QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

Updated Qwidget Directions for Facebook

2012-05-16T21:33:12-07:00

Dear QuestionPoint community,

As you might have noticed, Facebook has changed how Apps and Tabs are displayed on Pages. As a result of these changes, we have updated the basic and advanced directions for adding the Qwidget to Facebook.

The most significant changes are with the new App Icon and how you install your App to Facebook once it is complete.

The directions can be found at:

Basic: http://www5.oclc.org/questionpoint/fb/QPBasicQwidgetFacebookv3.docx

Advanced: http://www5.oclc.org/questionpoint/fbqwidget/QPAdvancedQwidgetfacebookv3.docx

Please know that while we do our best to update the directions for adding the Qwidget to Facebook, it is critical for all Facebook developers to track the Facebook Developer Roadmap located at http://developers.facebook.com/roadmap/ and the Developer blog @ http://developers.facebook.com/blog/archive

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me directly.

David Leslie

Product Implementation and Support Analyst

Brief QuestionPoint service interruption planned for Wed May 16 a 6:00 UTC (2AM ET)

2012-05-15T10:40:59-07:00

Please be advised that the QuestionPoint service will be unavailable during a brief (2 minute) service interruption of QuestionPoint on Wednesday May 16

for the following time period: from 6:00 UTC (2:00 a.m. EST) for approximately 2 minutes . It is imperative that you end any in-progress chat sessions at least one minute prior to the scheduled service interruption to avoid sudden communication interruptions to your patrons and potential "hung" sessions. (You will be unable to click on any in-progress sessions to get information to communicate with the patron.) After the 2 minutes are over, you may again log in and resume your QuestionPoint activities as usual.

New Feature:

Chat Spam “Captcha” mechanism. Administrators will be able to interpose a “Captcha” challenge for their chat forms. This is available at the institution level, in the Admistration Module>Forms>Spam Filter. To enable the Captcha, choose the “Chat” check box, and then click “Save”. After patrons fill in the chat form on your websites, they will be challenged to enter a series of letters, displayed in a distorted image on the screen. If they do so successfully, the chat session will then pass through to the librarians online. There is audio assistance for those who may have difficulty seeing or interpreting the characters.

Bug Fix:

It was recently reported that extremely long URLs sent to patrons in chat, might not display properly in the patron’s chat history (although they were visible in the emailed chat transcript and inside of QuestionPoint accounts). This bug has been fixed and long URLs should now display properly in the chat history. Please note, that this fix is unrelated to the previously reported “known issue” of webpage display in the chat viewport. Long links generated from Google searches that contain the Google domain name in the URL will continue to return the “page can’t be displayed” note in the viewport, however, the URL, now visible, is clickable in order to open the page in a separate window.

Updated Qwidget for Facebook Instructions:

Updated instructions for placing a Qwidget on your Facebook account have been published to the QuestionPoint Wiki.

If you experience any outage after the projected service period, please contact your Customer Service Provider for further assistance.

Notes d'Installation prévue pour 13 mai, 2012

2012-05-10T13:06:48-07:00

1        Nouvelles fonctionnalités et améliorations

1.1  Sécurité augmentée pour les fichiers joints

Nous avons ajouté des critères de sécurité additionnels pour la nouvelle fonctionnalité permettant aux bibliothécaires stocker des fichiers joints. Ceci augmentera les mesures de sécurité actuelles afin de mieux protéger l’accès aux fichiers joints stockés.

1.2  Confidentialité des utilisateurs

Pour les bibliothèques qui utilisent des formulaires de question créés avec le « Gestionnaire de formulaires » de QuestionPoint, nous avons supprimé le lien (mention) qui menait vers les Conditions générales d’utilisation d’OCLC. Nous suggérons fortement aux bibliothèques qui utilisent ces formulaires (créés dans Administration> Établissement> Formulaires> Gestionnaire de formulaires et Groupe d’abonnement> Gestionnaire de Chat) de créer un lien vers les politiques de confidentialité de la bibliothèque (ou d’inclure une mention) en utilisant le bas de page du formulaire. Si vous avez besoin de plus d’informations, n’hésitez pas à contacter votre fournisseur de service QuestionPoint.

1.3  Pages de politiques

Affichage des zones associées avec le message d’erreur lorsque le WorldCat Registry est en panne.

Depuis la dernière installation, les bibliothèques peuvent relier des zones de leurs Pages de politiques aux données qui se trouvent dans le WorldCat Registry. Lors des rares fois où les données du WorldCat Registry ne sont pas disponibles (entretien ou panne), les bibliothécaires qui utilisent les Pages de politiques lors d’une session de Chat (discussion en ligne) verront le message d’erreur suivant :

« Impossible d’afficher les données reliées au WorldCat Registry. Le Registry est peut-être temporairement non disponible ou la zone associée du Registry ne contient aucune donnée. »

Veuillez noter que les données « copiées » seront disponibles même si le WorldCat Registry ne l’est pas. Seules les données « reliées » ne seront pas disponibles durant la panne.

1.4  Administrateurs de groupes : affichage des sondages des établissements membres dans les Questions archivées

Les résultats de sondages affichés sont maintenant dans les Données actives et les Questions archivées, et les administrateurs de groupes peuvent maintenant voir les sondages de leurs établissements membres lors des deux types de recherche.

1.5 Améliorations apportées au rapport sur les Zones du formulaire

    1.5.1   Formulaires pour « Ajout de question » (ajout manuel) et Qwidget

Les formulaires pour « Ajout de question » (ajout manuel) ou pour les sessions avec le Qwidget sont maintenant identifiables parmi les sessions par courriel et par Chat, dans les résultats des rapports en ligne et hors-ligne sur les Zones du formulaire. Le tri et l’identification de chaque type de session seront simplifiés lors de la production de rapports ou du regroupement de statistiques.

     1.5.2   Adresses électroniques complètes

Les adresses électroniques complètes des utilisateurs sont maintenant disponibles dans les rapports en ligne et hors-ligne si cette option a été sélectionnée dans administration> établissement> paramètres.

    1.5.3   Alignement

Les zones affichées dans les rapports sont maintenant bien alignées afin que les données dans les colonnes identiques des rapports en ligne et hors-ligne soient alignées.

1.6   Identification d’une nouvelle page qui brise les cadres

La page http://fmx.sagepub.com brise le cadre de la fenêtre d’affichage de l’utilisateur (abonné) et cache la section réservée au Chat si cette page est envoyée durant la session de Chat. Nous l’avons donc ajoutée à la Liste de pages qui brisent les cadres. Par conséquent, cette page ne sera pas affichée dans la fenêtre d’affichage de l’utilisateur si elle est envoyée sous forme de lien. L’utilisateur devra cliquer sur le lien dans sa fenêtre de Chat pour ouvrir la page dans une fenêtre séparée s’il veut voir cette page durant la session de Chat. La liste de pages qui brisent les cadres dans QuestionPoint est régulièrement mise à jour. Vous pouvez accéder à cette liste dans la page d’accueil Mon QuestionPoint, sous Ressources (droite de l’écran).



2        Correctifs

2.1   Chat

    2.1.1   « Chat pour tests » versus « Chat réel »

Un problème, apparu lors de la mise à disposition du nouveau formulaire pour l’ajout manuel d’une question, a été corrigé. Dorénavant, seules les sessions initiées via le lien « Formulaire utilisateur test pour le Chat » dans l’écran d’accueil « Mon QuestionPoint » contiendront la case « Test » et seront initiées comme sessions pour tests dans le Moniteur de Chat du bibliothécaire.

    2.1.2   Case « Test » dans le formulaire test pour le Chat

Cette case sera de nouveau cochée lorsque le formulaire est ouvert. Les bibliothèques qui veulent tester le Chat avec un formulaire qui sera vu par les bibliothécaires du « Chat réel » devront décocher la case « Test » pour que les questions soient affichées à ces bibliothécaires.

2.2   Enregistrement des paramètres pour les rapports hors ligne

Lors du choix des paramètres pour les types de données désirées dans les rapports hors-ligne, il est maintenant possible d’enregistrer les paramètres de la page 2 (limites de recherche) et de la page 3 (données des zones et sélection de formats) dans les rapports. Ceci permettra de générer de nouveau ces rapports sans avoir à sélectionner les paramètres chaque fois.

2.3   Rapport pour l’administrateur de groupe

    2.3.1   Rapport sur les Codes Descriptifs

Le rapport des Codes descriptifs pour le groupe a été modifié afin de ne présenter que les Codes descriptifs configurés pour les bibliothèques du groupe. Si le même code est utilisé par plusieurs bibliothèques du même Groupe d’abonnement, il y aura quand même des codes « en double » puisque chaque code est considéré comme étant unique à un établissement.

    2.3.2   Contenu

De plus, lors de la sélection de « Tous » dans les rapports de groupe, une erreur était générée lorsque les numéros de sessions auxquelles certains Codes descriptifs sélectionnés étaient assignés n’apparaissaient pas dans le rapport. Ce problème a été corrigé et les rapports contiennent maintenant les numéros de sessions auxquelles ont été assignés les Codes descriptifs sélectionnés.

2.4   Correction du jeu de caractères thaï

Les caractères thaïs sont maintenant affichés correctement dans les rapports hors ligne.

2.5   Correction de la messagerie instantanée avec Upside Wireless

Les bibliothèques QuestionPoint qui possèdent des liens à des comptes d’Upside Wireless verront dorénavant les noms à jour des comptes d’Upside Wireless dans leur module Administration si elles modifient des noms de compte par le biais de comptes d’Upside Wireless.

3        Problèmes connus du Chat

Plusieurs moteurs de recherche commerciaux, dont Google et Yahoo, ont modifié leur philosophie quant à l’utilisation du contenu. Ils ne facilitent plus la réutilisation de leurs écrans de recherche sous forme de structure de cadres HTML utilisée par l’interface de Chat pour utilisateur de QuestionPoint. Vous pouvez continuer d’utiliser ces moteurs de recherche lors des sessions avec les utilisateurs, mais soyez avisés que les pages ne seront peut-être pas automatiquement ouvertes dans la fenêtre d’affichage de l’utilisateur. Selon le navigateur utilisé (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.), l’utilisateur devra peut-être cliquer sur le lien dans sa fenêtre de Chat pour voir la page, ce qui forcera la page à s’ouvrir dans une fenêtre séparée. Les utilisateurs d’Internet Explorer recevront un message avec le lien. Toutefois, les utilisateurs de Firefox ne recevront aucun message et il est possible qu’une page blanche soit affichée au lieu de la fenêtre d’affichage de l’utilisateur.

Ce problème ne s’applique pas aux adresses URL de sites Web qui sont copiées et collées après une recherche avec Google. Il ne s’applique qu’aux adresses URL dans lesquelles le mot « google » apparaît dans l’adresse.

Nous vous recommandons de continuer à vérifier auprès de l’utilisateur l’état de l’affichage des pages envoyées, et de suggérer à l’utilisateur de cliquer sur n’importe quel lien là où la page n’a pas été affichée.

Release Notes for May 13, 2012 install

2012-05-10T12:38:40-07:00

1        New Features/Improvements

1.1 Enhanced Security for Attachments

We have added additional security criteria for the new librarian attachment storage capability. This will increase existing measures to protect against unauthorized access to the stored attachments.

1.2 Patron Privacy

For those libraries using forms created using the QuestionPoint “Forms Manager”, we have removed the default statement linking to OCLC Patron terms and conditions. We strongly encourage libraries who use those particular forms (created from Admin Module>Forms> Forms Manager & Subscription Group>Chat Manager) to create a link to and/or explanation of their library’s Privacy Policies, using the “Footer Field” in the Form builder. If you have any questions about this, please contact your QuestionPoint Support provider.

1.3 Policy Pages: Display linked fields with error message when Registry is unavailable

Our previous install allowed libraries to link fields in their Policy Pages to data already contained in their WorldCat Registry. On the rare occasion that the Registry data is not available due to maintenance or outage, librarians using the Policy Pages during a chat session will see the following error message:

           “Cannot display data linked to the WC Registry. This may be because the Registry is temporarily unavailable or the linked Registry field has no data.”

Note that “copied” data will still be available if the Registry is down. Only “linked” data is unavailable during a Registry outage or omission.

1.4 BME Admins can see Member Institutions’ Surveys in Service History

Survey results display are now consistent between Active Data and Service History and BME Admins can now see Surveys of their member institutions in both types of search results.

1.5 Form Field Report enhancements

1.5.1 Qwidget and Walk up identification

“Add Question (aka Walkup) Forms” and Qwidget sessions are now individually identifiable from “Email” and “Chat” respectively, in the Online and Off-line Form Field Reports results. Sorting and identification of each type of session will be simplified when preparing reports or gathering statistics.

