Here are a few housekeeping items with Ask a Librarian Training on the new software and other things going on with the service. I thought one email this morning would be easier than several through out the day.
Training News
- Your Site Coordinator has received your logins for Instant Service, if you have not received yours please ask your site coordinator. Please log in prior to your training. When you log in, you will be asked to reset your password. By completing this task before training, it will help the sessions run more smoothly. Report any login issues immediately. Feel free to explore and play with the new software before your session, but keep in mind that if you see “customers” signed online, they are actually fellow librarians partaking in their own training sessions. Please do not attempt to chat with them.
- To login to the new software. Login to the Ask a Librarian Toolbox (http://info.askalibrarian.org > Toolbox (pwd: toolbox)) and click on Practice/Training then ‘login as a librarian’
- Space is very tight and many online classes have waiting lists. If you can not attend, please let me know so I can let someone else take your spot. If you have not registered for a session, please visit http://www.tblc.org/ws_classes.php and register as soon as possible. Next week, we are offering online classes as well as in-person sessions in Jacksonville, Gainesville, Leesburg, Orlando, Tampa and Largo. Full-day sessions are for those new to Ask a Librarian and those wanting a more in-depth training. Two-hour sessions online and in-person are the same training, and offer a guided introduction to the new software as well as practice with colleagues.
- Please remember to continue to practice with the new software even after training so you can have a comfort level with the new software on October 1.
- Please remember to check and update your java. Machines will need to run java 1.5 or higher. Check and update your computer’s JAVA Runtime.
General Ask a Librarian News
- The quarterly user survey is now live. Users will be asked to complete the brief survey upon logout from live chat.
The survey asks:
1. Have you used Ask a Librarian before?
2. Did you connect with a librarian today?
3. Was your question answered today?
4. Did the librarian show you any Web-based library resources today (library catalog, databases, etc.)?
5. Do you think you would be able to use those same resources on your own, later on?
6. As a result of using the Ask a Librarian service, do you think you will be more comfortable doing online research in the future?
7. Based upon your experience today, would you use the Ask a Librarian service again?
8. How did you hear about Ask a Librarian?
9. We welcome your comments or suggestions. Please let us know how we are doing, and how we can improve!
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments!
September 5th, 2008
Diana
The Quality Assurance Workgroup has been hard at work and has awarded the following transcripts for February Exemplary Reference Awards of the Month. Transcripts were awarded in three categories: Best Detailed Chat, Best Brief Chat, and Best Teaching Chat. George Pearson from Florida International University will receive a gift card to Amazon.com for his Exemplary Detailed Chat and all three winners will receive a certificate at a presentation at this year’s Florida Library Association Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Brief Exemplary Chat June 08
Iraida Matos, Osceola County Library System. What a wonderful coincidence that we had a Spanish-speaking librarian online. That’s great customer service for you.
Detailed Exemplary Chat June 08
George Pearson, Florida International University. Through friendly questioning, George set up a good rapport with a Middle School patron so that George could give the student good book suggestions for his age group.
Teaching Exemplary Chat June 08
Lena Phelps-Ellerker, South Florida Community College. Lena was able to take the patron through the step-by-step process of using the drop-down menu of Boolean operators. Good teaching even without co-browse.
To view the winning transcripts, login to the Ask a Librarian Toolbox at: http://info.askalibrarian.org
Don’t forget to nominate sessions for July and August in the Toolbox!
August 20th, 2008
Diana
As your site coordinator has probably let you know, we are moving along with our migration to Instant Service from VRLPlus. We plan to be fully migrated and live on Instant Service on October 1.
October 1st! Yes, it is right around the corner and we want to make sure each of you will be comfortable in the new software so we are planning a LOT of training. All training is hands-on.
We will have:
*two hour training sessions in-person for everyone who is currently staffing
*two hour online sessions for everyone who is currently staffing
*full-day sessions for newbies to Ask a Librarian and to those who want a more detailed training.
Find out about training and register at: http://www.tblc.org/ws_classes.php under Ask a Librarian.
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
August 19th, 2008
Diana
Ask a Librarian is 5 years old today! We have come a long way in five years. On July 28, 2003, we were open noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday (24 hours a week); 12 of the 40 libraries that had signed up to participate were trained and ready to staff the desk; and we answered a whopping 10 questions via chat.
Today, we have 100 participating libraries and are open 10 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday (84 hours a week). We answered 139 chat questions last Monday alone and are anticipating over 2500 for this month.
This is because of all of your hard work. Your dogged desire to answer hard questions, willingness to use your libraries’ slim resources to staff both a collaborative and an academic desk, including helping out with occasional extra shifts, and your overall dedication to the Ask a Librarian service has made Ask a Librarian a HUGE SUCCESS!
Before I get too mushy, I will just say THANK YOU for all your work on Ask a Librarian. I feel our service is getting better every day. A milestone birthday makes it seem even more appropriate that we spread our wings with new software and really take Ask a Librarian to the next level this year.
Please feel free to go eat birthday cake today and celebrate our birthday! Included is a virtual calorie-free piece for you.
