Parkland Library

We are excited to announce our newest partner, Parkland Library in Broward County.  We anticipate a live date of July 2007!!

Avatars in Ask a Librarian

Lots of great emails and comments from people uploading avatars into the Ask a Librarian system.   Here are a few of the avatars.    Let me know if I missed yours!

Java Update

Thanks to everyone at CCLA and Docutek the Java 1.6 issue has been resolved. They were able to apply a patch to our software that fixed the problem. You may now update your Java if you would like to. Ask a Librarian’s software is compatible with the newest version of Java, and whichever previous version you were using. If you have any questions or other technical issues please let us know.

Adding a Picture and Avatar to your Ask a Librarian Profile

Individualizing Yourself in Ask a Librarian

Did you know that you can add a picture of yourself for users and other librarians to see when you’re talking to them through Ask a Librarian?  Under “My Account,” you can customize the entry message your customers see and add an image.  Are you like me and feel you haven’t had a good picture taken since 1986 or feel just a bit uncomfortable with sharing your image with the world? Here is a different idea to consider — create an avatar!  As a digital image of yourself, an avatar can be as real or as “cartoony” as you like.  Several sites offer the ability to create free avatars for download including Yahoo and Meez.

The great thing about avatars is they are easy to change – so have fun, and let the users get a peek at who is helping them.  Please avoid political statements and anything that may alienate your user. Use your judgment; we are all adults!

The picture is my current avatar.   If you add an avatar, let me know! I would love to see it! If you need some help, please let me know. 

FLA User Forum Notes

 

The meeting started with the presention of the Exemplary Reference Award Winners,  which is detailed in an earlier post (http://www.tblc.org/askalibrarianblog/?p=123)

Summary of the past year:

If you’re feeling busy at the Ask a Librarian desk, it’s because you are! As of April 13, Live Chat stats were up 15% over March 2007; In March, we had a 9% increase over Feb 2007 and a 148% increase over March 2006.

Marketing:
In the past year, Ask a Librarian has:

• Created newspaper ads for 16 community college and university newspapers
• Distributed new posters (another mass mailing was also sent out this week
• Distributed several press releases and will create custom releases for libraries on demand for regional distribution.
• Customizable bookmarks, we created the art- you just need to add your URL. JPL saw an immediate increase in use from JPL users when they distributed the bookmarks through their library.
• Created a MySpace presence. http://www.myspace.com/askalibrarianfl
  Working to communicate with those in the project through email, our blog and RSS Feeds.
• Created a commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYf6em86MP0

Coming Soon:

• A Back-to-School Marketing Campaign with new posters, bookmarks, etc
• Customize chat and email end pages for participating libraries – leading the user back to your page at the end of a session
• An ‘Ask a Librarian Day’ in the Fall

New Libraries since last FLA:
Bartow Public Library, Jacksonville Public Library, Lee County, University of Florida, Florida International University, Clearwater Public Library, and as an associate partner – Ringling Museum of Art.

Training:

Since January, there have been 8 training sessions in various parts of the state and 2 more planned. A total of 85 new librarians have taken the training and joined their collegues staffing the desk. Please let us know your training needs.

Scheduling:
More patrons = more hours needed for staffing.
Schedule is now produced quarterly for your library’s convenience.
Service is open from 10 AM-midnight Sunday through Thursday and 10 am-5 pm on Friday and Saturday.

Academic Task Force:
The Academic Task Force has made its recommendations! They recommend a pilot project starting in the Fall of this year to assess an Academic Desk. The full report is available in an earlier blog post http://www.tblc.org/askalibrarianblog/?p=121

Associate Partnerships
The Ask a Librarian Advisory Committee has backed a second pilot project this year, to create an Associate Partnership for Public School Districts interested in working with Ask a Librarian. These members will not staff the collaborative desk, but will answer email questions and follow-up on chat sessions with their students. The advantage for Ask a Librarian is it provides Ask a Librarian with a local contact who can promote and educate teachers about the service (as well as its limitations). The Advisory Committee recommended a small pilot with one or two school districts. (If you have any recommendations, please let us know).

Panel Discussion:
Ask a Librarian had a panel to discuss current issues facing Ask a Librarian. The panel was made up of:
Sue Cvejanovich, Miami Dade Public Library
Chad Mairn, St Petersburg College
Jana Ronan, University of Florida

Each panelist explained their library’s current involvement with Ask a Librarian as an introduction to the panel.

The hot topic was UF which staffs IM 56 hours/week (9-9 Monday-Thursday, 9-5 Friday) in addition to Ask a Librarian. Their IM information is integrated on the front page of their Ask a Librarian page http://www.askalibrarian.org/uf .  Jana notes that you can handle multiple patrons simultaneously with IM. One noted restriction, was she wishes IM had push page. An enhancement, Jana would like – is the idea of starting patron’s session on IM and moving to AaL when warranted.
Sue mentioned that they have a dedicated computer in a space away from the public and other distractions for AaL staffers.
The group and the attendees were asked four questions, the panel first discussed the question then the attendees provided input. Below is a summary of the responses with each question.