1.5.2 Full patron email addresses

Full patron email addresses are now available in Off-Line Reports as well as Online Form Field Reports, if that option has been selected in Admin Module>Settings.

1.5.3 Formatting

Reported fields are now consistently aligned in spreadsheets so that columns Online and Off-line Reports for the same information are matched.

1.6 New Frame-Busting Page Identified
http://fmx.sagepub.com has been found to break the patron’s viewport frame and overtake the chat frame if sent during a chat session. We have therefore added it to the list of “known framebusters”. This means that it will not display in the viewport if sent as a link. The patron will have to click on the link in chat history to open it in a separate window, if they want to see it during the chat session.

Note: The “Frame-busters” page in QuestionPoint is periodically updated to add these sorts of pages as discovered and reported by you, our users. The link to the Frame-busters page is on the right-hand side of the My QuestionPoint homepage, under “Resources”.

2        Fixes

2.1 Chat

2.1.1 “Practice Chat” vs. “Accessible Chat” identifier fixed.

A bug introduced when the new Walk up form was implemented has now been fixed. Only sessions instigated from the “Practice Chat” link on the “My QuestionPoint” home page will contain the “practice chat” check box, and be identified as “Practice” in the librarian chat monitor.

2.1.2 “Practice Chat” Check box on Practice Chat form is now Checked by default.

This returns the Practice Chat form check box option to its original configuration. It will now be pre-checked when opened. Those libraries that wish to access the “Live service” librarians while using the Practice Chat form will have to uncheck the “practice” checkbox to have those questions seen.

2.1.3 Off-Line Reports Parameters saved.

When choosing parameters for the type of data requested in Off-line Reports, users can now save page 2 (Search limitation parameters) and page 3 (field data and format selector) data in their saved Reports. This will facilitate report re-use, in that repetitive reports can be re-run without having to reselect data each time the report is desired.

2.2 Reports for the Group Administrator

2.2.1 Descriptive Code Report List display.

Group level Descriptive Codes report has been fixed to only display the Descriptive Codes actually configured by the libraries represented in the Group. If the same code is used amongst multiple libraries in the same BME, there will still be multiple “duplicate” labels, as each institution’s code is considered unique.

2.2.2 Descriptive Code Report content.

Additionally, when selecting “All” institutions, an error occurred when sessions IDs to which some of the selected Descriptive Codes had been assigned did not display correctly in the report. This problem has been fixed and sessions IDs to which the selected Descriptive Codes have been assigned now display in the report.

2.3 Thai Character set fixed

Thai language character set is now correctly displayed in Off-line Reports.

2.4 Upside Wireless Texting fixes

QuestionPoint institutions with linked Upside Wireless accounts will now see updated UW account names in their Admin Module if they have changed the name through their Upside Wireless configuration accounts.

3        Known Issue in Chat

Sending Search Engine Page URLs in Chat

Several commercial search engines, including Google and Yahoo, have changed their philosophy about content usage. They are no longer facilitating reuse of their search pages in the type of HTML frame structure used by the QuestionPoint patron chat interface. You can continue to use these search engines while in a session with patrons, but please be aware that if you send the actual Google results pages, the pages may not automatically open in the Viewport. Depending upon which browser and (I.E, Firefox, etc.) used, the patron may need to click the hotlink from the chat history for the URL that was sent. This will force the search page to open in a separate window.   While I.E. users will receive a message in the Viewport with a helpful hot-link, Firefox users receive no such assistance, and the Viewport may switch to a blank white page.

This does not affect URLs of websites that are copied and pasted after a Google search has been completed. It only relates to URLS that actually contain “google” in the address itself.

We recommend that you continue to check with the patron frequently regarding pages sent, and suggest that the patron click on any link where the page itself did not display.

Free Webinar: Finding Your Virtual Reference Users Online

2012-05-09T01:13:05-07:00

Seeking Synchronicity found that one of the biggest obstacles to a successful virtual reference service was getting users to simply know the service existed. How do you find your users online? How do they find you?

Look at what signs have been effective in letting users know about the service. What works best in both drawing users’ attention and getting them to know what the service is about? With our constantly changing technical vocabulary, are you really saying what you want to say?

Date: 17 May 2012
Time: 1:00 PM–2:00 PM, Eastern

Speakers: Joanne John, coordinator of Enquire, the UK’s national public library virtual reference cooperative, and Bill Pardue, librarian at Arlington Heights Memorial Library in Illinois.

Register for this event

Free QuestionPoint Training Classes

2012-04-18T13:05:15-07:00

It's time again for free QuestionPoint classes, available online as part of OCLC's new training program. These classes are conducted by OCLC trainers and training partners (Amigos) and are designed to help members refresh or maintain skills, ensure effective use of OCLC subscription services, and learn new applications to help members leverage their investments in the cooperative.

The QuestionPoint classes are available on a quarterly basis and will be conducted in English. To see the list of classes and scheduled dates, go to http://training.oclc.org/training Choose "QuestionPoint" under Reference and Discovery.

You will need to register at the training portal in order to attend any of the classes, but registration and the courses themselves are free.

This series of classes begins on April 30th, so register today!

User Group Meeting This Thursday

2012-03-12T16:21:00-07:00

Our next QuestionPoint user group meeting will be held this Thursday, March 15, at the Public Library Association conference in Philadelphia.

If you won't be in Philadelphia, you can join us via WebEx!! To join the online meeting, you must register first. Once you register, the meeting link will be sent to your email address. Register here for the online meeting.

In addition to the QuestionPoint update, we will also have two guest speakers:
Betty Morganstern, Information Services Librarian at Anne Arundel County Public Library (Maryland) and Bill Pardue, Digital Services Librarian at Arlington Heights Public Library (Illinois). Betty and Bill will discuss how they've promoted their virtual reference service at their respective libraries.

To attend in Philadelphia:
Date: Thursday March 15
Location: Courtyard by Marriott Downtown, room: Salon IVM
Time: 12:30 - 1:30 pm ET

New reference guides available for form field and offline reports in QuestionPoint

2012-03-09T12:46:00-08:00

We have just posted new reference guides for running form field reports and offline reports in QuestionPoint.

These are the reports that are available for administrators at Ask >> Review Transcripts >> Form Fields/Offline.

The new guides can be found on the QuestionPoint.org web site, under Support/Documentation/Documentation for Administrators: http://questionpoint.org/support/documentation/gettingstarted/index.html.

Review Your Transcripts Offline, Review Your Form Field Data, and General Review of Your Transcripts are all newly revised.

Here are the direct links to each:

Review Your Transcripts Offline

http://questionpoint.org/support/documentation/gettingstarted/qp_reviewoffline_ref.pdf

Review Your Form Field Data

http://questionpoint.org/support/documentation/gettingstarted/qp_review_formfield_ref.pdf

General Review of Your Transcripts

http://questionpoint.org/support/documentation/gettingstarted/qp_generaltranscriptreview_ref.pdf

Paula Rumbaugh, for

The QuestionPoint Team

Join us for Best Practices in Virtual Reference Series

2012-02-17T10:27:14-08:00

OCLC and several groups and consortia are partnering to present a series of free webinars on best practices in virtual reference. This spring Susan McGlamery, Senior Product Manager for QuestionPoint, will host four sessions focused on important topics in virtual reference today. These webinars are open and available to all at no cost.

In this challenging economy, virtual reference is often one of the first things to face the chopping block in all library types, either for lack of time or funding. When virtual reference is done right, however, it can actually give you more bang for your buck – allowing your library to be at your patrons’ point of need whenever they need you. Working within groups you’re already a part of are a key to making the most of this very public-facing service.

After participating in the webinars, partner groups and consortia are hosting viewing parties for the various sessions to give librarians a platform for discussion. Be sure to check with your local group or consortia to see what they might be doing. OCLC is working with groups all over the country. Take time to watch the webinars, participate in the question/answer time and then join your group or consortia to take the next step. Viewing parties will give you the opportunity to hear what your colleagues are doing with virtual reference, get new ideas, and find ways to work within your community to make the most of what virtual reference can be for your patrons.

Best Practices in Virtual Reference: Keeping the Virtual Lights on 24/7

March 6 – 1pm Eastern

Register here

Best Practices in Virtual Reference: Virtual Reference in Tough Times

April 24 – 1pm Eastern

Register here

Best Practices in Virtual Reference: Finding Your Virtual Users Online

May 17 – 1pm Eastern

Register here

Best Practices in Virtual Reference: What the @#$? Dealing with Rude Patrons Online

June 14 – 1pm Eastern

Register here

Installation QuestionPoint prvue dimanche 12 fvrier

2012-02-09T10:15:24-08:00

Nous sommes heureux de vous informer que nous installerons une mise à niveau de QuestionPoint ce dimanche, le 12 février . Cette mise à niveau comportera de nouvelles fonctionnalités et certains améliorations. Vous trouverez la description de ces changements dans le document PDF ci-joint. N’hésitez pas à nous contacter si vous ne pouvez ouvrir le document. Nous publierons également ces informations sur le blogue de QuestionPoint.

Veuillez prendre note que le service QuestionPoint ne sera pas disponible le 12, février, de 02hr TU à 03hr TU, le temps de l'installation. Vous devez absolument mettre fin à toutes vos sessions de Chat en cours au moins deux minutes avant le moment prévu de l’interruption afin d’éviter que la communication avec vos utilisateurs soit coupée et éviter de potentielles sessions « accrochées ». (Vous ne pourrez pas cliquer sur les sessions coupées mais visible «en cours » pour obtenir les informations afin de communiquer avec les utilisateurs.)

Si vous éprouvez des problèmes après l’interruption du service, veuillez contacter votre fournisseur de service pour de l’aide.
Nous nous excusons des inconvénients causés par l'interruptions de service et vous remercions de votre patience.

Nouvelles fonctionnalités et améliorations

1. Enregistrement des pièces jointes par les bibliothécaires

Les pièces jointes par le bibliothécaire qui sont envoyées à l’utilisateur avec la réponse sont maintenant jointes à la transaction et peuvent être examinées ou téléchargées.

Lorsqu’un bibliothécaire joint un fichier à une réponse à partir de Service de référence, le fichier est vérifié afin de garantir qu’il ne contient pas de virus (no 1 dans l’illustration 1 ci-dessous). Si aucun virus n’est détecté, il est téléchargé et stocké sur un serveur OCLC. Le fichier peut ensuite être récupéré par n’importe quel bibliothécaire qui a les privilèges nécessaires pour voir la transaction. Note. — La détection de virus n’est pas synchrone donc le chargement du fichier peut prendre jusqu’à cinq minutes.

Lorsque la vérification du fichier est terminée et qu’aucun virus n’a été détecté, le nom de la pièce jointe (en hypertexte) apparaît dans la transaction (no 2 dans l’illustration 1). Si un virus a été détecté, le fichier n’est pas enregistré par QuestionPoint, et un avis indiquant que le fichier n’a pas été enregistré apparaît (no 3 dans l’illustration 1).

Illustration 1 : pièces jointes dans l’écran Question complète

Selon la combinaison du système d’exploitation et du navigateur utilisée par le bibliothécaire, et du logiciel disponible sur son ordinateur, lorsqu’il clique sur le lien pour la pièce jointe, soit celle-ci est ouverte automatiquement dans une fenêtre de navigateur, soit ou une boîte de dialogue, invitant à enregistrer ou ouvrir le fichier, est présentée. Voir l’illustration 2 ci-dessous.

Illustration 2 : boîte présentée par Windows XP

Important :
• Si une transaction est supprimée, la pièce jointe n’est plus disponible pour téléchargement.
• Pour l’instant, les pièces jointes ne seront pas disponibles dans les Questions archivées.
• Les pièces jointes envoyées avec une réponse ne seront pas mentionnées ou disponibles dans le module Bases de connaissances.

Lorsqu’une pièce jointe est envoyée par un bibliothécaire avec une réponse, une icône indiquant la présence de la pièce jointe est affichée dans la liste de questions.

Illustration 3 : icône indiquant une pièce jointe dans la liste de questions

2. Améliorations aux révisions de transcriptions hors ligne

Les utilisateurs de tous les niveaux de QuestionPoint (groupe, établissement, bibliothécaire) pourront remarquer que les améliorations apportées aux révisions Zones de formulaires en novembre dernier ont été incorporées aux révisons Hors ligne. Pour pouvoir générer des rapports statistiques pour toutes les zones de formulaires pour un établissement (ou pour tous les établissements si sélectionnés par l’administrateur de groupe), peu importe le type de formulaire, la composition du formulaire ou le nombre de versions du formulaire, il faut limiter la révision à un seul type de formulaire : courriel/question sur place, Chat/Qwidget, et textos. Ainsi, dans la liste déroulante pour le paramètre Type de session, l’indication « – Sélectionnez un type – » est maintenant affichée et il n’est plus possible de sélectionner Tous.

