AskAway Blog

Comments, Questions, Technical Issues? Please let us know

Submitted by admin-boss on

Find a technical problem? Have a question about AskAway procedures? Comments, questions, or suggestions you would like to share? This blog entry gives examples of who to contact with different information or questions. Most importantly, though, please do contact us! If you're not sure who to contact, no worries - your institution's AskAway coordinator or the Admin Centre are two points of contact that can help direct you with who to contact if you are unsure.

All About the All Tab

Submitted by admin-boss on

General Info
The All tab is a tab in QuestionPoint that allows service providers to:

  1. See a list of questions all other service providers are working on
  2. Join other service providers' calls in conference mode

Below is a screen shot of where the All tab is located. The number in brackets indicates the total number of calls that other service providers have.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"507","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"270","height":"225","title":"AllTab2","alt":""}}]]

End of Shift Tips

Submitted by admin-boss on

General Tips
Log Out Correctly
Log out of QuestionPoint by clicking the "Exit" link in the top right corner. Please don't just close the window: it will appear you are still staffing AskAway. but not picking up calls!
If Possible, Wait for New Service Providers

Douglas College Trial Queue

Submitted by admin-boss on

We wanted to share some important information about a new AskAway trial beginning January 21, 2013. Please note that during this trial, we are asking all service providers to slightly modify the way they sign in to QuestionPoint. See “Trial Guidelines for all Service Providers” (below) for more details.

University Canada West Resources Demo

Submitted by admin-boss on

Update: Here is the recorded session
Note that it works best in IE, and may not function with other browsers.

University Canada West offered to provide a quick online demo of how to access their resources for any AskAwayers who are interested. We will record it to make available to those who can't attend.

Date: November 2, 2012

Time: 12:00 pm

Length: 15 minutes

UVic Library's Help Videos

Submitted by admin-boss on

What do Gumby, Bugs Bunny, and mini-horses have to do with UVic? They each feature in one of UVic library's instructional videos- 2-minute YouTube clips that cover topics such as academic integrity, scholarly vs. popular sources, and defining a thesis statement. The videos give step-by-step instructions with visuals of the library’s catalogue, website, and databases when relevant.

Marketing AskAway on Social Media Sites

Submitted by admin-boss on

Looking for fresh content for your library’s Twitter or Facebook updates? We have some ideas for how to find interesting tidbits to share with learners in 140 characters or fewer.

  • Share the AskAway.org website to publicize the service

Want library or research help? Help with citations or journal articles? Try AskAway online chat - askaway.org

Tips for Busy Times - Tip #4

Submitted by admin-boss on

We have reached the end of the week, and our final tip on ways to run the service smoothly when it gets busy.

Tip #4: Use referrals!

Refer, refer, refer! During busy times, you may not have the time to give every patron the in-depth help you’d like to give them. If you can’t transfer them to another available service provider, and the wait it too long, don’t hesitate to refer the patron to email, telephone or in-person reference at their home library.

Pages