Best Practices page Best Practices Webinars Blog Reference and User Service Quarterly Upcoming Best Practices sessions: Recordings of previous 2009 sessions: Recorded past Web Conference sessions Best Practices Resources Create, and use appropriate screen names. What can we do better? Quality

Best Practices page

This is where you can find all the newest best practices information links and files etc.

It also serves as the location for best practices online meetings support.

 

Best Practices Webinars Blog

We know that in the past there's been a some great Best Practices Webinars with both timely and universal information on performing virtual reference well. Now we have a tool that will allow all of our colleagues to access these past sessions. If you can't attend a Webinar live, we'll have the links to the recordings. Recordings are both the audio and whatever the presenter showed online such as PowerPoint slides, live web demos and even flash videos. Want a refresher on topics covered 6 months ago, we've got links to them too. It's all on the:

AskAway Best Practices Webinars Blog

http://www.wils.wisc.edu/ask/askawaybp/

 

 

We have brief descriptions and links to the recordings for all the Webinars going back to January 2008. We'll continue to add each new monthly Webinar as they occur. Our current agreement with WislineWeb allows us to keep access to the recordings for a year and the Blog will help make them available to you all. You can find past topics by:

 

and again the full recordings are available by direct links.

 

Topics recently covered and available to you include:

 

 

Check out the Blog. Register for a Webinar. Attend, discuss and let us know what you'd like to see and who you'd like to hear. Additional links to the new blog can be found at the WiLS Web site:

 

Click on the Virtual Reference Best Practices Series link, or from the AskAway Best Practices wiki page:

 

In the Best Practices Webinars Blog section. Or go directly to the Blog at:

 

http://www.wils.wisc.edu/ask/askawaybp/

 

Reference and User Service Quarterly

This excellent journal recently published the article:

The Effects of Librarians' Behavioral Performance on User Satisfaction in Chat Reference Services

I've attached a PDF copy of the article here:

rusqchatuser.pdf

The authors use the RUSA guidelines for reference services to analyze a large number of chat transcripts and compare them with user satisfaction surveying. The results emphasize something that has long been known about physical reference and greatly enforces how important it is always cover the basics in reference work regardless of the specific environment. For example this quote from the "Discussion of Results:

 

Furthermore, when examining the behavioral predictors of user satisfaction, five of the ten RUSA behaviors were found to be signifi-

cant predictors of user satisfaction. They were: (1) asking whether the question was answered completely; (2) offering information sources; (3) asking patrons to come back when they need further assistance; (4) searching information sources with or for the patrons; and (5) listening to questions in a cordial and receptive manner.

 

Asking if the question was answered ... number one with a bullet, never forget it .... ever. In fact earlier in the article, the authors show that librarians asked that question only 40% of the time in spite of the years of reference trainers and teachers harping on that one factor. "Have I answered your question" still proves to be so important to achieving a good service level for your patrons.

 

Not feeling engaged by the Best Practices sessions?

Please let us know how we can better meet your needs whether you're an AskAway chat or email librarian, an AskAway administrator, a member of the board of a participating library or other concerned member of the Wisconsin library community.

Please contact Martha Berninger or Mark Beatty with your suggestions, comments and critique.

 

 

Upcoming Best Practices sessions:

 

 

2009 Best Practices sessions schedule:

January 15	Minnesota
February 19	Illinois
March 19	Wisconsin
April 16	Illinois
May 21	Minnesota
June 18	Illinois
July 16	Wisconsin
August 20	Minnesota
September 17	Wisconsin
October 15	Minnesota
November 19	Wisconsin
December 17	Minnesota

 

Register for sessions and receive specific attendance instructions at:

http://www.uwex.edu/ics/wlwreg/wlwwelcome.cfm

 

Select Wisconsin Library Services, then scroll down and select WiLS Virtual Reference Best Practices to register.

 

Recordings of previous 2009 sessions:

You can view previous AskAway Best practices sessions by going to:

https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/wislineweb/view

Enter your Name

Recording ID: (see them listed below

Recording Key: (Leave Blank)

Submit

Click View

Our archives remain available for a full year on this web site.

 

2009 Best Practices sessions:

 

ASKAWAYBP-090115

February 19, 2009

 

Illinois hosted this session.

 

Ever wonder how the back up librarians manage to answer so many questions and so well?  Is it voodoo?  Mega-skills?  Pure luck?

Join our own back up librarans, Louise Greene and John Dey to learn the tips and tricks that 24/7 back up librarians use to provide great service.