De plus, dans le même écran, les intervalles de dates sont maintenant inclusifs. Si, par exemple, vous voulez obtenir des statistiques pour août 2011, inscrivez 8/1/2011 dans la première boîte (« le ou après le ») et 8/31/2011 dans la seconde boîte (« le ou avant le »).

Illustration 4 : écran 2 de la configuration de révision Hors ligne

Dans le troisième et dernier écran de configuration de révision Hors ligne, la liste de zones de formulaire par défaut et personnalisées varient selon le type de session sélectionnée pour la révision : courriel/question sur place, Chat/Qwidget, ou textos. Tout comme pour la révision en ligne par Zones de formulaires (Révisions des transcriptions >> Zones de formulaires), les zones affichées dans la gauche de l’écran sont des informations étiquetées (métadonnées) sur les transactions comme la date, le domaine de l’adresse électronique de l’utilisateur, les codes descriptifs, l’adresse IP, etc. (Bien entendu, les transactions via texto n’ont pas de zones de formulaires, mais elles peuvent contenir des métadonnées comme la date et les codes descriptifs.)

Pour profiter pleinement de la structure plus flexible et précise des révisions de transactions disponible depuis novembre dernier (si vous changer de formulaire avec le temps), votre bibliothèque devrait utiliser les formulaires hébergés par le Gestionnaire de formulaires de QuestionPoint dans le module Administration.

Informations importantes à considérer lors de révisons Hors ligne (et de révision des Zones de formulaires le cas échéant) :

• L’affichage des zones personnalisées de la page 3 (liste à droite) dépend du formulaire de la bibliothèque, c’est-à-dire si le formulaire a été publié ou non dans le Gestionnaire de formulaires QuestionPoint. Toutes les zones de formulaires hébergés localement sont automatiquement affichées, mais il est impossible de sélectionner ces zones.

• Toutes les données provenant de formulaires hébergés localement sont affichées sous des en-têtes de colonnes (si le format Excel a été sélectionné comme d’affichage) intitulées « Old Data 1 » (Anciennes données 1), « Old Data 2 » (Anciennes données 2), et ainsi de suite, qui correspondent aux numéros de zones de votre formulaire hébergé localement (numéros utilisés par le système QuestionPoint). Les données sont précédées par le nom de la zone.

• Si vous publiez un formulaire en utilisant le Gestionnaire de formulaires QuestionPoint, mais que certaines des transactions que vous révisez ont été effectuées avec un ancien formulaire, vous verrez les zones du formulaire du Gestionnaire de formulaires sous des en-têtes de colonnes ET les colonnes d’anciennes zones « Old Data ». Dans l’illustration 6, les transactions dans le fichier Excel ont été effectuées avec formulaire hébergé localement, mais la bibliothèque a publié un formulaire en utilisant le Gestionnaire de formulaires.

Illustration 5 : zones par défaut et personnalisées pour les messages textes (en haut, à gauche), le Chat et les courriels

Illustration 6 : fichier Excel contenant les données d’un formulaire hébergé localement

Les gestionnaires peuvent maintenant choisir que les adresses électroniques complètes ou non des utilisateurs soient affichées lors de la révision des transcriptions (Service de référence >> Révision des transcriptions >> Zones de formulaires). Qu’il s’agisse de l’adresse complète ou uniquement du nom de domaine dépend d’un nouveau paramètre configurable dans le module Administration (Administration >> Établissement >> Paramètres). Voir l’illustration 7 ci-dessous.

Dans la page de configuration de la révision (illustration 8), dans les Zones par défaut, l’option « Adresse électronique de l’utilisateur » est sélectionnée si, dans le module Administration, l’option « Inclure l’adresse électronique complète de l’utilisateur dans les options de rapports sur les zones de formulaires » est sélectionnée (illustration 7). Si cette option n’est pas sélectionnée dans le module Administration, la zone affichée lors des révisions sera « Domaine de l’adresse de l’utilisateur ».

Illustration 7 : Inclure l’adresse électronique complète de l’utilisateur dans les options de rapports sur les zones de formulaires.

Illustration 8 : inclure l’adresse électronique complète de l’utilisateur dans les rapports – configuration de la révision

4. Fréquence des vérifications pour les questions via Upside Wireless

Si votre bibliothèque permet la référence par message texte par le biais d’Upside Wireless, vous pouvez intégrer ces messages dans QuestionPoint. Les informations sur cette fonctionnalité ont été publiées en novembre dernier (voir les Notes d’installation de novembre 2011 au http://questionpoint.blogs.com/questionpoint_247_referen/2011/11/questionpoint-install-13-november-2011.html). Initialement, QuestionPoint vérifiait (pour le compte des bibliothèques utilisant ce service) toutes les cinq (5) minutes si de nouvelles questions avaient été reçues par le
biais d’Upside Wireless. QuestionPoint vérifie maintenant toutes les deux (2) minutes si de nouvelles questions ont été reçues.

Correctifs

1. Codes descriptifs

Plusieurs correctifs ont été apportés aux codes descriptifs.

• Codes descriptifs de la liste par défaut non présentés. Lorsque la liste par défaut des codes descriptifs était utilisée (environ 70 codes ajoutés par diverses sources entre 2007 et 2010), ces codes n’étaient pas présentés lors des révisions de transcriptions dans les données sous Zones de formulaires ou dans les Données actives sous les révisions Hors ligne. Ce problème a été corrigé et tous les codes descriptifs, peu importe leur source, devraient être présentés lorsque demandés.

• Administrateurs de groupes incapables de configurer des codes descriptifs. Les administrateurs de groupes ne pouvaient pas configurer de codes descriptifs pour les bibliothèques membres de leur groupe dans le module Administration même lorsque ces bibliothèques leur avaient donné l’autorisation nécessaire. Ce problème a été corrigé et les administrateurs de groupes pourront dorénavant configurer des codes descriptifs pour les bibliothèques membres qui le permettent.

• Données mal alignées lors des révisions. Depuis novembre 2011, si l’option Codes descriptifs n’était pas cochée dans l’écran de configuration des révisions, les données des zones suivantes étaient décalées vers la gauche et, par conséquent, ces données apparaissaient dans la mauvaise colonne. Ce problème a été corrigé.

• Perte des codes descriptifs assignés lorsqu’une transaction était copiée. Si des codes descriptifs étaient assignés à une transaction qui était ensuite copiée afin d’inclure ou de corriger une adresse électronique, ces codes descriptifs n’apparaissaient pas dans la nouvelle version de la transaction. Dorénavant, les codes descriptifs seront également copiés.

2. Indexation de toutes les nouvelles transactions

Parfois, lors de l'indexation quotidienne, les transactions ayant le statut Nouvelle n’étaient pas indexées. Il fallait qu’une action soit effectuée pour que ces transactions soient indexées. La cause du problème a été identifiée et, dorénavant, les nouvelles transactions ayant le statut Nouvelle seront toutes indexées. Si vous croyez avoir d'anciennes transactions ayant le statut Nouvelle qui n’ont pas été indexées, vous pouvez ouvrir ces transactions et les assigner à un bibliothécaire ou leur ajouter une note. L’une ou l’autre de ces opérations déclenchera l'indexation de ces questions. Toutes les transactions, même celles qui n’ont pas été indexées dans les circonstances mentionnées ci-haut, seront indexées lorsqu’elles seront transférées dans les Questions archivées après 90 jours d’inactivité.

Release Notes for February 12 Install

2012-02-08T21:35:00-08:00

New Features/Improvements

1. Librarian Attachments Saved

Librarian attachments sent to a patron with an answer are now appended to the transaction and available for examination or download.

When a librarian attaches a document to an answer from within the Ask a Librarian module, the attachment will be virus scanned (no. 1 in Illustration 1 below). If passed it will be uploaded and stored on an OCLC server. The attachment will then be retrievable by any librarian with privileges that also allow them to see the transaction. The virus scanning is not synchronous, so may take up to five minutes to upload.

Upon successful scan, the attachment will be seen at the top of the transaction, and the name will be hot-linked (no. 2 in Illustration 1). If a virus has been detected, the document is not saved by QuestionPoint, and a notation of an unsaved attachment will be seen (no. 3 in Illustration 1).

Illustration 1: Attachment in Full Question View

Depending upon the OS/browser combination used by the librarian, and the software available to the user on their computer, the attachment link, when clicked, will either open automatically in a browser window or a dialogue box will appear giving the librarian the opportunity to open or save the document. The example in Illustration 2 below results from Windows 7 OS/ IE. Other messages may result from other OS/browser combinations.

Illustration 2: Windows 7 Open/Save Window

Important:

· If the transaction is deleted, the attachment will no longer be available for download.

· At this time, the attachment will not be available in Service History.

· The attachments sent with an answer will not be notated or available from the KB module.

Any attachment sent by a librarian with an answer will be reflected by a new icon in the questions list view.

Illustration 3: Attachment Icon in Questions List

2. Offline Reviews Improvements

All level of QuestionPoint managers (group, institution, Ask) will appreciate that Offline Reviews have now been updated with the Form Field Review improvements introduced in November. To achieve the ability to report on all form fields for any institution (or all institutions, if selected by a group administrator), no matter the form type, the genesis of the form, or the number of form versions, it is necessary to limit a single review to a single form type: email/walkup, chat/Qwidget, and SMS text message. Thus, the Session Type parameter now displays “—Select One –“ in the drop-down window, and there is no longer an All option.

Also, on the same page, date ranges are now inclusive. If you wish to request a review, e.g., for August 2011, enter 8/1/2011 in the first box (“On or after”) and 8/31/2011 in the second (On or before”).

Illustration 4: Page 2 of Offline Review Setup

On the third and final setup page for an Offline Review, the list of default fields and custom form fields to select from change, depending on whether the administrator has opted to report on email/walkup forms, chat/Qwidget forms, or SMS texting forms. As with the online Form Field Reviews (Transcript Reviews >> Form Fields), fields displayed on the left are tagged information (or metadata) about transactions, such as Date Entered, Patron E-mail Domain, Descriptive Codes, IP Address, and more. (Transactions received via texting do not, of course, actually have form fields, but they do have the possibility of metadata, such as Date and Descriptive Codes.)

To take full advantage of the more flexible and more accurate (if you change form fields over time) structure introduced in November 2011, your library should use forms built within the QuestionPoint Forms Manager in the Administration module.

Some important information to keep in mind with Offline Reviews (and Form Field Reviews where appropriate):

· The display on page 3 of setup of custom form fields (list on the right) depends on whether or not the library published a form in the QuestionPoint Forms Manager. All fields from self-hosted forms are automatically reported without an option to select fields.

· All data from self-hosted forms are reported under column headings (if the Excel format is chosen as the review format) labeled “Old Data 1,” “Old Data 2,” and so on, which correspond to the ID number of your self-hosted form (a number the QP system uses). Data is preceded by the actual field label.

· If you published a form using the QP Forms Manager but some of the transactions you are reviewing used a previous form, you will see both the published form fields as column headings and the Old Data columns. In Illustration 6, the transactions in the Excel file used a self-hosted form, but the library has published a form using the Forms Manager.

Illustration 5: Default and Custom Form Fields for Texting (top left), Chat, and Email

Illustration 6: Excel Review of Transactions from Self-hosted Form

3. Option to Include Patron Full Email Address in Form Field Review

Managers now have the option to include the patron’s full email address in Form Field Reviews (Ask >> Review Transcripts >> Form Fields). Whether the full address or just the domain appears depends on a new setting in the Administration module (see Illustration 7 below). The setting is on the General Settings page, under the Institution tab.

On the review setup page (Illustration 8), the Default Fields email selection option is “Patron E-mail” if the Administration setting is Yes for including the full address. The option is “Patron E-mail Domain” if the setting is No.

Illustration 7: Report Patron’s Full Email Address in Reviews – Admin Setting

Illustration 8: Report Patron’s Full Email Address in Reviews - Review Setup

4. Upside Wireless SMS Polling Frequency Increased

If your library offers SMS texting to your patrons through Upside Wireless, you can integrate those text messages into QuestionPoint. Information about that feature was released in November (see November Release Notes at http://questionpoint.blogs.com/questionpoint_247_referen/2011/11/questionpoint-install-13-november-2011.html). When introduced, QuestionPoint would poll the Upside Wireless web site every five minutes, for institutions that have integrated the two services. That frequency has been increased to every two (2) minutes.

Fixes

1. Descriptive Codes

A number of fixes were made to the Descriptive Codes feature.

