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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're just in the process of setting up a blog to support the Best Practices Webinars. The announcements, agendas, reports and attachments, registration link and link to recordings will all be in once location with full archiving and entry tags for searching and finding past information. Look for updates of past sessions and all the newest Webinar information here:
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.pdfThe 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:
August Best Practices Session: Thursday, August 21st, 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Wisconsin hosts
• Business update and general best practices reminders
• Report on ALA
• Patron link to the QuestionPoint global knowledgebase
• Review of best practices for working with UK patrons
• Update on the public school test of AskAwayl
• Statistical reports
• Review of transcripts
2008 Best Practices sessions schedule:
| January 17 | Illinois |
| February 21 | Wisconsin |
| March 20 | Illinois |
| April 24 | Wisconsin |
| May 15 | Illinois |
| June 19 | Wisconsin |
| July 17 | Illinois |
| August 21 | Wisconsin |
| September 18 | Illinois |
| October 16 | Wisconsin |
| November 20 | Illinois |
| December 18 | Wisconsin |
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 2008 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.
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:
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
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.
2007 Best Practices sessions:
December 20, 2007
Wisconsin hosted the December session.
Presentation
QP 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.
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.
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:
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
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
Best Practices, January 18, 2007
Tripping Over Reference
Bill Pardue, Arlington Heights Memorial Library
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
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
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
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:
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
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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