Patron Entry Form Updated

Great News! We have updated the form for users for the collaborative live chat service.

The form now:

– Requires Zip Code
– Gives more options for user type: Adult, not enrolled in school
College Student
High School Student
Middle School Student
Other

We hope this will help us know a little more about our users without getting too pushy :)

Let me know what you think.

ALA and Virtual Reference

At ALA this year, I attended the presentation, “See it, Hear it, Touch it: How do Communication and Learning Styles Affect Virtual Reference?” with presenters, Eileen Abels, Marie Radford, and Lynn Westbrook.

I walked away with pages and pages of notes but I wanted to share some of the highlights and see if you had any feedback…

What do we know about our users?
- Millenials (our heaviest users) (Jr High to about age 27)
Multi-taskers with an affinity for electronic communication. ‘Do-it-Yourselfers’ who learn through experimentation and self-exploration. Prefer independent learning. They look toward the Internet for resolution/solutions. What does this mean? When they come to AaL, its because they have tried on their own already, be positive (make sure they save face), appeal to desire to save time, better resources, don’t be robotic, be clear upfront on what you can and can not do, refer (monitored though).

How does the librarians learning style affect VR?
Who is staffing the desk? If not comfortable in chat, should not force it. Though comfort level will go up with training. So, expose staff.

Resources used in VR:
Users – only 25% use more than one search term. Have lack of conceptual understanding on how information exists on web, confusion with judging sites authoritativeness.
Librarians- Typically use 6-7 words in a Google Search
Librarians often use Google as a first stop in VR. Are we undermining our own e-resources? or are we going straight for an answer not a source…

Users want the answer then the option to learn.

Self-Efficacy- Supports and Barriers in VR. We need to:
- Ask open-ended questions (engage, create active users),
- Ask differentiated questions (Do you want a book or a scholarly article? ) this helps create a ‘teachable moment’ and comes in a positive way. Lets them know what choices are available.
- Keep purpose clear (what they are responsible for, and what you can do for them)
- Focus on the tools/process avoid lingo (Great study on lingo users didn’t understand is here)
- Self-Disclosure (REAL SOUNDING NAME) and admit when it’s a topic your not familiar with.

What to expect from Screenagers :
- Enthusiasm
- Don’t disclose a lack of knowledge
- Abrupt Endings…
- Impatience…which can lead to rude/insulting behavior.

What we do back?
- We are less likely to refer for additional help
- We more often send to Google
- We abruptly end sessions and reprimand
- Use more informal language.
Our own biases can cause some of the issues we have with this group. We need to treat users alike.

How do user and librarian expectations influence VR services?
Expectations:
- Users feel Internet resources are seamless and fluid connections meaning-
Consistency in language should exist (if I searched X here, X should always bring good results), they want choices in process, product and media. Prefer a single approach- (Google Search) and want tremendous flexibility, choice. HA! That’s all….
- Internet Communication patterns: Blurring the line between task and social patterns, we are setting new norms for service, the Internet has an unclear narrative structure (old- beginning, middle, end; new – ‘dip-in’, ‘dip-out’).
- 90% of users start with the Internet for research
- Set expectations for users. They come to VR for information- which they could not find (so they start with us having already failed)and want instant gratification. Users don’t have a good perspective on question difficulty.
- Can’t help – explain why and give a positive alternative.
- Build relationships, these are our users in the future.

Mean Time for transactions is 12.5 minutes.

New Government Info Bookmark

Current research shows that about 7% of the questions we receive in Ask a Librarian concern government and law, many specific to the state of Florida.

I’ve added a new link to the bookmarks for anyone staffing Ask a Librarian to help you find answers to these questions.

The bookmark is titled, “MyFlorida FAQ”

http://myflorida.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/myflorida.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php

This database of frequently asked questions on MyFlorida.com contains a wealth of information.

Have you ever had to answer questions like these:

Where can I find a previous year’s State budget?

How long must an agency keep a Public Record?

Can I pay my traffic ticket online?

Do I need a fishing license to harvest scallops?

How can I get my child’s FCAT scores online?

Just visit the link above to quickly find authoritative answers to these questions and 1500 others. Please let me know if you have any questions.

May 2007 Statistics

In May, Ask a Librarian had 2,607 live chat sessions and 993 email sessions. From May of last year we had an increase of over 140% in live chat sessions and an increase of 38% in email, totaling an increase of almost 100% from last year’s use. Ask a Librarian had an average of 87 reference chat sessions each day, with the typical weekend totalling at over 100 sessions. Ask a Librarian has had 21,232 live chat sessions this grant year, a 131% increase over the previous grant year. View as PDF or JPG.

Exemplary Reference Award Winners for April Announced

Exemplary Reference Awards
April 2007

The Quality Assurance Workgroup and AaL staff are happy to announce to the April Exemplary Reference Award Winners! Susan Livingston will be receiving a Border’s Gift Card to acknowledge the Detailed Chat.

Congrats! to all the award winners.

Exemplary Detailed Chat
Susan Livingston
South Florida Community College
Susan used good interview skills to determine the student’s needs. She found an example for the student and cited the book it came from. Susan used good follow-up by offering to transfer the student to another librarian when she had to leave.
4/18/2007 9:48:06 PM 0 hr 23 min 55 sec

Exemplary Brief Chat
James Paul
Miami Dade Public
James was able to give the patron good, quality information very quickly.
4/17/2007 10:52:48 AM 0 hr 6 min 8 sec

Exemplary Teaching Chat
Sonia Alcantara
Lee county
Sonia could have very easily left the customer to browse the SEC website on his own but instead she offered to walk him through the process using the co-browse technique which appeared to have worked perfectly that day. She also showed great patience and kept coming back to the customer to be sure that he was following her. 4/11/2007 3:42:04 PM 0 hr 43 min 26 sec

Please remember to nominate sessions for May!!!! To nominate just login to the Ask a Librarian Toolbox and Click on the Banner!

Parkland Library is live!

Great news.   Parkland Public Library is now live on Ask a Librarian.  They will staff for the first time next week. 

First Monthly Practice

I want to remind everyone that tomorrow, June 12th, will be our first monthly practice session. We will have regular practice sessions for everyone in the state on the second Tuesday of each month. Please join in and practice your skills in a low-stress environment with your colleagues.

I will be online throughout the day as a librarian and/or patron to help facilitate the practice.
Just go to this site http://www.askalibrarian.org/info/training.asp and log in as a librarian or take a turn asking questions as a patron.

I look forward to seeing you online!