· Default List Not Reported. If the default list of Descriptive Codes is being used (some 70 codes added by multiple sources between 2007 and 2010), they were not being reported in Form Field Reviews nor for Active data in Offline Reviews. That has been rectified and all codes, no matter the source, should be reported when requested.

· Group Admin Unable to Assign DCs. Group administrators (BME admins) were not able to set up Descriptive Codes for member libraries in the Administration module, even though libraries set their permissions for this functionality to Yes. This has also been rectified, and BME admins can now set up codes for all libraries that have given them permission to do so.

· Data Misaligned in Review. Since November 2011, if the Descriptive Codes option was not checked on the Form Fields Reviews setup page, every reported field following was shifted to the left by four places, thus reporting the data under incorrect headings. With this install, this misalignment has been fixed.

· Copied Transaction Loses Assigned DCs. If Descriptive Codes were assigned to a transaction that was then later copied to provide or correct an email address, the new, the codes did not carry over to the new, resulting transaction. All assigned codes will be copied to the new transaction after this install.

2. All New Transactions Indexed

There have been instances when transactions marked with the status of NEW at the time of the daily indexing of all transactions did not get indexed until some action had been taken. The cause of that problem has been discovered, and after this install, there will be no instances, going forward, in which such transactions do not get indexed. If you suspect that you have some older, still NEW transactions not indexed, you can open them and assign them to someone or add a note. That is sufficient activity for them to be picked up for indexing. All transactions, even those missed under the circumstance described above, will be indexed when they roll into the archive after 90 days of no activity.

Top 10 Quality Comments of 2011

2012-02-03T04:11:26-08:00

With the new year we present a review of the most commonly reported comments sent to our Quality Team. In 2011, Quality received comments regarding 638 transcripts: 364 (57%) related to sessions handled by librarians from Coop libraries and 274 (43%) related to sessions handled by QP Back Up librarians.   Of the 638 sessions sent to Quality, 95 (15%) were compliments! The remaining 543 sessions had at least one, and often multiple, issues. The the most commonly reported issues in 2011, listed in order of frequency, are:

1. Policy Page

Librarian does not check the policy page.   This inference arises when the information provided in session by the librarian either ignores or contradicts the information provided on the patron library’s policy page. This was also the most often reported issue in 2009 and 2010.

2. Resolution Code

Incorrect resolution code is assigned. Examples: incorrect use of the “Lost Call” code; librarian coding a session as “Answered” when telling the patron that another librarian will follow up; librarian coding a session for “Follow Up” when patron did not leave an email address.

3. Reference Conversation

Librarian does not properly clarify the question or otherwise engage in the “reference interview”, thus risking miscommunication with the patron.

4. Incorrect information was provided in the session.

In addition to factual errors, this issue refers to any type of "incorrect" piece of information provided during the chat. This issue is often used in conjunction with other issues, for instance if the librarian provides incorrect information regarding a library policy (many times, this happens when the chatting librarian provides an answer based on his own library policies rather than those of the patron’s library: we may code this issue as both “policy page” and “incorrect info”).   It also applies if the librarian says "Your librarians have not given me the ability to access your databases, so I cannot help you" but the library did provide a barcode number on the policy page. Or, if a librarian told the patron to use the Academic Search Premier database but the library doesn't subscribe to any EBSCO databases.

-- Compliments!! --

5. Source Choice

This issue arises when librarian could have sent better sources (i.e. more authoritative, more current, more appropriate to the patron's level). For example: Librarian does a Google search or sends a wikipedia article for queries that could better be handled by reference to the library’s online databases or catalog.

6.   Contact/Followup Option

With questions of a local nature, the Cooperative librarian may be unable to provide a complete answer to the patron. This is almost always the case when patrons have circulation issues, problems with their library card, etc. Unfortunately, some librarians tell the patron to “contact your library” rather than giving the patron the option to call the library (in which case the chatting librarian should provide the correct phone number, as per the policy page) or offering to code the session for Follow Up.

7. No Searching:

Examples include: patron queries whether the library owns a known item and the librarian tells patron to contact the library rather than searching the library catalog and/or databases.

8. Abrupt Ending

This issue arise when the patron is non-responsive patron and the librarian ends the session without waiting 5 minutes. It can also refer to times when librarians end the session before it appears that the patron is ready to do so.

9. Obtaining Email

Librarian fails to get patron’s email when coding Follow Up, thus making it impossible for the Patron Library to contact the patron.

10. Patron Info

Librarian does not review the Patron Info tab in the chat monitor and thus fails to note the patron’s library. Example: librarian assumes a New York customer is a patron of New York Public Library although the Patron Info tab reveals that patron is affiliated with another library in New York State.

A plea to the Cooperative: Help us with Quality!

Thanks to all for using the 24/7 Reference quality process! By sending sessions to Quality, you not only help us provide guidance when needed to the Coop librarians, but you also help us track issues both for individual libraries and the Cooperative as a whole. And, if you think a Cooperative librarian has done a nice job with one of your patrons’ questions, please send the compliment to Quality.   We will pass the compliment along to the chatting librarian, and this helps us keep track of our star libraries. So, don’t hesitate to send a compliment – we love passing those along!

How to send a session to Quality:

In the Ask a Librarian (Ask) module, click the Review Transcripts tab. When viewing the full text of the session, click the “Send to Quality Control” button. Type in any concerns or compliments in the text box, and click submit. The Quality Team will receive your comment with the full transcript, and will respond.

If you have questions about quality, don’t hesitate to email me at mcglames@oclc.org

QuestionPoint User Group meeting: ALA Midwinter 2012

2011-12-12T02:39:12-08:00

If you are attending ALA Midwinter in Dallas, please join us for the QuestionPoint user group meeting! The meeting will be held on Saturday, 2012 January 21, 10:30 a.m.-12 noon in the Dallas Convention Center, Room A307.

We will provide a QuestionPoint update from the QP product team, with plenty of time for questions, discussion, and learning about tips and tricks from QuestionPoint colleagues. If you have specific topics you would like us to discuss, you may forward them to me at mcglames@oclc.org

If you are planning on attending the meeting, please register on the OCLC Web site at https://www.oclc.org/go/ala-mw/register.html. And, be sure and drop by the OCLC booth too - Booth 921 at the Dallas Convention Center.

We look forward to seeing you in Dallas!

Monthly Report for November 2011

2011-12-05T11:11:38-08:00

QuestionPoint Members

        1,814    Active SUPs (service unit profiles)

       1,148    SUPs in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative

             47 Languages can be handled by QuestionPoint libraries*

7,236,339    Transactions had passed through QuestionPoint as 30 Nov.

3,283,050    Patrons have asked questions via libraries with QP since 2002**

      37,631    New patrons asked for help in November**

    25,117    Active records in the Global Knowledge Base

         526    Libraries have contributed active, searchable records to the GKB

*Previous monthly blog reports have counted Languages Served as reported in the Profile module. However, many libraries have incomplete profiles, so we are now using the number of language codes we have created over time to meet the known language needs of our members.

**These numbers are lower than actual, as they do not include texting patrons or chat patrons who have not provided email addresses.

QuestionPoint libraries are in 33 countries (listed by region):

Australia

New Zealand

---------------

China

French Polynesia

Japan

India

Thailand

--------------

United Arab Emirates

----------------

Botswana

South Africa

--------------

France

Greece

Germany

Italy

The Netherlands

Spain

-------------

Republic of Ireland

United Kingdom

     England

     Scotland

     Wales

---------------------

Croatia

Serbia

Slovenia

---------------

Russia

-------------

Canada

Mexico

United States

-----------------

Jamaica

Puerto Rico

Trinidad & Tabago

--------------------

Brazil

Chile

Peru

QuestionPoint Statistics for November 2011

45,822     Questions received via E-mail, Text Messages, and Add Question form

54,799     Chat sessions requested

17,881     Chat sessions requested via Qwidget

53,103     Chat sessions accepted

13,404     Chat sessions requested at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries

    627     Sessions requested after hours at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries

     82     Most concurrent chat sessions (up from 81 last month)

       31     Average concurrent chat sessions (up from 29 last month)

24/7 Reference Cooperative Statistics

63.4% Overall “Answering Percentage” (Cooperative libraries picked up 63.4% of all chat sessions, and Back Up staff picked up 34.7%)

18,919 Academic sessions requested; Coop members answered 12,428 (65.7%)

22,476 Public sessions requested; Coop members answered 13,810 (61.4%)

  1,320 Sessions Abandoned (Patron disconnected before librarian picked up, may include some practice sessions)

Global Knowledge Base Records of Note in November

We believe it is time we recognize the institutions that have contributed so much to the Global Knowlege Base. Of our 526 contributing libraries thus far, the top contributor is the New York Public Library, having answered 5,405 of the 25,117 records in the database. The NYPL continues to be an active contributor to the Cooperative and to the GKB, along with another frequent contributor, the Enquire UK service (1,692 GKB contributions).

The institution that contributed the next largest number to the database was the Paris Bpi [Bibliothèque publique d’information], which has contributed 1,880 records thus far and is still going strong. Helping to keep the French language a strong presence in the GKB is the L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sicences de l’Information et des Bibliothèques (1,309) records.

Other current member institutions contributing well over 100 records each are:

Bibliothèques de l’Institut de Mone Arabe

EnochPratt Free Library, Baltimore

KIng County Law Library

Library of Congress – American Memory, Science/Technical Reports, and Business Reference Section reading rooms

Seattle Public Library

UBAcoach: Bibliotheek van de Universiteit van Amsterdam

University of Montemorelos

University of Washington

Washington State Library

Why not take advantage of the research these libraries are sharing through the knowledge base feature? Remember to search the GKB when answering questions that are not strictly tied to local services. You may find that another librarian has already been down the same road and cleared the way for you!

All members are encouraged to contribute interesting, often asked, or hard-to find answers to the GKB. Visit Help at http://www.questionpoint.org/crs/html/help/en/ask/ask_publish_submitmulti.html for information on contributing Q&As to the knowledge bases. GKB editors fix spelling, grammar, and formatting before submitting the records for indexing so they are searchable.

Known Issue with Form Field Reports

2011-11-30T12:07:40-08:00

When an administrator runs a Form Field report (Ask >> Review Transcripts >> Form Field) and selects a Session Type, several Default Fields are displayed for the administrator to choose from. Data from all checked fields should display in the report. However, we have found that unless the administrator checks the Descriptive Codes field, no data from any of the following fields, even if checked, will appear in the report.

For example, if Chat Sessions is selected as the Session Type, the Default Fields are:

Question ID

Date Entered

Patron E-mail Domain

Form Type

Resolution Codes

Session Time

Wait Time

Descriptive Codes

IP Address

Referer

Browser/OS

Cebrowse

Category

If the administrator indicates they want Question ID, Date Entered, and Referer fields only, data from the Referer field will not appear. The administrator must also check Descriptive Codes in order for Referer data to appear in the resulting report.

We will fix this bug as soon as possible and announce its implementation. Thank you for your patience.

Monthly Report for October 2011

2011-11-22T17:51:00-08:00

QuestionPoint Membership for October 2011

           1,817    Active SUPs (service unit profiles)

           1,152    SUPs in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative

                29 Languages can be handled by QuestionPoint libraries
   7,132,966    Transactions had passed through QuestionPoint as 30 Sept.
   3,245,419    Patrons have asked questions via libraries with QP since 2002*
        41,248   New patrons asked for help in October*
        24,959    Active records in the Global Knowledge Base
            525     Libraries have contributed active, searchable records to the GKB
*These numbers are lower than actual, as they do not include texting patrons or chat patrons who have not provided email addresses.

QuestionPoint libraries are in 33 countries (listed by region):

Australia
New Zealand
---------------
China
French Polynesia
Japan
India
Thailand
--------------
United Arab Emirates
----------------
Botswana
South Africa
--------------
France
Greece
Germany
Italy
The Netherlands
Spain
-------------
Republic of Ireland

United Kingdom
     England
     Scotland
     Wales
---------------------
Croatia
Serbia
Slovenia
---------------
Russia
-------------
Canada
Mexico
United States
-----------------
Jamaica
Puerto Rico
Trinidad & Tabago
--------------------
Brazil
Chile
Peru

QuestionPoint Statistics for October 2011

50,286     Questions received via E-mail and Text Messages
56,150     Chat sessions requested
18,382     Chat sessions requested via Qwidget
54,321     Chat sessions accepted
13,347     Chat sessions requested at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries
     722     Sessions requested after hours at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries
       81    Most concurrent chat sessions (up from 71 last month)
      29     Average concurrent chat sessions (up from 23 last month)

24/7 Reference Cooperative Statistics

63.9% Overall “Answering Percentage” (Cooperative libraries picked up 63.9% of all chat sessions, and Back Up staff picked up 33.9%)
19,408 Academic sessions requested; Coop members answered 13,172 (67.9%)
23,395 Public sessions requested; Coop members answered 14,192 (60.7%)
     940 Sessions Abandoned (Patron disconnected before librarian picked up, may include some practice sessions)

Installation prvue dimanche 13 novembre

2011-11-11T10:42:34-08:00

Chers utilisateurs de QuestionPoint,

Nous sommes heureux de vous informer que nous installerons une mise à niveau de QuestionPoint ce dimanche, 13 novembre . Cette mise à niveau comportera de nouvelles fonctionnalités et certains améliorations. Vous trouverez la description de ces changements dans le document PDF ci-joint. N’hésitez pas à nous contacter si vous ne pouvez ouvrir le document. Nous publierons également ces informations sur le blogue de QuestionPoint.

