Policy & Procedural Issues

Knowing when to end an AskAway session can be tough sometimes. When AskAway is swamped, or the patron has been uncommunicative for awhile, or perhaps appears to be disconnecting from the session... How can we successfully close the session for the patron?

The AskAway Advisory Committee meeting minutes from February 12 are now posted on the AskAway Portal here. The meeting discussed the BCcampus Funding Request, 2012/13 Budget & Service Support Fee, Software Selection Committee membership, and other topics, including an update on text message reference pilots.

We wanted to clarify the policy around AskAway transcripts and user privacy, and put together a short FAQ on the subject.

Can AskAway transcripts be re-sent, at the user's request?
If a user asks for a transcript to be re-sent, we unfortunately have no way of verifying the identity of the person asking, so re-sending the transcript violates the patron's privacy.

The renewed focus on the descriptive codes has generated some questions about use of the resolution codes, so here's a refresher...

There are five resolution codes available as you end your AskAway sessions, but please use only these three: Answered, Lost Call, and Practise.

The minutes from the October 3 Advisory Committee meeting are now available here.

Also available is the Coordinator's Report.

AskAway receives many comments from users who fill out the exit survey, the vast majority overwhelmingly positive about the service. From time to time, though, we do receive some constructive feedback on how to further improve AskAway. Often even this type of feedback follows high praise for AskAway, for example, “The online service has worked perfectly for me, I've used it a few times and have always encountered friendly helpful people on the other end. What a great idea! The only thing I would suggest is to perhaps spread the word more.”

The AskAway Portal - Staff Tools has a new feature: a button that will automatically create an email addressed to the listserv saying that AskAway is swamped. All you have to do to is press "send". The button is located in the section called "Tools for your shift". This feature was requested by a service provider, and we are pleased to make it available; we're always happy to hear new ideas or suggestions.

Some questions have come up about what to do when patrons believe AskAway librarians are always from their institution. From a service perspective there is nothing wrong with letting users know that AskAway is serviced by BC and Yukon librarians and that they are talking to a librarian from a different institution.

The AskAway Shift Check-List has been updated with recommended web pages, a check-in list for QuestionPoint and Campfire logins and lots more tips to assist you with starting each shift!

To celebrate the start of the new academic year, the AskAway team is bringing you new and improved scripts!

We've gotten rid of those tired old scripts for the reference interview, weeded out the scripts that aren't relevant anymore (i.e. co-browse), and revitalised the scripts you really need.  We've shortened the scripts so they work better in the Qwidget, and added others targeted specifically for patrons using the Qwidget.  We hope you'll find them even more useful now!