July 28th, 2008
Diana
Ask a Librarian is experiencing a huge change this year! We are moving to a new software platform, provided by InstantService, on Sept. 30. Ask a Librarian has grown considerably over the past five years, and we see indefinite continued growth. InstantService is able to support our current needs, but, more importantly, offers the range and flexibility we require for whatever exciting things lie ahead of us.
Join us for a brief online meeting to see a preview of the new software and to discuss plans for training you and your teams on and implementing the new software. We also will touch on marketing, scheduling and quality control issues during this brief meeting. Hope you can make it!
Register for one of the following online meetings!
Sessions:
Tues: 08/05/2008 1:30-2:30
Wed: 08/06/2008 9:30-10:30
Wed: 08/06/2008 1:30-2:30
Thurs: 08/07/2008 9:30-10:30
Thurs: 08/07/2008 1:30-2:30
Fri: 08/08/2008 9:30-10:30
Fri: 08/08/2008 1:30-2:30
July 25th, 2008
Diana
The Quality Assurance Workgroup has been hard at work and has awarded the following transcripts for May Exemplary Reference Awards of the Month. Transcripts were awarded in three categories: Best Detailed Chat, Best Brief Chat, and Best Teaching Chat. Christine Boatright from Suwannee River Public Library will receive a gift card to Amazon.com for his Exemplary Detailed Chat and all three winners will receive a certificate at a presentation at next year’s Florida Library Association Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Detailed Exemplary Chat
Christine Boatright, Suwannee River Regional Library.
Christine helped the customer find many relevant links for her project on the Holocaust. She was patient and kind, which the customer and her friends appreciated.
Teaching Exemplary Chat
Sandra Lee Hawes, St. Leo University.
Operator did an excellent job of showing the customer how to find online material for teaching multiculturalism. Good reference interview!
Brief Exemplary Chat
Mandy Morris, St. Petersburg Public Library.
Mandy offered a couple of great website suggestions for a patron interested in becoming a new homebuyer. She also included accessing the patron’s local library’s catalog and offered titles that would be useful and showing as “checked in.” The patron’s exact words… “thank you for your help im glad you’re so knowledgible.” Great job Mandy!
To read these transcripts or nominate your own session, visit the Ask a Librarian Toolbox at: http://info.askalibrarian.org
July 23rd, 2008
Diana
Just a brief reminder: Due to the migration to Instant Service, the training rooms will be temporarily unavailable as we set-up the new software. If you would like to practice, please contact Traci Avet, the Virtual Reference Coordinator. Her contact information is avett@tblc.org or 800-622-8252 ext 223.
Thank you for your patience as we more to Instant Service.
July 16th, 2008
Diana
We are excited to announce that we have officially awarded the new software contract to InstantService. This change means so many great things for the future of Ask a Librarian. The ink is still drying on the contact, but I wanted to let you know as soon as possible.
We’ve increased in usage by almost 200 percent since we started Ask a Librarian in 2003, and we’re continuing to grow in usage and in number of participating libraries. InstantService is a large, flexible software platform that will grow with us indefinitely over the years.
We are still perfecting our migration plan, but we plan to move to the new platform on the week of September 30. In the next couple of weeks, we will release much more information on what this involves for each of you, so please stay tuned.
So far, our plan includes:
- TONS of training throughout the state, primarily for those currently staffing the service with a few sessions for those new to the service. We envision the training to be short sessions (possibly two hours), and we plan to offer them regionally and online. Our goal is to make sure everyone is comfortable with the new software before the move. Initial training will start in August and continue through October. Traci, our new virtual reference coordinator, and I will be calling and setting up training sessions shortly, so you will have plenty of advance notice.
- Online practice time so you can become familiar with the new software. While it looks very different, the transition should be very easy if you already use Ask a Librarian.
- We will no longer have the training room for the old software after next Wednesday. The Ask a Librarian Team needs to use this server to set up the new service. If you need to practice, please contact Traci Avet (avett@tblc.org) and she will help make arrangements for you.
In the meantime, we will continue to promote, staff and use the current software as we always have. While we are all excited about the new software and all its potential, it’s important not to neglect our current software.
We’ll be in touch soon with more information, but please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
July 11th, 2008
Diana
The Tampa Bay Library Consortium welcomes Traci Avet as the new Ask a Librarian virtual reference coordinator. Traci was a reference librarian for the Palm Beach County Library System for five years before accepting the position with Ask a Librarian.
“Traci has a combination of face-to-face and virtual reference experience that is vital for this position,” said Diana Sachs-Silveira, virtual reference manager for Ask a Librarian. “We’re confident that she’ll go far with Ask a Librarian.”
Born and raised in Houma, La. – a town just south of New Orleans – Traci earned her Master of Arts in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida. Her wide range of interests include glass mosaic tiling, sewing, snorkeling, reading and writing. She and her longhaired Chihuahua relocated from West Palm Beach to the Tampa area for this position, and Traci looks forward to exploring the area and getting to know the Ask a Librarian community.
Welcome Traci!!!
July 7th, 2008
Diana
Just a quick note to let you know, I have closed the User Survey. We will post results shortly.
July 2nd, 2008
Diana
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