 

In Addition we covered:

- Transcript review

- AskAway Illinois billing update

- Reminders, including the URL for the recording of last weeks QuestionPoint Enhancement webinar

 

 

ASKAWAYBP-090115

January 15, 2009

Minnesota hosted for the very first time.

The topics included:

- Refresher on co-browsing

- AskMN's Answering Percentage

- New Policy Page guidelines

- Placing timed links to web pages

- Chat transcript reviews good and bad

 

 

 

2008 Best Practices sessions:

 

B6RR6N-080117

January 17, 2008

The Guest speaker was Margaret Heller of the University of Illinois who discussed " Using informed understandings of social networking to market virtual reference successfully". Plus Natalie Tagge reviewed the appropriate uses of QuestionPoint follow-up codes.

 

B6RR6N-080221

February 21, 2008

Guest speaker John Dey of the Racine Public Library shared his experience as a backup librarian and the role and responsibilities of QuestionPoint backup librarians. There was discussion of QuestionPoint statistics past, present and future and potential Qwidget implementation issues.

 

B6RR6N-080320

March 20, 2008

Charlotte Bruce of Olney College discussed her experiences with AskAway and her incorporation of the Qwidget into Olney's services. As one of the first Qwidget adopters in IL and she had much to share with those that are ready to build a Qwidget. Ellen Schmid and Lynnette Singh of Geneva Public Library discussed Practitioner to Practitioner IMing and Transferring questions while monitoring. Thank you to Ellen and Lynnette for making these great tutorials on practitioner to practitioner Iming and transferring while monitoring chat. Here are the links to view them:

http://www.geneva.lib.il.us/imtutorial1/imtutorial1.html

http://www.geneva.lib.il.us/transfer6/transfer6.html

 

B6RR6N-080424

April 24, 2008

Mark Beatty led discussions, and provided updates on the next QuestionPoint install, a recent WAAL conference presentation on using IM services, the Fall launch of an AskAway test in select Wisconsin schools, an update on public relations activities including the summer YouTube contest and the newsletter, and an overview provided by Martha Berninger of recommended web sources for responding to technology, computing and new media questions.

 

B6RR6N-080619

June 19, 2008

Business update - what's new and noteworthy in the QuestionPoint world

Topics covered included: The British are coming, The British are coming ... UK libraries join the cooperative, Review of the best sources on art and artists - how to satisfy your "Antiques Road Show" patrons, Discussion of AskAway test in Wisconsin schools - the who, what, when & where, Update on public relations activities - including the summer YouTube contest and General best practices reminders - and discussion of handling difficult repeat client

 

B6RR6N-080717

July 17th 2008

Illinois hosted

Business update - what's new with QuestionPoint

Topics shared during this month's session included:

Helping patrons with genealogy questions, general best practice reminders, update on the Illinois cooperative in the post-grant period and transcript reviews.

 

B6RR6N-080821

August 21st 2008

Wisconsin hosted

- Business update and general best practices reminders

- Report on ALA Virtual Reference sessions

- Patron link to the QuestionPoint global Knowledge Base

- Review of best practices for working with UK patrons

- Update on the public school test of AskAway

- Statistical reports

- Review of transcripts

 

September Best Practices Session: Thursday, September 18th, 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

B6RR6N-080918

Illinois hosted

- Business update and general best practices reminders

- 2009 update, ILA AskAway information

- Best practices chat follow-up reminder

- Mary Wilkes Towner, Urbana Free Library Reference Librarian, will discuss answering virtual readers advisory questions and share sites to find quick and effective answers

- AskAway Wisconsin Week PR campaign

 

October 23rd, 2008, 10:30 to 12:00 cst 

B6RR6N-081023

• Our monthly business update and general best practice reminders
• News on features and functionality coming in the November and January software upgrades
• Philosophy, policy and great sites to help when you're working with students - Tip sheet below!
• What's going well and what could be better (transcripts, etc.)

Websites for Serving School Students.doc

 

• Paula Rumbaugh from QuestionPoint will be presenting on QP reports and explaining how to utlize them
• AskAway Illinois finalized pricing for 2009 will be discussed.

 

 

2007 Best Practices sessions:

 

December 20, 2007

Wisconsin hosted the December session.

PresentationQP BP Dec 20 2007.ppt

Department of Public Instruction Curriculum Resource guide to websites Curriculum Resource Center Links.doc

 

November 16, 2007

Wisconsin hosted the November session.