Veuillez prendre note que le service QuestionPoint ne sera pas disponible le 13 novembre, de 02hr TU à 04hr TU, le temps de l'installation. Vous devez absolument mettre fin à toutes vos sessions de Chat en cours au moins deux minutes avant le moment prévu de l’interruption afin d’éviter que la communication avec vos utilisateurs soit coupée et éviter de potentielles sessions « accrochées ». (Vous ne pourrez pas cliquer sur les sessions coupées mais visible «en cours » pour obtenir les informations afin de communiquer avec les utilisateurs.)

Lorsque le service sera rétabli, veuillez vérifier dans la liste de vos Nouvelles questions si des sessions de Chat ont été interrompues ou si vous avez reçu de nouvelles questions par courriel. Si vous éprouvez des problèmes après l’interruption du service, veuillez contacter votre fournisseur de service pour de l’aide.
Nous nous excusons des inconvénients causés par l'interruptions de service et vous remercions de votre patience.

Carol Bonnefil

Sr. Product Analyst

QuestionPoint

OCLC

bonnefic@oclc.org

Nouvelles fonctionnalités et améliorations

1. Upside Wireless : une autre option pour les textos

Les bibliothèques qui ont un compte Upside Wireless (http://www.upsidewireless.com/), une solution pour messages textes basée au Canada (mais également vendue aux États-Unis, au Royaume-Uni et dans d’autres pays), peuvent maintenant intégrer ce compte dans QuestionPoint. Les administrateurs doivent effectuer quelques configurations faciles dans le module Administration pour établir le lien entre les deux services. Voir les illustrations ci-dessous.

Comme avec le service « Text a Librarian » de Mosio (intégré à QuestionPoint en mars 2010), les messages textes seront envoyés au module Service de référence et les bibliothécaires devront répondre à ces messages à partir de ce module. Lors de la réception d’un message texte, les bibliothécaires recevront un avis d’Upside Wireless et un avis de QuestionPoint si cette fonctionnalité est activée dans QuestionPoint. Les réponses aux messages d’Upside Wireless peuvent contenir un maximum de 160 caractères (un compteur indique le nombre de caractères entrés dans la page de réponse).

L’image ci-dessous montre comment une bibliothécaire a utilisé le minimiseur d’URL pour raccourcir l’adresse URL afin de l’inclure dans son message.

2. Nouvelles zones ajoutées dans les pages de politiques

Deux nouvelles zones ont été ajoutées à la page de politiques modèle pour les bibliothèques coopératives : Recherche de revues électroniques et Résolveur Open URL. Ces deux zones peuvent être liées aux zones correspondantes dans le WorldCat Registry si l’éditeur de la Page de politiques le veut. Les informations peuvent aussi être copiées du WorldCat Registry et adaptées pour la Page de politiques. Finalement, l’éditeur peut les entrer directement dans la Page des politiques.

De plus, la zone Établissement principal peut maintenant être liée au, ou copiée du, WorldCat Registry.

Avantage du lien au dossier du WorldCat Registry : lorsqu’une information doit être modifiée, elle n’a qu’à être modifiée dans le WorldCat Registry et non dans chaque service OCLC.

Pour savoir quelles informations inscrire dans la Page de politiques, voir les directives au : http://wiki.questionpoint.org/w/page/13839472/Policy%20Page%20Guidelines .

L’image ci-dessus montre les nouveaux liens dans l’écran de l’éditeur et dans celui du bibliothécaire.

3. Exportation des données des sessions et des formulaires de question

Comme première étape dans l’amélioration de la production des rapports statistiques pour les formulaires (formulaire Web, formulaire de Chat), des modifications ont été apportées à l’exportation des données (Service de référence >> Réviser les transcriptions >> Exportation). L’image ci-dessous montre comment les administrateurs doivent d’abord sélectionner la Date, le Format puis le Type de session : formulaire de question et question sur place (Ajouter une question); sessions en direct (Chat); et messages textes.

Les zones affichées dans la deuxième partie de la page dépendent du type de session sélectionné. De plus, le format par défaut est maintenant Fichier Excel et les libellés sont affichés Comme des titres de colonnes.

Veuillez noter que, pour cette installation de QuestionPoint, nous avons restructuré la façon dont les zones de formulaires sont nommées, entretenues et stockées. Pour profiter pleinement de cette nouvelle structure (si vous êtes appelé à modifier les zones de formulaires), vous devriez utiliser les formulaires disponibles dans le module Administration sous Gestionnaire de formulaires. Note. – Les bibliothèques qui utilisaient les formulaires disponibles dans le Gestionnaire de formulaires devront recréer ces formulaires pour profiter pleinement des améliorations. Des instructions décrivant cette procédure assez simple seront publiées après l’installation.

4. Mise à niveau du formulaire test pour le Chat

Le formulaire pour tester le Chat a été mis à niveau et intégré dans le Gestionnaire de formulaires. Si votre bibliothèque a un formulaire pour le Chat dans le Gestionnaire de formulaires, votre administrateur peut choisir d’inclure toutes les zones et options de ce formulaire dans le formulaire test. Sinon, les zones par défaut seront affichées dans le formulaire test : Nom, Adresse électronique et Question.

Si vous voulez tester le Chat, cochez la case « Test » pour que votre session soit transférée à la File d’attente test (le bibliothécaire au Chat doit sélectionner la File d’attente test dans le Moniteur de Chat). Si vous voulez tester le Chat dans un environnement réel, la case doit être décochée et une file d’attente réelle doit être sélectionnée dans le Moniteur de Chat. Lorsque le formulaire test est utilisé, les données des sessions ne sont pas comptabilisées dans les rapports statistiques.

L’image ci-dessous montre un formulaire test qui contient les zones configurées dans le Gestionnaire de formulaires.

5. Configuration des formulaires pour question sur place dans le Gestionnaire de formulaires

Toujours dans le but d’améliorer la production de rapports statistiques sur les données des formulaires, la configuration des formulaires pour les questions sur place, qui devait auparavant être effectuée dans le module Service de référence (Ajouter une question), est maintenant effectuée dans le Gestionnaire de formulaires. Ainsi, tous les formulaires sont maintenant regroupés en un même endroit ce qui vous permet de mieux contrôler leur uniformité. De plus, grâce au nouvel emplacement des formulaires pour les questions sur place, vous pourrez maintenant sélectionner des options dans des menus déroulants.

L’image suivante illustre l’endroit où vous pouvez maintenant configurer les formulaires pour question sur place.

Dans l’image suivante, un exemple de formulaire pour question sur place configuré dans le Gestionnaire de formulaires.

6. Ajout de l’irlandais

Les administrateurs peuvent maintenant sélectionner la langue irlandaise dans les forces (profondeur) de la collection dans le Profil de l’établissement (module Profil) et les éditeurs de la Base de connaissances globale peuvent également ajouter des notices en langue irlandaise.

Corrections

1. Fuseaux horaires

Lors de l’installation précédente, une plus grande flexibilité pour les fuseaux horaires a été implantée afin de permettre plusieurs fuseaux horaires par pays. Étant donné que des dates différentes ont été adoptées par certains pays pour le passage de l’heure normale à l’heure avancée (et vice-versa), le changement automatique d’heure dans QuestionPoint n’était pas approprié dans certains cas. Ce problème a été réglé et le changement automatique d’heure (avancée et normale) sera maintenant correctement effectué pour les fuseaux horaires représentés dans QuestionPoint.

QuestionPoint Install 13 November 2011

2011-11-10T21:39:00-08:00

New Features

1.    Upside Wireless, another texting option

Libraries that have accounts with Upside Wireless (http://www.upsidewireless.com/) , a text messaging solution based in Canada (but also sold in the U.S. and UK and other select countries), can now integrate that account into QuestionPoint. Administrators need to complete simple configuration steps in the Administration module to make the link between the two services active. The images below illustrate.

As with Mosio’s Text a Librarian (integrated with QuestionPoint in March 2010), text messages will be delivered to the Ask module and answered from there. Libraries will receive an e-mail alert from Upside Wireless, as well as a notification from QuestionPoint if QP notification is active. Responses to Upside Wireless text messages can be a maximum of 160 characters, and a counter on the Answer page counts down as the librarian enters their response. The Answer box will not accept characters beyond 160.
     The last image illustrates how one librarian used the URL “minifier” to shorten a URL, so her response would fit well within the 160-character limit.

2.    New fields added to Policy Pages

Two new fields have been added to the Policy Page template for Cooperative libraries: e-Serials ISSN Search and Open URL Resolvers. Both fields can be linked to fields in the WorldCat Registry if the Policy Page editor wishes. The information could also be copied from the Registry and edited for Policy Page use. The final option is for the editor to enter data directly into the field.

In addition, the Parent Institution field can now also be linked to or copied from the Registry if the editor wishes. The advantage of linking to a Registry record is that information that changes needs to be updated in only the Registry and not in each, individual OCLC service.   See the Policy Page guidelines at http://wiki.questionpoint.org/w/page/13839472/Policy%20Page%20Guidelines for the type of data that should go into these fields.

The image above illustrates the editor and chat librarian views of the new linkable fields.

3.    Form Field reviews

As part of the first, necessary steps to improving the reporting of information you collect on your various forms (e.g., webform, chat form), QuestionPoint has made a few changes to form field reviews (Ask >> Review Transcripts >> Form Fields).   The image below illustrates how administrators must first select the date and delivery format options, then the Session Type they want to review: questions received via your question form link, i.e., webform and walk-up (Add Question) forms; chat sessions; and text messages.
     Depending on your selection of Session Type, the second part of the page is populated with the possible fields to report on. Other changes include changing the default delivery format to the View Excel file and the default label layout to As column headings.
     It should be noted that the important work that is being implemented with this release is the restructuring of how form fields are named, maintained, and stored. To take full advantage of the more flexible and more accurate (if you change form fields over time) structure, your library should use forms built within the QuestionPoint Forms Manager in the Administration module. Note: Those libraries that have been using Forms Manager forms will need to rebuild those forms to take full advantage of the improvements. Instructions for that simple procedure will be published after the release.

4.    Practice chat form upgrade

The practice chat form has been upgraded and integrated into the Forms Manager. If your library has a chat form built with the Forms Manager, your administrator can choose to have all the fields and options of that form also appear for the practice form.   Otherwise, the practice form will use default fields: Name, E-mail, and Question. In the case of defaults, all fields are optional.

If you wish to practice or test, check the Practice checkbox so that your session comes into the Practice queue (the “chat librarian” must select the Practice queue on the chat monitor queue selection page). Or if you want to test in a live environment, leave the box unchecked and choose a real queue to monitor in the chat monitor. Sessions using the practice form are not included in statistics or form field reports.

The image below illustrates a practice form that is using fields configured in Forms Manager.

5.    Walk-up (Add Question) forms configuration integrated into Forms Manager

Also a result of the effort to improve form reporting, we have moved the configuration of walk-up forms from the Ask module and integrated it into the Forms Manager. This places the control of all patron/question intake methods in one area and allows you to build forms more uniformly, if desired, as well as more efficiently, since you can use the same configured field(s) in more than one form. Also, with walk-up forms now within the Forms Manager, you can build selection options such as drop-down menus, which were not possible heretofore for walk-up forms.

The following image illustrates where the walk-up form is configured within the Forms Manager.

And the next image shows what a configured walk-up form might look like.

6.    Irish language added

Administrators can now indicate Irish as a language strength in the Profile module, and editors can add Irish-language records to a local knowledge base or the Global KB.

Fixes

1.    Time zone fixes

In our previous install, we introduced greater flexibility in time zone configuration, which enabled multiple time zones per country. Because different Daylight Savings (or Summer Time) dates have been adopted in certain regions of some countries, our automated “switch” did not correctly operate for all of the newly created zones. This has now been corrected, and the automated drop-back/spring-forward will now function correctly for all of the time zones represented in QuestionPoint.

