Ask a Librarian at FLA

Mark your calendars!!!!!

The Ask a Librarian User Forum is Thursday, May 7, 8:30-10:00 a.m., in the Florida Keys Room at this year’s FLA conference.

During the forum, we will present the Exemplary Reference Awards and information about the Ask a Librarian program in general, including widgets, Ask a Librarian mobile, statistics and training. We will also give attendees a sneak peak at some exciting changes coming up in Ask a Librarian.

We hope to see you there.

Ask a Librarian Quiz- Pass it on to your co-workers

You may have noticed my not-so-subtle hint at the end of last week’s word-of-mouth marketing email, where I mentioned that we might quiz your staff members who don’t participate in Ask a Librarian to see if they’re familiar with our service. One of most important parts of our word-of-mouth marketing campaign is to make sure that every single staff member at your library – from shelvers to the director – is comfortable enough with the basics of Ask a Librarian to be able to recommend it to a customer.

So here’s your chance to prove that you’ve done your WOMM (word-of-mouth marketing) duty and that your coworkers – the ones who don’t staff the Ask a Librarian desk – know what Ask a Librarian is!

Have your coworkers take this short quiz by April 30 to show us what they know about Ask a Librarian. Those who get all three questions correct will be entered into a drawing for some fun prizes. Make sure your coworkers enter your name in the proper location on the quiz, because if a person who you recommended wins the drawing, we will recognize you for doing a GREAT job spreading Ask a Librarian’s message to your fellow staff members.

The rules:

1. The person taking the quiz must be an employee at your library

2. The person taking the quiz must NOT be a current participant of Ask a Librarian. If he/she is on our agent list, he/she is not eligible.

3. Only people who have answered all three questions correctly will be eligible for the drawing

4. Please do not help your coworkers with the answers to the quiz. They can find the answers on our website, on posters in your library, or anywhere else they choose – the only place they can not get the answers is from YOU. (If you’ve done a good job teaching them about Ask a Librarian, they shouldn’t have to!)

Good luck and HAVE FUN!

Word-of-mouth marketing leads to unprecedented growth

It’s now been almost two months since we celebrated a successful Ask a Librarian Day and put our word-of-mouth marketing campaign into action, and I’m thrilled to announce that our statistics have continued to soar!

Our number of chats and emails in February 2009 increased by 31 percent over last February, and then in March, increased 13 percent over February. Because of the wonderful stories I’ve heard from all of you about how you have continued to spread Ask a Librarian’s message through word of mouth, I am certain that your efforts are what caused our numbers to increase so dramatically.

I’ve sent out a couple of emails asking you not only to focus on one key message at a time and spread the word to all your customers about Ask a Librarian, but also to speak with every member of your staff – from shelvers to the director – about our wonderful service.

Next week, focus on the following key message: Ask a Librarian is a website where you can go to get your questions answered by a real librarian.

Share that key message with every staff member and customer you talk to for the next week or two, and let’s see our statistics continue to increase! And who knows – we just might quiz your staff members to see if they’re familiar with Ask a Librarian. (That might be a hint!)

Thank you all for your efforts!

St John’s County celebrates national library week….check out databaseman!

closed this Sunday 4/12/2009

This is a friendly reminder that the Ask a Librarian desks are closed on Sunday, April 12 in observance of the Easter holiday.

May Hot Topics Announced!

Hot Topics: Implementing InstantInvite to your Website

You have probably stumbled upon a customer lost in the stacks and helped them find what they are looking for. The idea of roving reference has been discussed in face to face reference heavily the last several years. Join us for an hour meeting to learn about roving reference in a digital world.

With InstantInvite from InstantService, you can add some JavaScript to your site and based upon the rules you set up- can start a chat session with a customer at their moment of need. Rules can vary greatly and are individualized to your library, they can be – someone who has tried to login unsuccessfully, someone who gets zero results from a search, someone who has been on your page for 30 minutes…..

This is a general information meeting to help you understand how easy it is to set up and manage as well as why it’s a great idea for libraries with a local desk or planning a local desk.

Diana Silveira, the Virtual Reference Manager of Ask a Librarian and John Brown, from InstantService will present on this new and exciting concept in customer service.

Register today at: http://tblc.org/ws_info.php?ws=860

Google Analytics, AAL and your library

As you may or may not know, Ask a Librarian uses Google Analytics for a lot of our behind the scene statistics. This free Google service helps us analyze where customers are coming from and what they are doing once they hit our page (are they leaving, clicking around, going straight to chat).

We receive a custom report for every library’s custom Ask a Librarian page. Email me if you would like an example.

A new feature in Google Analytics allows us to create reports like this (or if you need some other data- other custom reports and have them emailed to you weekly or monthly.

If you would like to receive a weekly Google Analytics report for your library’s Ask a Librarian page. Please let me know.

Daytona Beach/Deltona location change

Due to library renovations, the Ask a Librarian workshop in Volusia County will take place at the Daytona Beach location below rather than Deltona.

Ask a Librarian Workshop @ Volusia County Public Library

Wed., May 27, 9:00 am – 3:30 pm

Library Support Center

1290 Indian Lake Rd.

Daytona Beach, FL 32124

** To register for this class, or a class in Gainesville, Miami, or Tampa, please visit http://www.tblc.org/ws_classes.php. **

The primary purpose of the full-day workshop is to introduce the software to those who have never used it, or have had limited opportunity to become familiar with it. However, it is *also* perfect if you’ve already received training but wish to feel better about your skill or comfort levels within Ask a Librarian. 

I look forward to seeing you there!

Making word-of-mouth marketing a habit

 About a week ago, I sent out an email asking you to try focusing on just one key message about Ask a Librarian: If you ever need help when you’re not in our library, visit askalibrarian.org (or find the link on our library’s website).

Did you share that message with customers? If so, what was their reaction? Are you getting more comfortable talking to customers about Ask a Librarian?

Ask a Librarian Day was a huge success, and we increased our usage by about 75 percent that weekend because all of you talked about our service to your customers. But remember – word-of-mouth marketing is an easy way to promote our service to our customers EVERY SINGLE DAY. Ask a Librarian Day may be over, but that doesn’t mean you should stop promoting our service via word-of-mouth.

This time, you and your staff should try focusing on another key message: Ask a Librarian is open until midnight Sunday through Thursday and until 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Share that key message with every customer you talk to for the next week or two, and let’s see our numbers continue to soar!

Thank you all for your enthusiasm and involvement!

March Statistics

WOW! We were busy in March.  Ask a Librarian had a high of 5,451 chat and email sessions.    Use was up on local desks, the academic desk, and the main collaborative desk.

Here are reports for your libraries:
Usage by Zip Code
Email Statistics by Library
Chat Usage by Library (adjusted)
aal-stat-report-march-09 (note the 31% increase from last year and 13% from last month!!)

Please contact me with any questions or additional reports.

Next Page »