Ask a Librarian’s use is rising, but we still need to increase use and awareness of the service. What can we do to increase use?

• Continual marketing
• Market at UF considering doing virtual reference shifts in college residence halls to raise awareness of the service
• Get Facebook presence
• Distribute AaL bookmarks at computer monitors
• Market to businesses especially through the Better Business bureau & alumni = we can help with statistics, trend data
• Promote the databases available for free via FEL
• Order free stuff from the AaL site
• Market to people not going to our websites
• Talk about AaL in every BI class library staff teaches (SPC)

Use of library web pages, is tied very closely to use of Ask a Librarian. Several reports discuss use of library electronic resources as low. There is also a view that because users find electronic resources using links from other sources, that efforts to draw users to library web sites benefit all library electronic services. How can libraries better promote electronic resources and their web pages, can Ask a Librarian help?

• Users have to jump through hoops to use our resources. We need to fix this.
• Utilize or create a Google toolbar- bringing our resources together
• JStor with Google scholar
• Best promotion is still One-on-One showing someone a database for a specific need the moment they need it.
• Make sure Ask a Librarian knowledge base is up-to-date so librarians can access the user’s resources. Stressed: the importance of giving librarians access to the databases.
• Use AaL to create database awareness
• On metasearch interface search results on FEL, have an Ask a Librarian link

Does Ask a Librarian participation help your library fulfill its mission, if so how?

• Help students no matter where they are
• Levels the field with reference services
• Adds a dimension to reference services and we’re there
• Adds to the hours available
• AaL – there even if I’m not
• Supplement when librarian is not available
• Even for in-house users who don’t want to go to the reference desk for various reasons (Fear, convenience). Should it matter if users are doing this?
• Some foreign language students might find Chat easier than talking face to face
• AaL is an additional means for students to get assistance despite no growth in staff.
• Ask a Lib as a resource for back-up for face to face reference?

What changes would you and/or your institution like to see in the service or software?

• The knowledge base is really important. Need to keep it up-to-date. Perhaps nudge emails or a schedule.
• New field in KB- How do I login? Describing what default pin numbers are and how users can get them.
• Docutek is “…so responsive…”
• Better categorize transcripts at the end of each session. Allow for tagging
• Create a database of FAQs 

Other topic: User privacy and the current retention of transcripts. This will be reviewed by the Advisory Committee this Summer and we will implement their recommendations.

New Java Version

We have discovered a technical issue with the newest version of Java. Java version 1.6 does not appear to be compatible with the Ask a Librarian software. Version 1.6 is new and we recommend not updating your Java until we get this resolved. Please also note that the Windows Vista operating system requires Java version 1.6.

The Ask a Librarian software will test which version of Java you have when you open live chat. Just log into live chat and note the setting in the configuration test window. You will still get a green checkmark next to Java VM even if it is 1.6, but you can see which version you have from the configuration test window. If you have already updated your computer’s Java and need to roll back to the previous version please contact us for assistance.

We are working on a solution or work around to this issue and will let you know as soon as more information is available. Thank you for your patience while Docutek is working to resolve this.

Exemplary Reference Award Winners

Each month, Ask a Librarian gives three librarians Exemplary Reference Awards for their outstanding work during a chat session with a user. This meeting kicked off with the Exemplary Reference Awards. These awards help us exhibit the value of great reference work in the digital world, demonstrating how Ask a Librarian can really make a difference. These are the transcripts that make a user proclaim, “oh my gosh!!!!! Thank u soooo much!!!!”

Helping users at their point of need in the digital world can really impact the user in such a profound way and demonstrate the value of the library.  The following librarians have given us great models of customer service and brilliant librarian skills, and we are proud to hold up these transcripts as examples of the service standards Ask a Librarian stands by.

During the forum, we asked the following recipients of the Exemplary Reference Award to come to the front and accept their certificates:

Exemplary Detailed Chat
Summer 2006:  Regina Seguin, Valencia Community College
September 2006: Steve Kronen, Winter Park Public Library
October/November 2006: Tom Cipullo, Palm Beach County Library
December 2006/January 2007: Candy Heise, Sanibel Public Library
February 2007: Alicia Ellison, Hillsborough Community College

Exemplary Teaching Chat
Summer 2006: Suzi Holler, Central Florida Library Cooperative
September 2006: Douglas Black, Nova Southeastern University
October/November 2006: Mike Shell, Jacksonville Public Library
December 2006/January 2007: Andy Todd, Brevard Community College
February 2007: Courtney Moore, Winter Park Public Library

Exemplary Brief Chat
Summer 2006: Nicole Heintzelman, Winter Park Public Library
September 2006: Krista Branan, Brevard County Libraries
October/November 2006: Jorge Perez, St. Petersburg College Library
December 2006/January 2007: Michelle Petrin, Jacksonville Public Library
February 2007: Laura Cifelli, Lee County Public Library

The Quality Assurance Team was also recognized for their hard work with Ask a Librarian. 