QuestionPoint Announces Materials for LIS Schools

2011-10-14T14:55:00-07:00

Library schools can obtain a free QuestionPoint account, which will allow faculty members and students to use the QuestionPoint virtual reference software.

A unique teaching vehicle.
QuestionPoint in the classroom will maximize students’ LIS education and develop their virtual reference skills. Students can experience simulated chat reference interactions and become familiar with an online reference management environment. Transcripts of chats can be saved and reviewed in class to provide discussions on best practices and reference service provision.

Learning resources available with free LIS account:

Access to software librarians use and ability to conduct chats and email and review transcripts within class setting.

Training and information modules on virtual reference and best practices.

Sample questions and transcripts to use for classroom exercises.

List of suggested readings and lessons on virtual reference.

For more information on the LIS account, contact:
Becky Hawk at hawkb@oclc.org
Or visit http://www.oclc.org/community/education/lis

Monthly Report for September 2011

2011-10-10T12:36:00-07:00

QuestionPoint Members

        1,940    Active SUPs (service unit profiles)

      1,276    SUPs in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative

             29 Languages can be handled by QuestionPoint libraries

7,031,965    Transactions had passed through QuestionPoint as 30 Sept.

3,204,171    Patrons have asked questions via libraries with QP since 2002*

      36,122    New patrons asked for help in September*

    24,851    Active records in the Global Knowledge Base

          525     Libraries have contributed active, searchable records to the GKB

*These numbers are lower than actual, as they do not include texting patrons or chat patrons who have not provided email addresses.

QuestionPoint libraries are in 33 countries (listed by region):

Australia

New Zealand

---------------

China

French Polynesia

Japan

India

Thailand

--------------

United Arab Emirates

----------------

Botswana

South Africa

--------------

France

Greece

Germany

Italy

The Netherlands

Spain

-------------

Republic of Ireland

United Kingdom

     England

     Scotland

     Wales

---------------------

Croatia

Serbia

Slovenia

---------------

Russia

-------------

Canada

Mexico

United States

-----------------

Jamaica

Puerto Rico

Trinidad & Tabago

--------------------

Brazil

Chile

Peru

QuestionPoint Statistics for September 2011

43,144     Questions received via E-mail and Text Messages

43,740     Chat sessions requested

13,919     Chat sessions requested via Qwidget

42,316     Chat sessions accepted

  9,612     Chat sessions requested at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries

   611     Sessions requested after hours at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries

     71     Most concurrent chat sessions (up from 46 last month)

       23     Average concurrent chat sessions (up from 14 last month)

24/7 Reference Cooperative Statistics

67.1% Overall “Answering Percentage” (Cooperative libraries picked up 67.1% of all chat sessions, and Back Up staff picked up 30.7%)

15,259 Academic sessions requested; Coop members answered 10,503 (68.8%)

18,869 Public sessions requested; Coop members answered 12,404 (65.7%)

     753 Sessions Abandoned (Patron disconnected before librarian picked up, may include some practice sessions)

September Questions of Note

One of our members--actually, the OCLC Information Center, right in our back yard—was able to get useful information for a question he was working on. In answer to the question about free Internet access in libraries in France, the librarian got an answer straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak: Global Knowledge Base record ID 99934 provided him with a directory of public libraries in the major towns of France, as well as the URL for the Association of French Librarians. But more to the point, while the UK librarian was working on the original question documented in the GKB, a library user from France happened on the UK enquiry desk and described Internet access in France’s public libraries.

Although of 2005 vintage, the URLs in the answer are still valid, and there is little reason to believe the French patron’s information is not still the general situation in France. Nevertheless, our librarian is contacting the Association of French Librarians and promises to update KBID 99934 when he receives additional information.

Search for “association french librarians” (include quotation marks) in the search box in the left margin of this blog.

If you have a story about the Global Knowledge Base to share, please send it to Paula Rumbaugh, at rumbaugh@oclc.org.

--------------------------------------

In September 32 English-language records and 43 French-language records were added to the GKB.

A 76th record was Spanish-language but answered by the Bibliothèque de l’Institut du Monde Arabe. KBID 210698 provides a lengthy bibliography for an Argentinian student on the history of Arab culture in France. Search in the blog search box for “buenos aires” arabe francia (include quotes).

Our thanks, as always, to our volunteer editors for reviewing, copy editing, and formatting records submitted to the Global Reference Network by member libraries. If you are interested in learning more about the QuestionPoint knowledge base feature (both local and global), see The QuestionPoint Knowledge Bases: An Introduction,” at http://questionpoint.org/education/index.html.

Updated directions for adding the Qwidget to Facebook

2011-09-28T09:19:02-07:00

Dear QuestionPoint community,

As you might have noticed, Facebook has announced and has already made some significant changes to how applications (apps) are built for Facebook. As a result of these changes, we have updated the basic and advanced directions for adding the Qwidget to Facebook.

The updated directions cover these four significant changes you will need to be aware of if you use the QuestionPoint qwidget on Facebook.

Starting Oct 1 all Facebook canvas applications such as the qwidget must be assessable via SSL. This means you will need to have your qwidget hosted on a server Facebook can access that supports HTTPS as well as HTTP. For more information on this, please see http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/497/

Changes to the user interface of the Facebook Developer tool

An option to have your application’s files hosted by an integrated provider such as Heroku

An update to the Facebook PHP files which are used in the Advanced directions.

You can find these updated directions at

Basic: http://www5.oclc.org/questionpoint/fb/QPBasicQwidgetFacebookv2.docx

Advanced: http://www5.oclc.org/questionpoint/fbqwidget/QPAdvancedQwidgetfacebookv2.docx

Please know that while we do our best to update the directions for adding the Qwidget to Facebook, it is critical for all Facebook developers to track the Facebook Developer Roadmap located at http://developers.facebook.com/roadmap/ and the Developer blog @ http://developers.facebook.com/blog/archive

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me directly.

David Leslie

Product Implmentation and Support Analyst

QuestionPoint team

QuestionPoint transactions pass the 7M marker!

2011-09-28T05:53:10-07:00

Congratulations to the University of California San Diego library, which handled the 7,000,000^th QuestionPoint transaction on Wednesday, 9/21, at 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time. The question, inquiring about the open hours of Academic Computing and Media Services labs, came via an SMS text message.

The question received prompt attention. The librarian’s answer demonstrates the on-page utility to shorten long URLs—with her answer, she provided a minified URL for further information on lab hours. First introduced with the QuestionPoint texting capability, the minifier is especially useful in helping to keep the character count of text message answers low.

UCSD has been offering texting service through QuestionPoint since August 2010 (texting in QuestionPoint was introduced in March 2010). UCSD reports indicate steady texting usage throughout 2011, making up just over 14% of UCSD total questions received by all methods, including web form, chat, and Qwidget.

Top 10 Quality Comments: January June 2011

2011-09-15T09:19:35-07:00

We usually present the Top 10 Quality issues at the beginning of the year, for the preceding year. However, by popular demand, we are presenting a 6 month snapshot of the Top 10 Quality Comments for the first half of 2011. This list reflects the issues most often reported by Cooperative librarians about other librarians in the Cooperative. The issues most cited by reviewing librarians, listed in order of frequency, are:

1. Policy Page

Librarian does not check the policy page.   This inference arises when the information provided in session by the librarian either ignores or contradicts the information provided on the patron library’s policy page. This was also the most often reported issue in 2009 and 2010.

2. Resolution Code

Incorrect resolution code is assigned. Often this is because of incorrect use of the “Lost Call” code. It also arises when the librarian tells patron that another librarian will follow up, then codes as Answered, or librarian codes session for Follow Up when patron did not leave an email address.

3. Reference Conversation

Librarian does not properly clarify the question or otherwise engage in the “reference interview”, thus risking miscommunication with the patron.

4. Incorrect information was provided in the session.

This issue is often used in conjunction with other issues, for instance if the librarian provides incorrect information regarding a library policy (many times, this happens when the chatting librarian provides an answer based on his own library policies rather than those of the patron’s library: we may code this issue as both “policy page” and “incorrect info”). Another example: patron was looking for books by “Chuck Palahnuik”; librarian searched using this spelling and found nothing – because the author’s name is incorrect (it should be Chuck Palahnuik)

5. No Searching (tie for 5th):

Examples include: patron queries whether the library owns a known item and the librarian tells patron to contact the library rather than searching the library catalog and/or databases.

5. Source Choice (tie for 5th)

This issue arises when librarian could have sent better sources (i.e. more authoritative, more current, more appropriate to the patron's level). For example: Librarian does a Google search or sends a wikipedia article for queries that could better be handled by reference to the library’s online databases or catalog.

6. Descriptive Codes

Cooperative librarian assigns a descriptive code to a non-local question (i.e., a session with a Cooperative patron). Descriptive codes should only be assigned to sessions with your own patrons.

7. Compliments!

Yes, we get compliments and we love passing those along. If you think a Cooperative librarian has done a nice job with one of your patrons’ questions, please send it to Quality. We will pass the compliment along to the chatting librarian, and this helps us keep track of our star libraries. So, don’t hesitate to send a compliment!

8. Abrupt Ending

This issue arise when the patron is non-responsive patron and the librarian ends the session without waiting 5 minutes. It can also refer to times when librarians end the session before it appears that the patron is ready to do so.

9.   Contact/Followup Option

With questions of a local nature, the Cooperative librarian may be unable to provide a complete answer to the patron. This is almost always the case when patrons have circulation issues, problems with their library card, etc. Unfortunately, some librarians tell the patron to “contact your library” rather than giving the patron the option to call the library (in which case the chatting librarian should provide the correct phone number, as per the policy page) or offering to code the session for Follow Up.

10. Search Strategies

Librarian’ does a search for information, but fails to find the information requested due to a faulty search strategy. This issue also arises if the librarian does not provide assistance in how to find articles (provides no search strategy for a database).

Thanks to all for using the 24/7 Reference quality process! By sending sessions to Quality, you not only help us provide guidance when needed to the Coop librarians, but you also help us track issues both for individual libraries and the Cooperative as a whole. If you have questions about quality, don’t hesitate to email me at mcglames@oclc.org

Free QuestionPoint training at OCLC training portal

2011-09-09T01:33:14-07:00

We are pleased to announce that free QuestionPoint classes are available online, as part of OCLC's new training program. These classes will be conducted by OCLC trainers and various training partners (Amigos, WiLS, Minitex, MLNC, MCLS, OHIONET and LYRASIS, as appropriate) and are designed to help members refresh or maintain skills, ensure effective use of OCLC subscription services, and learn new applications to help members leverage their investments in the cooperative.

The QuestionPoint classes do not take the place of the original hands-on guidance that new QuestionPoint subscribers receive as part of Implementation, but instead are targeted toward exposing QuestionPoint users to new and/or unfamiliar facets of the program.

The QuestionPoint classes are available on a quarterly basis and will be conducted in English. To see the list of classes and scheduled dates, go to http://training.oclc.org/. Choose "Training Courses" then "QuestionPoint". You will need to register at the training portal in order to attend any of the classes, but registration and the courses themselves are free.

For your convenience, this quarter's schedule is copied below:

QuestionPoint Administration 1 - Starting Your QuestionPoint Service

Wed 9/21/2011: 9/21/2011 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

Thu 12/08/2011: 12/08/2011 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST

QuestionPoint Administration 2 - Generating and Interpreting Reports

Wed 9/21/2011: 9/21/2011 from 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM EDT

Thu 12/08/2011: 12/08/2011 from 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM EST

QuestionPoint Librarian 1 - QuestionPoint Overview and E-mail Reference

Mon 9/19/2011: 9/19/2011 from 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

Tue 12/06/2011: 12/06/2011 from 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST

QuestionPoint Librarian 2 - Using Flash Chat

Mon 9/19/2011: 9/19/2011 from 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM EDT

Tue 12/06/2011: 12/06/2011 from 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM EST

QuestionPoint Librarian 3 - Chat Follow-up, Referrals, and Managing Questions

Tue 9/20/2011: 9/20/2011 from :00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

Wed 12/07/2011: from 12/07/2011 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST

QuestionPoint Librarian 4 - Personal Scripts, Co-browse, IM and Transfer

Tue 9/20/2011: 9/20/2011 from 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM EDT

Wed 12/07/2011: 12/07/2011 from 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM EST

We hope that this new OCLC benefit will assist our current QuestionPoint subscribers!

