Online Librarian - a joint project of Murdoch and Macquarie Universities.

Reference librarians' opinions about virtual reference

2007-01-04T15:28:00.000+09:00

The Thrill of the Chase in Cyberspace: A Report of Focus Groups with Live Chat Librarians
by Lynn Silipigni Connaway and Marie L. Radford,

It's a guest piece at the Informed Libarian Online site.

Reference chat - users publishing transcripts

2006-12-11T09:35:00.000+09:00

Be polite. Be very polite.

A disgruntled library user published the transcript of a chat reference session on her blog. Our users could easily cut and paste from the chat window.

The link has been taken down now, but this post, Librarians are always on display, from the Alaskan Librarian discusses it.

Chat reference training - how do we do it?

2006-12-08T14:58:00.000+09:00

Via Librarian in Black:

.......

Lili Luo, a Doctoral Candidate at the School of Information and Library Science University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, posted on several listservs a link to the results of a survey she did of librarians about chat reference training techniques (what's being used currently). A lot of variation in the results--but simulated sessions with one librarian pretending to be a user and live hands-on practice and demos lead the pack.

Trends in chat and IM

2006-11-30T08:56:00.000+08:00

via Stephen's Lighthouse:

Trends in Chat and IM

TechCrunch has a neat little posting about trends in Chat. Read the whole post here. The comments are interesting too. Here's the big six headings:

1. Interoperability
2. In-Browser Chat
3. Location Based Chat
4. Flexible Identities
5. Contextual Chat
6. Rich Media Chat

It's interesting to read these ideas in the context of libraries, virtual reference, our conversations and relationships with users as well as trends in the technology. I believe that all of these ideas are good opportunities but ultimately the market decides what they (real end-users) are comfortable with and what they will use. It is paramount that we continue to focus on simplicity as the magic sauce in this space.

Instructions for installng Psi (Murdoch)

2006-11-10T14:11:00.000+08:00

Download Psi software

Go to http://psi.affinix.com/download
Select Windows 98/2000/XP Installer (3 MB) .
Select the mirror site Sydney, Australia.
Follow the prompts, accepting the on screen defaults, and save to a temporary drive on your computer. (for example, c://temp)

Installing Psi software

Open the folder you saved the software to (for example, c://temp)
Click on the file psi-0.10-win-setup.exe
Click on “Run”
Install to the default location, C:\Program files\Psi
Once the installation is complete, click “Finish”.
Psi should then open on your screen. If it doesn’t, open using the Psi icon on your desktop.

Setting up your Jabber Account

Using the dropdown menu on the bottom left of the screen, Go to Account Setup.
Click on the “Add” button
Give your account a name (for example, you own name). Make sure the box for “Register new account” is not ticked. Click on Add.
Enter your Jabber ID in the account section. This will be in the format firstname and surname Initial followed by @jabber.federation.org.au For example, helenb@jabber.federation.org.au
Enter the default password onl1n3l1b
You can change this later to an individual password.
Click on Save, and Close.
On the Psi screen, change your status to Online (at the bottom right of the screen). You should now see a list of Murdoch names.

Cool IM reference ad.

2006-11-07T11:12:00.000+08:00

From the Canadian University of Guelph Ask us! service . They have a nice starting screen too.

There are more photos in K Jane's library signs photostream. Part of a series that includes "Ask a librarian while making macaroni cheese", "Ask a librarian and stay in your fuzzy pink slippers".

I'm afraid I like it better than our dorky guy with headphones. :)

Testing

2006-11-07T06:42:00.000+08:00

This is great!

IM talking points

2006-11-06T13:07:00.000+08:00

Some IM talking points for libraries considering using IM for their reference service have been posted by Aaron Schmidt at walkingpaper.org.

Among them:

IM is just for kids
IM is going to destroy our computers (a favorite IT chorus).
We don’t have enough money to do IM.
Speaking of virtual reference, we’re already doing it with tutor.com / questionpoint / docutek. We don’t need IM.
We don’t have enough time to do IM.
Small bonus

How to find the site

2006-10-30T21:17:00.000+08:00

Site address is http://m2oll.blogspot.com. (Note that the service is blogger, but the address is blogspot).

When you log in to blogger, the m2oll blog will be listed in the dashboard. Click on it to view it.

If you are using Internet Explorer, you could add a link to your favourites or drag a link to your toolbar. In Windows, you could create a shortcut on your desktop. Murdoch staff will have a link from the sidebar of the internal communications blog.

How to search

2006-10-30T21:02:00.000+08:00

There are two ways to search.

1. "Search this blog" box

You can use the search box in the top left hand side.

Use the back arrow to get back to the main blog.

2. Search box on right sidebar

The search box in the sidebar lets you do simple searches on the full contents of each post.

The results will display in a window from technorati, which looks like this.

If blogger is unreachable, you can go to our page on technorati and see recent posts.

To view a post, click on the title and it will take you back to the post at this blog. If you do not find what you want, click on the link in the green box, or use the "back" arrows of your browser to return to the blog

Technorati is a site that indexes blogs. It is a good site to find interesting blogs and understand how they interconnect.

How to comment

2006-10-30T21:00:00.000+08:00

Use comments to continue a discussion. Only create new posts for new topics.

To read comments, click on the "1(or 0 or 15) comments" link.

To post a comment:

1. Click on the "1(or 0 or 15) comments" link.
2. Enter your comment in the "Leave your comments" box
3. Choose your identity.

3.1 If you are logged in to blogger, your blogger ID will show as an option. Select this.

3. 2 If you are not logged in to blogger, you will see a box to enter your blogger ID and password. Enter this.

4. Enter the wavy letters into the "word verification" box. In theimage above, this is "mxkqr". This lets blogger know you are a real person, not a spambot.
5. Select preview to double check your message.
6. When you are ready, select "login and publish".

Comment on this post to experiment if you'd like.

How to login

2006-10-30T20:59:00.001+08:00

You need to log in to make new posts or edit existing ones.

1. Go to blogger.com

2. Select "Sign in to blogger" in the top right hand corner of the screen

3. Enter your name and password.
4. Tick the "Remember me" box so that next time you open blogger in your browser you are automatically logged in. Do not choose this if it is a shared PC.

How to join

2006-10-30T20:58:00.000+08:00

Joining allows you to make posts on the blog.

If you are part of the Online Librarian project, you will be sent an invitation to
1) sign up to blogger
2) join the m2oll blog.

Follow the instructions in the email.
Do not select the blue "name your blog" button. This creates a personal blog for you to use. You can do this later if you want.

If you do not receive an invitation by 14 November 2006 and think you should have, please ask your Online Librarian contact for one.