reads

Review Transcripts.

2.2 Review Transcripts (previously, Ask/Reports)

Administrators: In the illustration below, you see that Review Transcripts has replaced the old Reports tab. In addition, note that several of the reports that just gave statistics no longer appear as links in this area. Instead, only those features that truly allow you to review transcripts, rather than numbers, appear here.

A second change is for the table on the General Reviews page. A new column, called Chat Librarian, appears. Together with the Librarian column, administrators can see who picked up a chat session originally, as well as who the most recent librarian to have handled the session or transaction is.

 

2.3 OCLC Logo Change

If your institution or group has not substituted your own logo on the QuestionPoint interface, you will note the new logo in the upper right of every page. This represents OCLC’s new, global look!

2.4 Additional Descriptive Codes

Additional Descriptive Codes have been added to more accurately describe transactions. The new codes are:

• e-learning
• Email
• Excel
• Network
• Passwords
• Powerpoint
• Printing
• Settings
• Software
• Word

3. Fixes

3.1 Chat Librarian in Session Reports and Transcript Review (previously, Ask/Reports)

Administrators: Prior to this install, only the most recent librarian to have touched a transcript/transaction was reported in the reports available in Ask (now renamed My QuestionPoint/Reports and Ask/Review Transcripts). This sometimes caused unexpected results when looking at the Sessions reports, especially in reporting how many patrons from other libraries your librarians helped.

After the March install, QuestionPoint will be able to report chat librarians. Thus, the counts and linked transcripts you see for Sessions and Sessions by Authorization should deliver the expected results for transcripts created from the time of the install forward.

3.2 No Status Limit in Transcript Review (previously, Ask/Reports)

Institution and Ask Administrators: Since April 2007 the General report default search had a limit set, Status = All (Not deleted). The Status field has been set to All, or no limit. This should fix the problem in which administrators were unable to see certain transcripts their librarians participated in unless they changed the Status limit.

3.3 Librarian chat not appearing. Back end changes to the system were made to improve method by which librarian chat is recorded and stored. This should resolve the intermittent (and rarely seen) phenomenon of librarian chat not appearing in chat history or transcripts.

Reminder of upcoming Global Knowledge Base sessions

This is a reminder that Peter Armenti, a librarian at the Library of Congress and a long-time member of the QuestionPoint team, will offer two sessions on Tuesday, August 14, at 1500 GMT and at 1800 GMT.  Both sessions will cover the same content:

       An introduction to the knowledge base concept
       The benefits to you of using the knowledge bases
       How to submit answered Q&As from the Ask module
       How to add information directly into new KB records
       How to reuse KB records in your chat sessions and e-mail answers

       Setting up your local knowledge base
       Offering your local KB and/or the Global KB to your patrons

Each session will also have ample time for questions and discussion following the orientation.  To sign up for one of the sessions, please go to:

August 14 - 1500 - 1630 GMT
https://www.sporg.com/pom/registration?cmd=event_info&event_id=91126
 

August 14 - 1800 - 1930 GMT
https://www.sporg.com/pom/registration?cmd=event_info&event_id=91128
 

ANNOUNCEMENT: Introduction to QuestionPoint Knowledge Base Features

Dear QuestionPoint subscribers:

On the knowledge base survey of June 2006 and throughout this past year, we've had requests from QP users for more information about the QuestionPoint knowledge bases.  Some have said they would welcome a training or orientation session.

Peter Armenti, a librarian at the Library of Congress and a long-time member of the QuestionPoint team, will offer two sessions on Tuesday, August 14, at 1500 GMT and at 1800 GMT.  Both sessions will cover the same content:

        An introduction to the knowledge base concept
        The benefits to you of using the knowledge bases
        How to submit answered Q&As from the Ask module
        How to add information directly into new KB records
        How to reuse KB records in your chat sessions and e-mail answers
        Setting up your local knowledge base
        Offering your local KB and/or the Global KB to your patrons

Each session will also have ample time for questions and discussion following the orientation.  To sign up for one of the sessions, please go to:

August 14 - 1500 - 1630 GMT
https://www.sporg.com/pom/registration?cmd=event_info&event_id=91126

August 14 - 1800 - 1930 GMT
https://www.sporg.com/pom/registration?cmd=event_info&event_id=91128

Call for Volunteer Global Knowledge Base Editors

The Global Knowledge Base (GKB) is in need of QuestionPoint librarians to help review and activate submitted records! Because of your interest in supporting the work of all librarians by sharing your research and sources with them, the GKB has been growing steadily. In fact, it's growing so fast that we have a backlog of some 2,000 Q&As waiting to be edited and activated so they are searchable.