Community Outreach with QuestionPoint: webinar recording

2011-09-07T02:07:44-07:00

Programs and events offered through virtual reference are a cost-effective way for libraries to engage with their community; with a virtual session, your users don’t need to visit the library to attend – and the speakers can be off-site as well. This webinar highlights several innovative programs conducted by various members of the Enquire group, the national virtual reference service for the UK, staffed by UK public libraries.

Enquire coordinator Joanne John provides a brief overview of Enquire, then discusses how UK libraries have set up local chat services, in addition to their participation in the national Enquire service. Among the different services discussed are homework help services, such as Essex County Council's popular Homework Helper. In addition, some libraries use their local chat service to present special events, such as: Chat with an Author, Councillor Clinic (elected officials answer questions from their electorate) and Book clinic (customers discuss books, both general and genre specific). Cornwall's local service allowed the library to completely reconfigure the way reference service is provided to the public.

The UK public libraries are increasingly adopting the “local service” model to provide services and programs unique to their communities, in addition to providing 24/7 help through the national Enqiure service. Not only does this raise the profile of the library - it can open up many intriguing ways to collaborate with community leaders, artists and subject experts, regardless of their location. And it can be a lot of fun, too!

The recording is available as a streaming link or you can download the file (you need an ARF player for the download).

This webinar is one of a series of programs hosted by QuestionPoint, designed to promote discussion of virtual reference best practices. If you have suggestions for additional topics, please email Susan McGlamery at mcglames@oclc.org

Virtual User Group: notes of August 2011 meeting

2011-09-06T07:45:07-07:00

The latest QuestionPoint virtual user group meeting was on 3 days at 3 different times (August 30, 31 and September 1) and attended by a total of 98 QuestionPoint librarians. Each meeting was facilitated by a member of the product team: Carol Bonnefil, Susan McGlamery, or Paula Rumbaugh. To listen to the recording of the September 1 session, access either the streaming version or the file (requires an Arf player). Here are the PowerPoint slides used for all 3 meetings:

Aug 11 user group
View more presentations from OCLC.

Meeting notes:

We opened the meeting with an overview of the QuestionPoint community. We then discussed the enhancements to QuestionPoint’s Policy Pages, introduced in the 21 August install, including (1) , linking from specified fields in the Policy Pages to the WorldCat Registry and (2) new fields in the Policy Pages. Additional details on the 21 August release are available in the Release Notes published in this blog. We noted the revisions to the Policy Page guidelines and the latest Policy Page day, which we celebrated on September 2.

We then reviewed the new features and enhancements of the past year, including customized wait messages for chat queues and the knowledge base as a web service.

The update ended with a look to the future and what we are planning next for QuestionPoint. Based on our user survey (summer of 2010) we have identified several new initiatives, including a new texting option using Upside Wireless, further optimization of QP for mobile devices and improved forms management and form field reporting. We also announced plans for two pilot programs to test two new features: the ability to accept attachments from patrons and to forward email messages directly into QuestionPoint.

Following are some of the questions that were asked and answered during the three sessions.

Qwidget:

Further development of the Qwidget to accommodate Android versions. This can be a moving target, but development continues for various devices, including additional Android versions and the iPad.

Do you have technical experts who can help us set up the Qwidget for Facebook? Our support@oclc.org can help a great deal, and they will pass any questions they cannot answer on to one of us in the product area.

Is it possible to have a practice Qwidget? Suggestions include placing the Qwidget on your intranet, with an organized practice day, or on any page that’s not publicized.

Full Transaction Searching:

Is it possible to have full transaction searching on the Review Transcripts area? In order for libraries to perform actions on search results (such as Follow Up), the search is not available from Review Transcripts, as this area does not permit actions on questions.

Will transactions search allow me to see questions that belong to other libraries? Yes, if you had a “relationship” with that question then the transaction will be searchable.

Chat:

Are wait messages only for when patrons are not picked up? Yes. We do not yet have automated “still searching” messages.

Why can I not see the IP address for Qwidget sessions? If the Administrator has set up the Qwidget to permit IP addresses to be gathered, the IP addresses are seen in the “Review Transcripts”area. They are currently not available in the Chat monitor.

Are our scripts at the institution or the group level? In a cooperative situation – where the librarians may be answering questions from non-local patrons, the chat librarian sees the patron library’s scripted messages at both the group and institution level. The chatting librarian always sees his or her own personal scripts and institution’s scripts.

Is it still recommended that we assign descriptive codes ONLY to questions from our library’s patrons and NOT other library’s patrons? Yes, if you are a member of the 24/7 Cooperative.

How can our librarians practice chat? See the the practice link on the My QuestionPoint home page.

Policy Pages:

A comment from one librarian for everyone: it is very helpful if everyone puts out a username and password for their databases/access to catalog & pages. When we do NOT have that, we are limited in what suggestions we can make to students. For members of the 24/7 Reference Cooperative: it is very helpful if you can provide access to your databases to Cooperative librarians – this helps the Cooperative provide better service.

Another librarian urges all 24/7 participants to link to a list of all databases available at the library. If you cannot provide a link, then do list your databases in the policy pages.

After linking to the Registry and then clicking to enlarge the map, the wrong location was displayed. It is possible that your institution Registry maps the center of the zip code area rather than your address. This may be because the geolocation utility originally used to populate the Registry field used the coordinates of the center of the zip code area rather than the exact address. Suggestion: Copy from the Registry instead of Linking. This uses the address rather than the coordinates. You may also manually input the address. The WC Registry editor at your library can use the easy fix in the Registry to correct the map. Contact support@oclc.org for more information.

One attendee used Google map’s code to embed the map in the policy pages directly, rather than linking to the Registry.

Is it possible to embed more than one map in the Map field? No, not at this time.

Miscellaneous:

Are there plans to provide the option to mark a New question as Active? When a patron responds "thank you" to an answer, the question doesn't need more info/action, but stays in the New list. We keep our questions open for about 2 weeks. Questions do go from bold type to regular type after they’ve been opened. We have logged this enhancement request for later review.

Are there plans to modify reports to allow us to export data to Excel? Highlight, copy, and paste into an Excel cell is usually faster and just as good as an export. But we do have this enhancement logged.

Can we call the knowledge base something else? Absolutely. Please feel free to call any patron-facing feature whatever you like.

What about other new additions we would like to see? We are following the 2010 QuestionPoint survey responses closely and are happy to say we’ve implemented or are actively working on the top 6 or 7 options. We hope to do another survey next summer.

How do we set up email notification? This is done in the Administration module, Institution tab, Settings link.

Many thanks to all who attended!

Monthly Report for August 2011

2011-09-03T10:17:00-07:00

QuestionPoint Members

        1,937    Active SUPs (service unit profiles)

        1,274    SUPs in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative

             29    Languages can be handled by QuestionPoint libraries

6,948,840    Transactions have been received by QP libraries since 2002 (as of

                     August 31)

3,168,049    Patrons have asked questions via libraries with QP since 2002*

     29,391    New patrons asked for help via QP libraries' websites in August*

     24,777    Active records in the Global Knowledge Base

          525    Libraries have contributed active, searchable records to the GKB

*These numbers are lower than actual, as they do not include texting patrons or chat patrons who have not provided email addresses.

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QuestionPoint libraries are in the 33 countries listed below by region.

Australia                                   United Kingdom

New Zealand                                 England

---------------                                Scotland

China                                           Wales

French Polynesia                      ---------------------

Japan                                        Croatia

India                                         Serbia

Thailand                                    Slovenia

--------------                             --------------------

United Arab Emirates                  Russia

----------------                           -------------------

Botswana                                   Canada

South Africa                               Mexico

--------------                               United States

France                                     --------------------

Greece                                      Costa Rica

Germany                                    Jamaica

Italy                                           Martinique

The Netherlands                         Puerto Rico

Spain                                         Trinidad & Tabago

--------------                              ---------------------

Republic of Ireland                       Chile

                                                  Colombia

                                                  Peru

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

QuestionPoint Statistics for August 2011

37,170   Questions received via E-mail and Text Messages

29,333   Chat sessions requested

9,031   Chat sessions requested via Qwidget

28,228   Chat sessions accepted

6,655   Chat sessions requested at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries

     652   Sessions requested after hours at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries

       46   Most concurrent chat sessions (down 4 from last month)

       14   Average concurrent chat sessions (down 1 from last month)

24/7 Reference Cooperative Statistics

72% Overall “Answering Percentage”! Cooperative libraries picked up 72% of all chat sessions, and Back Up staff picked up 26%, for a total of 98% pick-up. See Sessions Abandoned, below.

7,876 Academic sessions requested; Academic members answered 6,020 (76.4%)

14,802 Public sessions requested; Public members answered 10,326 (69.76%)

    479 Sessions Abandoned (Patron disconnected before librarian picked up, may include some practice sessions)

August Questions of Note

Just activated for you to search: students at the Highline Community College in Washington state asked who the “most famous librarian in history” is . . . or was. A back-up librarian picked up this question in a chat session (KB record 199606), and immediately found two sources of the same top-25 list. What makes this KB record worth pointing out here is how it illustrates the ability to update existing records by adding an Addendum to the original. In this case, at least two other librarians answered the same question; the editor was able to combine the three KB records into one by adding the additional information as addenda. You can search for “most famous librarian” using the search box in the left pane of this blog page.

This new addition may get a smile from some of you: Someone contacted the Library of the American Library Association asking, "Is it true NYPL staff make $600,000?' Could you send information on the average salary, or posted salary range, for a "typical" reference librarian, or similar position. Also for a branch head. To find out if there are reference librarians lurking somewhere with such attractive salaries, search for “salary reference librarian.” You may see some other interesting questions and answers regarding librarian salaries in the same results list.

Don’t forget to submit answered questions to the Global Knowledge Base. Your answers may contain research that could be of use to your colleagues around the world. All submittals are reviewed for appropriateness for the global community, corrected for spelling, scrubbed of personal information, and sometimes summarized for succinctness.

Celebrate Policy Page Day! September 2, 2011

2011-08-30T06:04:55-07:00

We’ve made some changes to the QuestionPoint policy pages: see the August 21 release notes posted to the QP blog for more information: http://questionpoint.blogs.com/ and our newly revised Policy Page Guidelines: http://wiki.questionpoint.org/Policy+Page+Guidelines

We’ve set aside this Friday, September 2, as Policy Page Day. On this day, we ask that you review your library’s policy page (and, if you are a group or BME administrator, that you be sure the institution administrators in your group check their policy pages).   This is an opportunity to take your policy page for a spin – check all the links, be sure the information is up-to-date, and generally make sure it’s performing as expected.

A library's policy page is one of the key resources that ensures the proper working of the 24/7 Reference Cooperative. An informative policy page helps the Cooperative librarians do a better job answering questions for your patrons. However, over the course of time, we have found that libraries are not always consistent in how the policy pages are completed. So, to reduce confusion and ensure greater consistency, we have provided guidelines to help you fill out your library's policy page. You can find the guidelines in the QP wiki, at: http://wiki.questionpoint.org/Policy+Page+Guidelines. To celebrate policy page day, please take a few moments on Friday to review your library's policy page and make sure it is consistent with these guidelines.

Questions or comments? Chat with us online! Quality team members Wren, Gillian and Susan will be available via QP chat on Friday to answer any questions you have as you review your policy page. Just visit the QP Quality Qwidget at: http://www5.oclc.org/questionpoint/quality/ask.html (if we aren’t online, please do leave us an email question and we will get back to you. You can send us email via the Qwidget or use our new question form: “Send us your questions or comments about Quality”.   You can use this same form anytime (not just on Policy Page Day) to send suggestions about policy pages or anything relating to the Cooperative. Note that this Quality page also has links to the Policy Page Guidelines, the 24/7 Policies and the Best Practices.

Thanks in advance for helping our Cooperative provide the best service possible to your users by updating your library's policy page! If you have any questions about your policy page, please come chat with us on Friday, or send us an email via our new webform!

QuestionPoint Release Notes for 21 August 2011

2011-08-19T04:49:54-07:00

We will install a QuestionPoint upgrade this Sunday that will include new features and fixes.

Please be advised that the QuestionPoint service will be unavailable for one hour: 0600 – 0700 (GMT), Sunday, August 21. It is imperative that you end any in-progress chat sessions at least 2 minutes prior to the scheduled system outage to avoid sudden communication interruptions to your patrons and potential "hung" sessions.

When service is restored, please check your "New" questions lists for any unanswered email questions. If you experience any outage after the projected service period, please contact your Customer Service Provider for further assistance.

1. New

1.1 Reports in Drop-down Navigation Menu

A Reports item has been added to the drop-down navigation menu in the upper right of every QuestionPoint page. Clicking on this will take the user directly into the Reports module, to the same default page as if s/he had clicked on the Reports tab from the My QuestionPoint home page.

