New Features
1.1 OPTIONS TO ALLOW UNANSWERED CHAT SESSION TO ROLL TO NEXT MONITORING LEVEL
With this install, BME admins will now be able to set rollup delay conditions for their institutions’ Qwidgets and Chat sessions. BME admins will be able to set delays of between 40 and 180 second delays before fellow BME members and/ or local Cooperative Groups can see the questions from Qwidgets and/or chat sessions of fellow BME member Primary Queues.
BME admins will also now see more details about the Queues and edit the Queue level Viewport. An audit history box will require the BME to detail any changes made to the Queue Management page in order to help both the Admin and QuestionPoint administrators understand when current settings have been updated. This interface is found in the Subscription Group Tab>Chat Manager>Edit links for each Queue that a BME manages.
24/7 Coop admins will also be able to set additional rollup times for the 24/7 Coop members and After-Hours Staff librarians. Those times, if set and applicable, will be visible to the BME admins on the Queue Management screens.
1.2 ABILITY TO UNCHECK QUEUES TO MONITOR AND STILL CONTINUE EXISTING CHATS.
Chat librarians can now click on "Queues" during a live chat session in progress, and uncheck the list of Queues monitored. This will allow the chat queue to close (if the particular librarian is the only or last librarian left monitoring the Chat Queue), thereby allowing them to continue with their current patron and avoid new patron calls when their library’s "chat hours" have reached an end. The Qwidget will close, and the chat link will also close (if there are no other chat librarians monitoring that Queue.)
1.3. PRIMARY QUEUE IS NO LONGER AUTOMATICALLY MONITORED!
The automatic monitoring of a chat librarian’s Primary Queue has now been decoupled from the "save monitoring" process. It is now possible to log in and monitor other types of Queues (such as BME queues, local Coop queues, and/or one of the 24/7 Coop queues*) without monitoring your library’s queue with the status of "Primary". This will first and foremost affect monitoring of a library’s Qwidget, whose open status normally depends upon a librarian monitoring the Primary Queue. With the possibility of BME rollup for Qwidgets, this protection is no longer necessary, and the ability to log in and monitor other queues on the monitoring list will allow libraries more flexibility in how and what services they open or close when they schedule their librarians for chat monitoring.
*Note to 24/7 Coop members: If you don’t monitor your "Primary" Queue, but do choose the 24/7 Coop check box, and your library’s queue is part of the 24/7 Cooperative for monitoring purposes, then you will still receive incoming questions from your own library’s queue. However, you will not receive the question any sooner than the rest of the cooperative members. In other words whatever 24/7 Coop rollup delay time is set will apply to you. If you choose neither your Primary, nor the 24/7 Coop, then you will not see questions from your own library’s queue.
2. Improvements
2.1 URL MINIMIZER ON ALL ANSWER PAGES
In March, when we introduced text messaging in QuestionPoint for U.S. libraries, we also introduced the ability to shorten URLs, critical for keeping text messages brief. With this install that feature will be available to all transactions in the Ask module, usable by all of our clients, not just US based text messages.
To shorten a URL that you want to send, copy it to the Long URL field, click on the "Minimize URL" button, and then copy the shortened URL into the body of your text.
2.2 MORE ATTACHMENTS PER ANSWER
Earlier in the year, we were able to increase the size limit for attachments sent with your answers. Now we will add the ability to attach up to four documents per answer. Together they can total up to 12 MB per answer, with each not to exceed 5 MB.
2.3 ADDITIONAL TIME-OUT OPTION
An additional time out option of 4 hours has been added to the individual librarian Settings options.
2.4 MODIFICATIONS TO POLICY PAGES TEMPLATE
The 24/7 Coop Advisory Board has recently approved several changes to the Policy Page template to better serve the needs of Cooperative member libraries and those librarians helping patrons from other libraries. The following table describes all fields in the template, which are new, which have had name changes, which have been dropped, and some explanatory notes on the content of each field.