Editors review submittals Q&As for appropriateness and check them for spelling or grammatical errors. They hotlink URL citations and "scrub" any personal information from the text. We do not ask editors to confirm accuracy or update information, but you are able to do so if you wish.

This is a good opportunity to see what others are doing in the online reference world! You can learn about new resources and search strategies while making QuestionPoint librarian research available to others. Some of the kinds of Q&As you will review are:

1. Factual Q&As
2. Bibliographies and pathfinders
3. Hard-to-find Q&As
4. Frequently Asked Questions, sometimes seasonal
5. Local history, government, agencies, lore
6. Genealogy, especially for sources used

 

For more information and to volunteer, please contact Paula Rumbaugh at

Email: paula_rumbaugh AT oclc.org

Phone: 614-764-6433, or 1-800-848-5878 Ext. 6433.

 

Let us know what you think: Have a voice in QuestionPoint

This must be the season for surveys!  We want to gather as much information as possible about your usage and opinions on the QuestionPoint Knowledge Base features.  This brief survey will help us understand levels of Knowledge Base awareness, as well as elicit your thoughts on the feasibility and usefulness of question-and-answer repositories, in general.

We encourage all QuestionPoint librarians to complete the survey, which should take about 15 minutes.  Please answer from your point of view, not that of your institution.  You can stop at any time and return to the survey later.  Even if you do not use the Knowledge Base feature at all, please go through the survey--you will be able to skip questions not applicable to you.  Your input will help us determine the future directions of this particular QuestionPoint feature.

Click the link below to fill out the survey.  The survey will be available until July 15.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=169552279902
[Please respond in your native language if you prefer.  Translations of the survey will be made available upon request.]

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Speaking of surveys . . . there is still time to have a voice in the prioritization of upcoming features and enhancements to QuestionPoint, in general.   That survey will be available to you through June 30.  If you have not already completed that 10-minute survey, please consider doing so.  We need feedback from all users, email and chat users alike.

Here is the link to that survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=113032200129
[Please respond in your native language if you prefer.  Translations of the survey will be made available upon request.]

Thank you for taking part in the future of QuestionPoint!

Paula Rumbaugh

New Features, Changes and Fixes coming June 4: Administrator edition

 On Sunday morning, June 4, at 2:00 AM ET (0600 GMT) we will install a number of new features, enhancements, and fixes to QuestionPoint. Because a number of our changes directly involve the database itself, please expect a downtime of up to three (3) hours. A PDF of this text with screenshots can be downloaded by clicking on this link: Download june4_2006_admins.pdf

For All Users

Scripts inserted at cursor

An important change for long-time users of QuestionPoint’s e-mailed web-form features, scripts can now be inserted at the cursor. Scripts have always been inserted at the end of typed text in the Answer or Clarification field, when responding to an e-mailed question. After Sunday’s install, the script you can insert the script wherever your cursor is active.

Public search of local knowledge bases

Finally, searching of your local knowledge base by your patrons is possible! Administrators must indicate if the local KB should be searchable outside the QuestionPoint application. They can also compose the ownership statement that should appear on every record retrieved. Only records marked “Public” in your KB will be searchable.

Instructions at http://www.questionpoint.org/support/documentation/templates/search_globalkb.html 9:00 PM EDTlead administrators through set-up in the QuestionPoint Administration module, as well as provide the necessary lines to be added to the HTML script for your web page. These lines will allow your library either to link to the QuestionPoint Basic Search page or to actually mount the basic-search input box on your own web page. You can also link directly to the Advanced Search page if you want. 9:00 PM EDT, or 6/3, 0100 GMT).    (Note: Updated documentation at the above site is planned for deployment Thursday evening, 6/2, at 9

 

(Click the screenshot to see the full detail)

Other alphabets enabled in the Knowledge Bases

Other alphabets should now be indexed properly in the QuestionPoint knowledge bases. This includes Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Korean, and Russian alphabets, which were not searchable until now.