1.2 Policy Page Enhancements

The following enhancements to the Policy Page feature of QuestionPoint are the first of a project to more closely integrate QuestionPoint with other OCLC services to reduce duplication and inconsistencies across an institution’s services and take advantage of centralized sources of data.

The WorldCat Registry is a database maintained by OCLC for libraries around the world. All QuestionPoint libraries have an institution record in the Registry. The information in your institution’s Registry record can be changed at any time by an authorized person(s) from the library. You or other administrators in your library can request edit access to the Registry or other OCLC electronic resource services at http://www.oclc.org/us/en/access/prepare.htm.

Several data elements in the Registry – such as institution name, address, home page and catalog URLs, IP addresses, and more – are used by several OCLC services. This data may be read directly from the Registry, eliminating the need to maintain such information in multiple places.

New text, forms, and buttons in the Profile module. The QuestionPoint Profile module, Institution Services tab, Inst Info link, displays two new fields:

OCLC Symbol, which displays the symbol associated with your library

WorldCat Registry Record, which displays the name of the Registry record associated with your library.

If this information is not correct, you can click on the Correction Form link to report the error.

New text, forms, and buttons in the Policy Pages. The Policy Edit Page (renamed from the current Policies page) includes instructions at the top of the page. They describe:

o How to see the Policy Page Guidelines

o How to see the same view the chat librarian will see

o How to view the Registry record associated with your account and how to request a change if that is not correct

o For Cooperative libraries only: instructions for submitting your completed policy page

A new button on the blue bar beneath your library’s name, the View WorldCat Registry button, opens the entire public view of the Registry record affiliated with your institution in a new window.

Link to WorldCat Registry record field or copy data. Seven policy page fields are linkable to similar fields in the Registry. The linked fields are highlighted in light yellow in the policy page edit view. To view data in your associated Registry record, click “edit” on one of the highlighted fields. This will display the link to the Registry data, which is viewable when you click the accompanying arrow.

The advantages of linking to your institution’s Registry data are that you won’t need to rekey data and any updates to the linked Registry field will automatically be reflected from your policy page when chat librarians view your policies. Rather than link directly to the Registry data, -you can instead copy the information to your policy field. Once the information is copied, you can then place it wherever you want or edit it. Copying does not provide automatic updating should that information change for your library.

If your library currently has no data in one of the linkable fields in the Registry, a message appears in place of data: “This WorldCat Institution Registry field has not been completed or the data has been deleted.” Your only option is to cancel and return to the field edit page. (You cannot update your library’s Registry information directly from the policy page.)

Once linked, a new Unlink button replaces the Edit button for that field. You cannot edit that field without first unlinking it. Note: If you already have considerable information in a linkable field and you then link the field, the linked data replaces all existing information. However, if you wish to return to the previous manually entered information, just click the Unlink button.

Finally, a new Reset button has been added to the field edit page. While entering and editing information in the field, the Reset button will return the contents to what it was, provided you have not clicked the Save button.

New fields for the Policy Pages. Three new fields have been added to the Policy Edit Page:

· Map follows the Locations field. Linkable

· Wifi Access? follows the Available Technology and Equipment field. Linkable

· e-Books follows the Databases field. Not linkable.

As always, libraries that participate in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative should consult the Policy Page Guidelines for each field to learn about the specific contents and/or the nature of the contents expected by the users of the policies .

The new Map field will render a Google map based on the data in this field. If you link to the Registry, the map is based on the latitude-longitude coordinates stored in the Registry. If you copy from the Registry, the actual address stored there is copied into the field, and the map is based on that. Finally, you may enter your address manually in the field; the map will then be based on the address you enter.

The Wifi Access field can hold any information you wish to display there. If you choose to link to the Registry, you will simply get a “Yes” or “No”.

The e-Books field will hold whatever information you think chat librarians will need. Please consult the Policy Page Guidelines.

Hotlinking URLs no longer requires HTML. Until now, in order to hotlink a URL in the policy page, the editor needed to enclose the URL in “href” HTML code, then specify the actual text to be hotlinked. It is now only necessary to enclose the URL in angle brackets, for example: . This will then appear to users of the policies as a hot link.

What will happen to existing policy pages? There will initially be no change to existing policies. Only policy page editors will note the new instructions, buttons, and highlighted, linkable fields. URLs for which editors have used HTML code to hotlink them will still appear as hot links. If you are happy with your policy page as it now stands, you need do nothing.

2. Fixes

2.1 Reports of Sessions

Session reports no longer link incorrectly when you have not set a date range. The default when you first open a Report of Sessions is based on all data currently in the 90-day database. If you click any of the numbers, you no longer receive the “Invalid” error message with table data that includes transcripts not requested. Instead, you will receive table data that exactly matches the hotlinked number you clicked on.

2.2 Full Transaction Searching Highlighting

Currently keywords in a librarian-to-librarian message are not highlighted when they are used as search terms. With this install, they will correctly highlight.

Monthly Report for July 2011

2011-08-15T11:46:27-07:00

QuestionPoint Members

       1,936    Active SUPs (service unit profiles)

       1,274    SUPs in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative

           29    Languages can be handled by QuestionPoint libraries

6,882,337    Transactions have been received by QP libraries since 2002 (as of July 31)

3,138,658    Patrons have asked questions via libraries with QP since 2002*

     30,295    New patrons asked for help via QP libraries' websites in July*

     24,721    Active records in the Global Knowledge Base

         524    Libraries have contributed active, searchable records to the GKB

*These numbers are lower than actual, as they do not include texting patrons or chat patrons who have not provided email addresses.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

QuestionPoint libraries are in the 33 countries listed below by region.

Australia

New Zealand

---------------

China

French Polynesia

Japan

India

Thailand

--------------

United Arab Emirates

----------------

Botswana

South Africa

--------------

France

Greece

Germany

Italy

The Netherlands

Spain

--------------

Republic of Ireland

United Kingdom

    England

    Scotland

    Wales

---------------------

Croatia

Serbia

Slovenia

---------------

Russia

-------------

Canada

Mexico

United States

-----------------

Costa Rica

Jamaica

Martinique

Puerto Rico

Trinidad & Tabago

--------------------

Chile

Colombia

Peru

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

QuestionPoint Statistics for July 2011

38,956   Questions received via E-mail and Text Messages

28,533   Chat sessions requested

8,154    Chat sessions requested via Qwidget

27,433   Chat sessions accepted

6,252    Chat sessions requested at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries

    579    Sessions requested after hours at non-24/7 Reference Cooperative libraries

      50    Most concurrent chat sessions (just up 1 from last month)

      15    Average concurrent chat sessions (down 2 from last month)

24/7 Reference Cooperative Statistics

67% Overall “Answering Percentage”!  Cooperative libraries picked up 67% of all chat sessions, and Back Up staff picked up 31%, for a total of 98% pick-up. See Sessions Abandoned, below.

7,628 Academic sessions requested; Academic members answered 5,305 (69.5%)

14,653 Public sessions requested; Public members answered 9,593 (65.47%)

    631  Sessions Abandoned (Patron disconnected before librarian picked up, may include some practice sessions)

July Questions of Note

Did you ever try searching the Global Knowledge Base when you thought you'd exhausted resources to answer a question at hand? It may still be rare that the GKB has the directanswer to the question you're researching--after all, there are numerous aspects to all areas of inquiry and except for ready-reference facts, it's unlikely that most Q&A databases will have exactly the question you're asked. But previous research in a subject area may well note a book or newspaper or journal or web site that you had not encountered before.

Browsing through the GKB recently, we decided to focus on answers contributed by the Library of Congress's Science and Technical Reports reading room. Not only are they thrown some real curiosities (Is the pinky finger fractured more than any other finger? QID 209616), but they are also often called on to answer very practical questions (What speed should one drive to obtain the best mileage? QID 209594) and to provide resources for graduate-level research (What were the contributions of the Jeep to the Allied defenses in World War II, with particular reference to Normany? QID 91706).

Over the almost 10 years since QuestionPoint's introduction, the Science and Technical Reports reading room has contributed 327 records to the Global Knowledge Base. In fact, in June 2002, the month QP was introduced, this reading room submitted a question about Bulldog vehicles. It's 327th contributed record to date is about telling the temperature by the sounds made by insects (QID 210185).

In July, 28 French-language records were made active in the GKB, 23 English-language, and 5 Spanish-language. Don't forget to submit your own answered questions, via the QuestionPoint Ask module, if you think they could be useful to others. Even if they are about local matters, they may provide just the information someone else is looking for. Editors will correct spelling and standardize the formatting for the GKB.

QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

Updated Qwidget Directions for Facebook

Brief QuestionPoint service interruption planned for Wed May 16 a 6:00 UTC (2AM ET)

Notes d'Installation prévue pour 13 mai, 2012

1 Nouvelles fonctionnalités et améliorations

1.1 Sécurité augmentée pour les fichiers joints

1.2 Confidentialité des utilisateurs

1.3 Pages de politiques

1.4 Administrateurs de groupes : affichage des sondages des établissements membres dans les Questions archivées

1.5 Améliorations apportées au rapport sur les Zones du formulaire

1.5.1 Formulaires pour « Ajout de question » (ajout manuel) et Qwidget

1.5.2 Adresses électroniques complètes

1.5.3 Alignement

1.6 Identification d’une nouvelle page qui brise les cadres

2 Correctifs

2.1 Chat

2.1.1 « Chat pour tests » versus « Chat réel »

2.1.2 Case « Test » dans le formulaire test pour le Chat

2.2 Enregistrement des paramètres pour les rapports hors ligne

2.3 Rapport pour l’administrateur de groupe

2.3.1 Rapport sur les Codes Descriptifs

2.3.2 Contenu

2.4 Correction du jeu de caractères thaï

2.5 Correction de la messagerie instantanée avec Upside Wireless

3 Problèmes connus du Chat

Release Notes for May 13, 2012 install

1 New Features/Improvements

1.1 Enhanced Security for Attachments

1.2 Patron Privacy

1.3 Policy Pages: Display linked fields with error message when Registry is unavailable

1.4 BME Admins can see Member Institutions’ Surveys in Service History

1.5 Form Field Report enhancements

1.5.1 Qwidget and Walk up identification

1.5.2 Full patron email addresses

1.5.3 Formatting

1.6 New Frame-Busting Page Identified

2 Fixes

2.1 Chat

2.1.1 “Practice Chat” vs. “Accessible Chat” identifier fixed.

2.1.2 “Practice Chat” Check box on Practice Chat form is now Checked by default.

2.1.3 Off-Line Reports Parameters saved.

2.2 Reports for the Group Administrator

2.2.1 Descriptive Code Report List display.

2.2.2 Descriptive Code Report content.

2.3 Thai Character set fixed

2.4 Upside Wireless Texting fixes

3 Known Issue in Chat

Sending Search Engine Page URLs in Chat

Free Webinar: Finding Your Virtual Reference Users Online

Free QuestionPoint Training Classes

User Group Meeting This Thursday

Our next QuestionPoint user group meeting will be held this Thursday, March 15, at the Public Library Association conference in Philadelphia.

If you won't be in Philadelphia, you can join us via WebEx!! To join the online meeting, you must register first. Once you register, the meeting link will be sent to your email address. Register here for the online meeting.

To attend in Philadelphia: Date: Thursday March 15 Location: Courtyard by Marriott Downtown, room: Salon IVM Time: 12:30 - 1:30 pm ET

New reference guides available for form field and offline reports in QuestionPoint

Join us for Best Practices in Virtual Reference Series

Installation QuestionPoint prvue dimanche 12 fvrier

Nouvelles fonctionnalités et améliorations

1. Enregistrement des pièces jointes par les bibliothécaires

2. Améliorations aux révisions de transcriptions hors ligne

4. Fréquence des vérifications pour les questions via Upside Wireless

Correctifs

1. Codes descriptifs

2. Indexation de toutes les nouvelles transactions

Release Notes for February 12 Install

New Features/Improvements

Top 10 Quality Comments of 2011

QuestionPoint User Group meeting: ALA Midwinter 2012

Monthly Report for November 2011

QuestionPoint Members

1,814 Active SUPs (service unit profiles)

1,148 SUPs in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative

24/7 Reference Cooperative Statistics

Global Knowledge Base Records of Note in November

Known Issue with Form Field Reports

Monthly Report for October 2011

QuestionPoint Membership for October 2011

QuestionPoint Statistics for October 2011

24/7 Reference Cooperative Statistics

Installation prvue dimanche 13 novembre

To attend in Philadelphia:
Date: Thursday March 15
Location: Courtyard by Marriott Downtown, room: Salon IVM
Time: 12:30 - 1:30 pm ET