| Current Fields | New Fields/Names | Notes |
| Alert | Alerts | |
| Home Page URL | Library Home Page URL | |
| Home Page Instructions | Home Page Instructions | |
| | Parent Institution | Link to the parent home page; include brief description of the parent institution (e.g., college home page) |
| Web Catalog URL | Catalog URL | |
| Web Catalog Instructions | Catalog Instructions | |
| | Statewide or Shared Catalog | |
| | Staff Blog, Staff Wiki, or Extranet | Many libraries offer blogs that are written by and for the benefit of staff to alert them to policy changes, new resources, tech problems, etc. Note if this is for librarians’ use only (not to be shared with patrons). |
| Reference E-mail Contact | This field has been deleted | |
| Policy Page E-mail Contact | Policy Page Email Contact | Policy Page form may not be approved if this field is not completed or is not formatted correctly |
| Library Card Number | Database Access for Coop Librarians (library card, etc) | This is a staff library card number for use of Coop librarians. Do not give this number to patrons. Alternatively, it could be a link to be used by Coop librarians to access databases |
| Pin Number | Guest Login/PIN for Coop librarians | |
| IP Address Range | IP Address Range | |
| Phone | Phone | If there are direct numbers to circ, children’s, etc they should be itemized |
| Hours | Hours | Should include holiday closures |
| Location | Location | Include zip/postal code |
| Available Technology and Equipment | Available Technology and Equipment | Wireless availability, typewriters, fax machines, scanners, computer sign-up access, color printers, software (Word, etc) |
| Databases | Databases | |
| | Remote Access | What needs to be typed in; troubleshooting tips, relevant links to library web pages |
| | Tech Assistance | When FAQs and instructions on the web site aren’t adequate, here’s who to call for various tech issues. |
| Research Guides | Research Guides | |
| | Assignments (popular/recurring) | |
| | Tutoring/Homework Assistance | |
| Library Cards | Library Card Policies | Expiration information; online application and how to activate once received |
| | Access Policies and Reciprocal Arrangements | Who can come in, who can’t without special permission, etc. |
| Loan Periods | Loan Periods/Returns | Include information on book drops, returning books to different branches, and other policies on returning books |
| Loan Limits | Loan Limits | |
| Renewals | Renewals | In addition to website, give the automated renewal phone number if available. |
| Holds | Holds | Charges, limits, notification (if Email Notification is available, include information on how to sign up) Information on requesting books online |
| Late Fees | Late Fees | Whether or not a library accepts payment over phone, online, by credit card, etc. |
| Interlibrary Loan | Interlibrary Loan | |
| Course Reserves | Course Reserves | |
| Obituaries/Local History | Obituaries/Local History | |
| Community referral Information | Community referral Information | |
| Library programs and events | Library programs, events, services | Example: include info about when libraries offer Museum Passes for checkout |
| | Meeting Rooms | If available, include whether rooms can be rented & how to reserve |
| | Summer Reading programs/lists | |
| Library Policies | Library Policies | |
| Cooperative Arrangements/Delivery | This field has been deleted |
|
| Other Policies | Other Policies | |
2.5 OPTIMIZATIONS OF FORMS AND SURVEYS FOR USE FROM MOBILE DEVICES
While QuestionPoint chat and email forms have been previously available on mobile devices, the formatting was not always optimal. Text and buttons have been increased and in some cases moved in the interface in order to assist mobile users. Email entry fields have been improved for iPhone users to use the screen that includes common email fields @ and .
2.6 INSTITUTION ID APPEARS IN NEW QUESTION NOTIFICATION E-MAIL
2.7 SERBIAN LANGUAGE ADDED TO INTERFACE
To benefit our latest new international client, Belgrade City Library, a Serbian language patron interface has been added to QuestionPoint. This Serbian language selection uses a Cyrillic alphabet.
2.8 NEW LIBRARIAN ACCOUNT DEFAULTS
To assist in speedy, accurate account creation the most commonly used options have been made the default choices:
A) The Queue "Type" setting now uses "Global" for its default. This automatically adds all the correct queues that a Globally monitoring librarian would have when chatting. "Local" is still available as an option at any time.
B) The default "Ask a librarian" permissions setting has been changed to "Ask librarian". This will automatically provide new librarian accounts with access to Chat and the Ask modules. While this is the new default, any of the other radio button options can be selected at any time.
3. Fixes
3.1 DESCRIPTIVE CODE REPORTS AVAILABLE AT GROUP LEVEL
The group administrator can once again see descriptive code reports for each institution in the group or for all the institutions at one time.
3.2 PATRON-IS-TYPING MESSAGE NO LONGER PERSISTS INCORRECTLY.
When a patron disconnects from chat, with a typed but unsent message still in the patron interface, the "patron is typing" indicator will time out of the librarian interface.
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