Enhanced reports

The reports accessible in the Ask module have been enhanced to better detail the types of questions and sessions. In Ask/Reports/General Institution and Ask Administrators can limit a search by the following transactions types:

•  All transactions (both web form and chat)
•  All transactions received via e-mailed web form
•  Transactions received from your own web form
•  Transactions you handled for other libraries
•  All chat sessions in which your library was involved
•  Your patrons: sessions your library handled
•  Your patrons: sessions someone in your group handled
•  Your patrons: sessions handled by a 24/7 or other coverage library
•  Others’ patrons: all sessions in which your library was involved
•  Others’ patrons: sessions you handled for your group’s libraries
•  Others’ patrons: sessions you handled for 24/7 or other coverage libraries

A new table format in Ask/Reports/Sessions will allow you to see similar breakdowns for all your transactions, including grand totals.

It is important to remember that the new breakout will affect data from the time of the install forward.

The Reports Reference Guide will also be updated to reflect these changes.

BME administrators should once again see the names of the librarians in their group’s libraries, via the Ask/Reports.

(Click the screenshot to see the full detail)

For Flash Chat Users

Chat monitor preferences saved

Flash Chat librarians can now save the preferences they set within the chat monitor. The settings are attached to your login authorization, so if you change computers, you won’t have to reset them.

New Alerts

There are new sounds for IM notification and for patron response notification. Additionally, there are visual cues in the chat monitor when the patron has sent a chat message.

Adjustments

The Chat Monitoring Tool now more clearly shows each librarian and which queues are being monitored. Additional tweaks have been made to further reduce the likelihood of duplicated chat session requests.

New resolution code for dropped session

A new resolution code, Lost Call, has been added for Flash Chat users. Previously, the only two resolution codes were “answered” and “follow up” (by either chatting librarian or patron library). You can use the Lost Call code whenever a patron ends the call or drops, and you do not have sufficient information to send to follow up. When used, the ended chat session will go immediately to the Closed folder of the appropriate libraries.

(Click the screenshot to see the full detail)

Visual feedback that descriptive code selection was successful

Flash Chat librarians will have visual feedback when they select multiple Descriptive Codes. A counter to the right of the code field will immediately indicate how many codes you have thus far selected.

(Click the screenshot to see the full detail)

Updated viewlets will be available at http://www.questionpoint.org/education/index.html

Some Important Reminders

We would like to take this opportunity to remind Flash Chat users of the following:

1. Please visit http://www5.oclc.org/questionpoint/Chat_setup.pdf if you have questions about your browser set up. There are several option settings that are recommended, as well as “best” versions of browsers, VM software, and Flash for optimum performance.
2. Flash Chat users must click the Submit button when opening the chat monitor.
3. Make sure your browser’s pop-up blocker is off, or you may not even see the window in      which to submit your queue selections.
4. We know some of you still occasionally experience the flashing frame problem: users of IE,      with the XP operating system, see the chat monitor screen refreshing frequently, but without accepting any new input. This has been identified as a problem with Microsoft’s “Active X.” We      understand that a patch is being distributed by MS, but the update may be  dependent on your own network and IT staff. If you experience the flashing frame problem, exit the chat monitor by closing the browser (use the X at the top right of the browser window), then launch chat once again. You should still be in the same session, and will be able to continue chatting.

All administrators need to be reminded to use http:// when entering URLs in the Administration module for your preferred Viewport page (chat users), your policy pages, your web form location(s) (all users), and location of branding logo (BME administrators).

New Features, Changes, and Fixes Coming Sunday!

On Sunday morning, June 4, at

2:00 AM EDT

(0600 GMT) we will install a number of new features, enhancements, and fixes to QuestionPoint. Because a number of our changes directly involve the database itself, please expect a downtime of up to three (3) hours. A PDF of this text with screenshots can be downloaded by clicking on this link: Download june4_2006_install.pdf  

For All Users

Scripts inserted at cursor

An important change for long-time users of QuestionPoint’s e-mailed web-form features, scripts can now be inserted at the cursor. Scripts have always been inserted at the end of typed text in the Answer or Clarification field, when responding to an e-mailed question. After Sunday’s install, you can insert the script wherever your cursor is active.

