QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

Quality Tip: Consult Course Reserves for Assignments

Midway through October sees many students in the midst of  midterms and other assignments.  When students ask for a particuar article or textbook, remember to check the "course reserves" section of the library's policy page, especially if you aren't finding anything through the usual journal search techniques. In many cases, if specific articles are assigned then the professor will place copies on reserve.   Check this field to provide instruction to the students on how they can access course reserves at their school.  Chatting librarians can use this field to check for articles in the course reserves.  Make sure to ask the patron for the class and the professor's name before checking.  Tip:  if you can't find the requested item under one professor, look at listings for the same course by another professor, or the same professor for another course.  There is a fair bit of piggybacking in course reserves at some schools (thanks to the Backup librarians for that tip!).

When students seem to be asking the same questions over and over, it may be based on an assignment – and there is an Assignments section of the Policy Page.  This field contains tips for the chatting librarians on any recurring assignments.  

 

Quality Tip: Policy Page trumps Google

A patron asks about interlibrary loan policies at the library.  The chatting librarian is from a library far away and is staffing the chat service as part of our 24/7 Cooperative service.  The chatting librarian does a search using a search engine, locates a web page which appears to be the ILL policy for the patron’s library, then sends the link to the patron.  Great session, yes?  Well… no. 

We know not everything is available via search engines, and the information you find in a search engine is not always up to date.  Generally, the search engine only serves up whatever has been indexed.  The currency of the indexed information depends on how often the search engine has "crawled" a site (crawl = revisit the site for purposes of indexing).  How often is the average library website crawled?  Every month or so?  If the library site has been updated since the crawl, the updated information is not visible to the search engine.  Results may differ depending on the search engine you use.

But you don’t need to resort to a search engine when helping a Coop patron – use the policy pages!  The policy pages contain the most up-to-date information about the library. 

Just this week, a session was reported to Quality in which the chatting librarian relied on a search engine to find information about a Coop library’s ILL policies, and alas – the information found in the search engine pointed to outdated information that was no longer on the current library website.  This is a good example of why the policy pages should be your first stop for information about library policies (and the importance of making sure your own policy page is up to date). If the policy page is silent about a particular policy, then consult the library webpage – and the URL for the (current!) library webpage is available on… the policy page!

Quality Tip: Properly ending chat sessions

Now that we’re in the busy October season, I’ve noted a rising incidence of chats that are not properly closed.  These chats show up in the Review Transcripts area with a session length of zero.  Chatting librarians, please be sure to follow this procedure with every chat session:

- At the conclusion of a chat session, click the “End Session” button

- Then assign a resolution code

These steps should be followed even if the patron ends the session first.

Why end the session if the patron is already gone?  QuestionPoint retains the chat session until the librarian ends the chat, or for 4 hours, whichever comes first.  When the patron ends the chat but the librarian does not, this causes the chat session to linger on the QP chat tables until it times out. These lingering chat sessions may clog up the chat tables, which can cause issues.  For example, when the chatting librarian doesn’t properly end the session, there is no session length time recorded, which distorts statistics on average session length.

If you experience a browser crash or other technical issue which prevents you from clicking the End Session button, then reload the chat monitor (you may need to log into QP again) as soon as possible and re- launch chat.  Any patron chats that hadn’t been closed at the time of your browser crash should still be present in your chat monitor.  If the patron is still there and responds to your messages, you can continue the session.  If the patron is not responding or you see either (i) the “patron has ended” or (ii) “patron has disconnected” message , then click End Session, assign a resolution code and, if it is the end of your shift, log out of chat.  If the chat is no longer present in your monitor, there is nothing more for you to do.  The chat transcript will be available in the patron library’s Ask module.

It is also important to properly log out of the chat monitor once your shift has ended.  To properly log out of chat, click the  Logout button at the top right of the librarian chat monitor.  Simply closing the browser will not log you out. If you have a technical problem which prevents you from properly logging out, and/or  if your browser crashes for any reason while you are still logged in, you should properly log back in as soon as possible, select your queues, then log out by clicking the Logout button.  If the Logout button is not clicked, then the system will retain your autho and you will still appear to be logged in.   This means your chat forms and Qwidget will show the service as open, even if you have left hours ago.   If you or your librarians have neglected to log out at the end of a shift, be sure and check the Review Transcripts area for abandoned sessions (patrons who were not picked up).  These are identified as wait time =0 and session time =0.

It’s important to follow these rules for ending a chat session and logging out of chat at the end of your shift.  If you have questions, email OCLC Support (or ask your QP administrator).