QP BP November 16 2007.ppt

Guest speaker Connie vonderHeide of the Wisconsin State Law Library shared pointers on effective use of legal resources.

Mark Beatty provided an update on the upcoming PR campaign, the new spam email filter offered by OCLS and the upcoming widget to be released by OCLC, probably in January. Martha Berninger highlighted a series of recent chat transcripts.

 

October 25, 2007

Illinois hosted the October session

Best Practicesoctoberchanges.ppt

 

Bruce Brigell discussed doing effective follow-up in QuestionPoint.

Natalie Tagge reviewed the importance of policy and profile pages and methods to combat spam.

 

September 20th

Illinois hosted the October session

 

Susan McGlamery of QuestionPoint shared information on new developments, and answered questions. We talked about quality and contributing to the cooperative.

 

August 16th

Wisconsin hosted the August session.

QP BP AUG 07.ppt

 

July 19th

Wisconsin hosted the July session

Tom Carson talked about how the Kenosha Public Library works with the press to ensure great coverage on Ask?Away and other library programs.

Joy Schwarz gave an update on the most recent activities of the national QuestionPoint User Council.

Mark Beatty shared a business update and inform us on how chat shift monitoring functions.

We covered transcripts, and Joy Schwarz acted as guest narrator, walking us through a recent difficult session she handled beautifully.

 

June 21st

Illinois hosted the June session

Here's the PowerPoint shows from the web conference:

BestPractices 062107a.ppt

AAbestpractices.ppt

 

Debbie Aggertt, Martha Farley Berninger and guest speaker Loretta Broomfield and a host of other colleagues discussed:

QuestionPoint updates and enhancements

Shared Follow up guidelines and reminders

Descriptive codes, when to use them and when not to -Resolution codes

'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'/Martha Berninger

Reference resources/Guest speaker/Loretta Broomfield

"It's all about Them"/Virtual Reference Marketing/Madison

Collaborative Virtual Reference Symposium/Denver

 

Prefer to see just the PowerPoint of a past session?

We can easily share PowerPoints and notes from earlier sessions.

Please send a note to martha.berninger@dpi.wi.gov and be sure to specify the date of the session, or the primary topic of discussion.

 

Here's the PowerPoint from Joy Schwarz's presentation on using Del.icio.us tags for sharing web reference resources

Using del.icio.us iin AskAway.ppt

 

Recorded past Web Conference sessions

Best Practices, September 21, 2006

Chatting with Teens: a short survival guide

Louise W. Greene, Rolling Prarie Library System, Decatur, IL

Virtual-060921.wmv

 

Best Practices, January 18, 2007

Tripping Over Reference

Bill Pardue, Arlington Heights Memorial Library

WILS-070118.wmv

 

Best Practices, May 17, 2007

State Governments information portals and resources

Loretta Harmatuck, Government Services Librarian, Wisconsin Reference and Loan

Abby Swanton, Wisconsin Document Depository Librarian, Wisconsin Reference and Loan

Virtual-070517.wmv

 

 

Best Practices Resources

Here are a couple of quite useful best practices files from the South Central Library System

Follow-up Procedures for SCLS AskAway Librarians Updated 7/12/2006 follow up process.doc

Information on reviewing transcripts Updated 06/2006 When to send to quality 0606.doc

Here's the powerpoint of a special presentation "Face-Work in Chat Reference Encounters" presented by Marie L. Radford and Lynn Silipigni Connaway. It is based on a project funded by Institute of Museum and Library Services, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and OCLC Online Computer Library Center, entitled:

 

Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, and Librarian Perspectives

Seekingsyncbestpract.ppt

 

And here are two follow up blog posts with links about a version of this study presentation given at ALA Annual 2007:

ALA Redux - Ready Reference in Chat - Not Dead Yet! PLUS 1 Foolproof Way to Increase Accuracy in Chat Reference

http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/2007/07/ala-redux-ready-reference-in-chat-not.html

 

Are We Getting Warmer? Query Clarification in Virtual Reference (ALA Redux Part 2)

http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/2007/07/are-we-getting-warmer-query.html

 

 

Mary Struckmeyer was nice enough to leave us a useful listing of Best Practices resources in this Word Document:

Best Practices Resources.doc

 

Here's a link to the most basic and best resource for evaluating good reference practices regardless of environment

 

RUSA Guidelines for Behavioral Preformance of Reference and Information Service Providers (2004) 

 

Create, and use appropriate screen names.