Quality Assurance Team Members:
Pat Barbier, St Petersburg College
Joyce Ward, Winter Park Public Library
Cindy Dorfeld Bruckman, Alachua County Library District
Nicole Heintzelman, Winter Park Public Library
Laurie Hime, Miami Dade College
Paula Schrader, Okaloosa-Walton College

I can not point out enough, how thankful and appreciative, we are for all their hard work.

To view transcripts of these sessions, go to: http://www.askalibrarian.org/info/besttranscript.asp

To nominate yourself or co-worker for a Exemplary Reference Award login to the Ask a Librarian Toolbox!

User Forum at FLA

Over 40 people turned out on Friday, April 13^th for our annual User Forum at FLA. As we munched on bagels and sipped our coffees at 8am, the upbeat group participated in the forum on the status and future of Ask a Librarian.

The next several entries will break out the notes from the morning session. If you attended or didn’t attend- please speak up and let me know if there are questions or additional comments that did not get reflected in my notes.

Academic Taskforce Recommendations

At the FLA User Forum at the Florida Library Association, the Ask a Librarian Academic Desk Task Force made its recommendation. In the Fall, Ask a Librarian will debut its academic desk.

The taskforce consisted of:
Pam Beegle (Nova Southeastern University)
Judy Born (Manatee Community College)
Juana Careaga (Florida Keys Community College)
Caryl Harris (Lake County Library System)
Sandy Hawes (Saint Leo University)
Rob Krull (Palm Beach Community College)
Chad Mairn (St. Petersburg College)
Jana Ronan (University of Florida)
Debora Stewart (Palm Beach Atlantic University)

Full-text of the report:

The group was asked to decide if there is a demand for an Academic Desk. If so, what hours should the Academic Desk be available, and how would the desk be staffed.

The group met and looked at many questions and concerns. Some of them included:

• Identifying the need for an Academic Desk
• Staffing of the Academic Desk
• Members were unenthusiastic regarding the answering of questions of an academic library if they are from a public library and vice versa.
• Number of students entering via an academic library or public library.

So the group decided to survey Ask A Librarian site members. Please see the attached survey for results. http://www.surveymonkey.com/Report.asp?U=297274714001

The survey consisted of 16 questions and we had 68 respondents. The survey leaned towards the fact that there is a need for an Academic Ask a Librarian desk.

The task force met again to discuss the results and findings of the information gathered from the survey.

The results provided the fact that there is a need from the librarian’s side but the survey was not able to determine the need from the patron’s side.

The hours should reflect all open hours. Students are using the desk during school hours as well as after school.

The organization would be that when a patron accesses Ask a Librarian, their point of entry would determine the desk – academic or collaborative desk. This will alleviate the unfamiliarity of the librarian with one another’s sources.

The task force would like to recommend that an Academic Desk should be put in place as a pilot project. In order for this to work we need the support of everyone especially from the Library Directors by providing more staff coverage.

This is a huge change for Ask a Librarian, what do you think?

February Exemplary Reference Award Winners

Congrats! To February’s Exemplary Reference Award Winners on Ask a Librarian.  Alicia, Courtney and Laura did an excellent job!   Alicia will receive a $20 gift card to Borders for her Exemplary Detailed Chat session!

Exemplary Detailed  Chat

Alicia Ellison  Hillsborough Community College 2/8/2007 2:58:30 PM 45 min
The patron needed reliable website sources and Alicia not only gave her the sources she needed, but shared other directory sites for future research. The patron was very appreciative.

Exemplary Teaching Chat

Courtney Moore, Winter Park Public Library 2/10/2007 11:00:38 AM  31 min
Courtney took the patron through use of databases to find information on the topic of school prayer for a research paper. First she used the FLE resources and emailed some articles. Then she showed the patron how to access a database from his/her college database. Courtney stayed in touch with the patron.

Exemplary Brief Chat

Laura Cifelli  Lee County Public Library  2/12/2007 11:58:01 AM 12 min
Laura was able to help lead the patron in the direction he needed while making sure that he understood the boundaries she faced as a librarian. She was easy but professional with the patron and he appreciated it.

The QA Team is now looking for March transcripts! Consider pointing out a great session you or a co-worker had last month!  The transcripts can be nominated in the Ask a Librarian Toolbox, http://info.askalibrarian.org.

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