Policy Page Day: October 4, 2013

This Friday, October 4, the Coop will celebrate Policy Page Day.  This is an opportunity to review your library’s policy page (and, if you are a group or BME administrator, ask your institution administrators to check their policy pages). Take your policy page for a spin – check all the links, be sure the information is up-to-date, and generally make sure it’s performing as expected. A library's policy page is one of the key resources that ensures the proper working of the 24/7 Reference Cooperative, and an informative policy page helps the Cooperative librarians do a better job answering questions for your patrons. In reviewing your policy page, please consult the Policy Page Guidelines: http://wiki.questionpoint.org/Policy+Page+Guidelines. To celebrate policy page day, please take a few moments on Friday to review your library's policy page and make sure it is consistent with these guidelines.

Questions or comments? I’ll be available via QP chat on Friday to answer any questions you have as you review your policy page. Just visit the QP Quality page at: http://www5.oclc.org/questionpoint/quality/ask.html where you will find the Quality Qwidget as well as an email webform and links to the Coop Policies. I’ll be staffing Quality chat mainly during UK business hours on Friday, so if you have a question and I’m not online, just send me a question via email (either through the Quality Qwidget or Quality email form) and I will get back to you. In fact, you can use this form anytime (not just on Policy Page Day) to send suggestions about policy pages or anything relating to the Cooperative. All suggestions and comments are welcome!

If you have any questions about your policy page, please come chat with me this Friday (October 4), or send me an email via the Quality webform. I look forward to hearing from you, and thanks in advance for participating in our latest Policy Page Day!

Quality Tip: Qwidgets and Email addresses

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!

Quality Tip: Choosing librarians for chat: Use the Practice queue!

If you are in a position to choose which staff will work best on your chat service,  there is a good way to assess the candidate’s aptitude for virtual reference.  All QuestionPoint libraries have access to a practice queue, and you can use this to assess the skills of a potential  chatting librarian.  Here’s how Sandra Clark at the University of the West of England conducted such an assessment:

We ended up doing a chat on the practice queue with an experienced chat librarian posing as a customer.  One of the test assessors sat with the candidates and the other with the ‘patron’  We used a common question (journals) with a bit of a twist as there was no e-copy for the year the patron wanted and the paper copy was in our store.  We also had possible patron responses mapped out so we would respond to each candidate in a similar way. 

To be as fair as possible, the assessors were looking for an aptitude for communicating effectively with customers through evidence of a good reference interview, showing a rapport with the patron and trying to teach rather than tell – we didn’t worry too much about the niceties of chat like using holding messages or a ‘has this completely answered your question?’ statement to conclude the chat as we can train these skills.  Also having a staff member with the candidate meant we could start them off on the chat so that the test wasn’t about using the interface. 

It worked quite well – I think we’ll use the format again.

How to use Practice Chat:

You can monitor the practice queue of your Subscription Group (BME) to practice your skills or try a new feature without accidentally accepting a real session.  Those acting as Librarians in practice sessions should check the Monitor Practice Queue Only box below the queues list in the chat monitor and click Save.  Practice Patrons should use the Chat Patron Practice Form, located on the My QuestionPoint page, left-hand side under “Quick Links”.  Once you access the Chat Patron Practice Form, leave the Practice box (on the form) checked, then complete and submit the form.  If you or someone else is monitoring your group's practice queue, your session begins. If no one is monitoring it, a message indicates that no one is available to chat.  Transcripts for practice sessions are labelled "[Practice]" in the chat monitor and in QuestionPoint question lists. Practice sessions are not counted in QuestionPoint statistics.

Quality Tip: Summer Reading Programs? Check the Policy Page

Summer’s here and it’s time for summer reading programs at the library!  Public librarians please note:  we have a field in the policy pages just for this purpose; the field name is: Summer Reading programs/lists.  Use this field to link to your library’s summer reading program or, if there is no dedicated site, provide information on dates, program information, etc.  If your library has a summer reading program, then fill out this field.

For example, Harris County public library in Texas has a lively summer reading program with excellent information in their policy page.  Take a look at the HCPL policy page:  there is a link to their summer reading site followed by a brief description of the programs available for a summer of reading at Harris County.  HCPL’s list approach within the policy page field presents a lot of information clearly: you can see at a glance that there are actually 4 programs at HCPL this summer, categorized by age (babies, kids, teens and adults).  The brief description in the policy page tells us the kids program is for children aged 18 months to 12 years, and there’s a link to that specific program.  This really helps the chatting librarian focus the reference conversation in order to send information on the specific appropriate program. 

Thanks Harris County, and to all of you who’ve made it easier to handle questions about your summer reading program!

Quality Tip: Scripts vs Policy pages? Use both!