Public search of local knowledge bases

Finally, searching of your local knowledge base by your patrons is possible! After administration set-up, patrons will be able to link to a Basic Search page that searches your knowledge base, or they can even enter keywords in an input box on your library’s web form. An ownership statement, also set up by your administrator, will display at the bottom of every record from your KB. Only records marked “Public” in your KB will be searchable by patrons.

Other alphabets enabled in the Knowledge Bases

Other alphabets should now be indexed properly in the QuestionPoint knowledge bases. This includes Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Korean, and Russian alphabets, which were not searchable until now.

For Flash Chat Users

Chat monitor preferences saved

Flash Chat librarians can now save the preferences they set within the chat monitor. The settings are attached to your login authorization, so if you change computers, you won’t have to reset them.

New Alerts

There are new sounds for IM notification and for patron response notification. Additionally, there are visual cues in the chat monitor when the patron has sent a chat message.

Adjustments

The Chat Monitoring Tool now more clearly shows each librarian and which queues are being monitored. Additional tweaks have been made to further reduce the likelihood of duplicated chat session requests.

 

New resolution code for dropped session

A new resolution code, Lost Call, has been added for Flash Chat users. Previously, the only two resolution codes were “answered” and “follow up” (by either chatting librarian or patron library). You can use the Lost Call code whenever a patron ends the call or drops, and you do not have sufficient information to send to follow up. When used, the ended chat session will go immediately to the Closed folder of the appropriate libraries.

(Click the screenshot to see the full detail)

Visual feedback that descriptive code selection was successful

Flash Chat librarians will have visual feedback when they select multiple Descriptive Codes. A counter to the right of the code field will immediately indicate how many codes you have thus far selected.

(Click the screenshot to see the full detail)

Please go to http://www.questionpoint.org/education/index.html to see updated viewlets.

Some Important Reminders

We would like to take this opportunity to remind Flash Chat users of the following:

• ü Please visit http://www5.oclc.org/questionpoint/Chat_setup.pdf if you have questions about your browser set up. There are several option settings that are recommended, as well as “best” versions of browsers, VM software, and Flash for optimum performance.
•  Flash Chat users must click the Submit button when opening the chat monitor.
•  Make sure your browser’s pop-up blocker is off, or you may not even see the window in which to submit your queue selections.
• We know some of you still occasionally experience the flashing frame problem: users of IE, with the XP operating system, see the chat monitor screen refreshing frequently, but without accepting any new input. This has been identified as a problem with Microsoft’s “Active X.” We understand that a patch is being distributed by MS, but the update may be dependent on your own network and IT staff. If you experience the flashing frame problem, exit the chat monitor by closing the browser (use the X at the top right of the browser window), then launch chat once again. You should still be in the same session, and will be able to continue chatting.

The Global Knowledge Base: 10,000 Records and Counting

Hi, I'm Peter Armenti, a reference librarian at the Library of Congress and a member of the QuestionPoint Team since 2002.

Several weeks ago, the 10,000th record was activated in the QuestionPoint global knowledge base (the count as of this writing is 10,390). As someone who has worked with QuestionPoint librarians to help build their local knowledge bases as well as the global knowledge base, I want to highlight this important QP landmark.

The global knowledge base is a wonderful tool for helping librarians answer their reference questions. This week, in my role as librarian on the Digital Reference Team at the Library of Congress, I've used global knowledge base records to help me answer a question about whether a man named John Hanson was really the first president of the United States (KB ID 98253), and to suggest to a patron resources for tracking down a novel she'd read years ago based only on its plot (KB ID 91747). You'll find helpful KB records in all major subject areas (click here to view a breakdown of active records in the global KB by LC class), and I often make it the first place I search upon receiving a new reference question. You can search it from anywhere in the QP interface; you can even send a KB record (modified, if you want) directly to your patron.

The global knowledge base is open to the general public as well as to QP librarians. Patrons can access a global KB search page from their QP account login screen, and QP libraries can create their own search box or search page on their websites. The KB's public search option offers us one more way to meet out patrons at their point of need and give them authoritative, library-vetted information that they can trust.

If you haven't explored the global knowledge base before, try searching it to discover how helpful it can be. Feel free to respond with questions you have about it, or any experiences using it that you'd like to share.