Chat patrons often assume that they're chatting with librarians at their local public library. Using appropriate screen names in Chat can help patrons understand that the librarian handling their question may be from a different part of the country altogether.

 

Here's the QuestionPoint policy on screen names:

 

7.4 Librarian Screen Names:

 

The librarian's screen name identifies the librarian, thus communicating to the patron who they are talking to. The screen name should contain a personal name (it does not have to be the librarian's actual name) so that the patron will know he is talking to an actual individual (a person and not an automated system). The screen name should also contain a fairly understandable affiliation so that the patron will be aware that the librarian is not their local librarian. Abbreviations in general should be avoided since they may be unintelligible to the patron and cause confusion.

 

It's VERY easy to edit your screen name - HERE'S HOW:

Login using your administrative ID

Click on the Accounts button on the lower left of the page

Click into the View/Update Account tab

Click the edit button next to your name

Make any necessary changes to your screen nameClick the save changes button and you're done!

What can we do better?

QuestionPoint quality control and participating administrators and librarians often notice common areas of practice improvement.

We'll be highlighting current areas of concern in this section.

 

Quality

Message from Susan McGlamery:

 

The quality of service provided by the 24/7 Reference Cooperative depends on all of you. We rely on you to review your session transcripts and send to Quality Control (“Quality”) any that you wish us to review. This short guide is designed to answer your questions about the Quality process.

 

Quality overview:

The Quality Team reviews session transcripts in the interests of providing additional training and mentoring to the librarians who participate in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative. Quality will review the session based on the Best Practices

http://questionpoint.org/policies/bestpractices.pdf

and 24/7 Reference Policies

http://questionpoint.org/ordering/cooperative_guidelines_247rev3.htm

If the session does not comply with either of these policy documents, then Quality will send a message to the chatting library with suggestions for improvement.

 

We provide a buffer between the patron library and the chatting library. Thus if a supervisor has any issue or complaint regarding a session done by a Cooperative librarian (or Back up staff librarian) relating to one of their patron’s sessions, the supervisor can refer the session to Quality for further action. Since Quality reviews a large number of sessions throughout the Cooperative, this allows us to provide a consistent approach to the Best Practices and Policies.

 

When to send to Quality:

If the chatting librarian does not follow the Best Practices or 24/7 Policies, then send the session to Quality. If you are not sure whether a session merits attention, please do go ahead and send it to us. It is always helpful for us to understand what your concerns are. Quality may not always contact the chatting librarian: on occasion, we may hold a session regarding a particular librarian to see if a pattern develops. So, always err on the side of sending it to Quality!

 

We are also anxious to recognize good work done by the Cooperative librarians and Back up staff. If you are particularly pleased with the way a librarian handled a particular session, please refer that to Quality also, so that we may pass along your compliments!

 

Recommended process for Supervisors:

Here is the process we recommend for reviewing session transcripts:

 

1. In My QuestionPoint, select the Ask module (either from the Quick Links in the left column or from the “Select Service” menu at the top right)

2. Click Reports (top blue horizontal bar)

3. Select a time period for your review.

Tip: If you are an administrator of several libraries, be sure to include all institutions in your review (see top menu selection, “By Institution”).

4. Click each session to review it.

Tip: You can select all items on the page by clicking the check box at the lower left, then under “Select”, choose “View”. This will give you all sessions selected on one page. You can print out this page for offline viewing.

5. If you feel the patron should have received more information, be sure to follow up with the patron BEFORE you send it to Quality.

6. If you see a session that you wish to refer to Quality, click the “Send to Quality Control” button at the top (in blue horizontal bar). A text box will appear, which will allow you to type your comments. Then click “Send”.

Tip: If you have printed out a list, you will have to return to the Reports list, select the session, then view it. You will then see the “Send to Quality Control” button.

7. Once you send to Quality, the session will appear as “Pending” in your active question list. There is no need to do anything else; once Quality has reviewed the session, we will close the question, and it will no longer appear in your active list.

 

For additional information about Quality, see the 24/7 Policies: http://questionpoint.org/ordering/cooperative_guidelines_247rev3.htm#6

 

If you have any questions or concerns about the Quality process, please do not hesitate to contact me at mcglames@oclc.org.

With your help, we can continue to improve 24/7 Reference and provide better service to your patrons!

 

Regards,

Susan McGlamery

Cooperative Manager, QuestionPoint

OCLC

mcglames@oclc.org

 

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