QP scripted messages provide an opportunity for libraries to send direct messages to their patrons – even when the chatting librarian is from another library.  For example, NYPL has a scripted message for how to cancel a hold.  Ask Here PA has a script for class visits.  There are many other examples, but various libraries have created scripted messages for use with their patrons, which you can find in the chat monitor:

 

Of course the library’s policy page is the main source of information about your library, and all Coop librarians should consult the library’s policy page when answering questions about the library’s resources or policies.  All libraries in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative are required to maintain a policy page, but scripted messages are left to individual library discretion – some may have a few scripted messages, some may have many, and some may have none.   As a result, many chatting librarians do not check the scripted messages when dealing with a non-local patron.

If you’d like to highlight any of your scripted messages, do mention your scripts in the appropriate section of your policy page.  A great example of this is Fort Vancouver Regional Library in Washington (state).  There’s a nice statement in the eBook section of the FVRL policy page that:

FVRL does have downloadable eBooks available to patrons through OverDrive and Axis360 platforms and downloadable audiobooks from OneClickDigital at http://bit.ly/FVRLeBooks.

Please note we have scripts for questions about eBooks, eReaders, and Kindle. Look for e.eBook Response, e.eReader Response, or e.Kindle Response.

Why we love this:

• The note that scripted messages are available on the topic of eBooks is included with the policy page information on eBooks (i.e. in the eBooks field of the policy page field) as well as in the alerts.  This is much better than just a general message in the Alerts section to “check our scripted messages”
• FVRL provides clues on how to find the appropriate script by providing the script title, making it easier to scroll through the scripted messages to find the appropriate scripts
• The note about scripts is in red typeface, making it stand out.

If you have scripted messages that you’d like the Coop librarians to use, follow the lead of Fort Vancouver Regional Library and provide information about any pertinent scripts, in the policy page field where librarians would likely be seeking that information.  And include the name of your script(s), especially if you have several.

Thanks to Fort Vancouver for this innovative approach to scripts and policy pages!

Quality Tip: “Reject” when you need to say “Look at this!”

Have you ever inadvertently coded a session with an incorrect Resolution Code when staffing the Cooperative?  The resolution code you select has consequences, as follows:

Answered:  session will appear in the patron library Active question list

Follow Up by Patron Library:  session will appear with a ? (red question mark), in both the patron library’s New and Active list

Lost Call:  session will appear in the Closed list (and not in the Active question list)

Most libraries tend to look at the New list first, because that list contains all sessions that need following up.  This includes any chat sessions coded Follow Up by Patron Library as well as new email questions and sessions where a patron has sent a reply to a previous librarian response.  Then, if there is time, the library will look at the Active list.  Very often, no one looks at the Closed list.

If you intend to code a chat session for follow up, but accidently code it as Answered or Lost Call, then the Patron library may not realize that their patron is expecting more information.  Unfortunately, you can’t change the Resolution Code of a session after the fact, but you can bring a session to the Patron Library’s attention by using the Reject feature.  Reject will change the status of the question to New, so that it will now appear in the Patron Library’s New list, with a red question mark.  

Only use Reject if follow up is needed and you did not use the Follow Up resolution code.  You do not need to use Reject if you *did* use the Follow Up resolution code, or if no follow up is needed (in other words, if you meant to code a session as answered and you accidently used Lost Call, there is no need to Reject the session).  You may, however, wish to add a Librarian Note, from the chat monitor.

Quality Tip: Harvard Referencing? Look at the Policy Page!

Academic students often have questions related to citing their sources, and it’s important to ascertain which citation style the students need.  In the U.S. the most common citation styles are APA, MLA and Chicago Style.  In the UK, a popular style is Harvard referencing.  The chief distinction with Harvard referencing is there are no footnotes.  Instead, partial citations— for example (Smith 2010, p. 1)—are enclosed within parentheses and embedded in the text, either within or after a sentence.  The list of full citations, or “references”, appear in an end section, in alphabetical order.  

While you can find style guides for Harvard referencing on the web, be cautious!  There are two main styles of Harvard referencing:  author-date and author-title, with variations.  Several UK universities use a modified version of Harvard which varies by school.  Students must use the version of Harvard approved by their school.   So, when helping a student with formatting citations, be sure to determine the citation format required.  If the student says “Harvard”, please consult the library’s policy page!  The University of the West of England, for example, has a nice web page (linked from their policy page) specifically designed to help students format their citations based on UWE-specific citation principles.  Open University also has a link to their specific Harvard reference guidelines – which are different from UWE – in the Alerts section of their policy page.

Following the correct referencing guidelines is important:  UWE had a formal complaint this year because a student failed coursework having been given incorrect referencing information.  If in doubt, be sure to code the session for Follow Up, so the patron library can provide the correct information.   This is preferable to the chatting librarian sending an incorrect guide, and having the student rely on this to their detriment.

Don’t just give the students a guide – give them the correct guide, and to do that, consult the library’s policy page.