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Tag: chat reference

Ref22: When Teens Attack!

Ref22: When Teens Attack!

Did you miss out on the live Ref22 webinar last week? Never fear! All Ref22 sessions are archived and available on the website at Ref22: Archived Sessions. Last week we had Jen Robinson from the Seattle Public Library talking about serving teens (and other “difficult” patrons) via chat. Check it out! The September edition of Ref22 is proud to present, “When Teens Attack!: Tips for dealing with 12-year-olds and other difficult customers on chat reference” (presented in High-Definition PowerPoint). Jen…

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WSL Updates for September 9, 2010

WSL Updates for September 9, 2010

Volume 6, September 9, 2010 for the WSL Updates mailing list Topics include: 1) APPLY FOR A POSITION ON THE LIBRARY COUNCIL OF WASHINGTON 2) REF22 PRESENTS CHAT REFERENCE WITH TEENAGERS 3) HANDS-ON EAUDIOBOOK ORIENTATION SESSIONS 4) IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO REGISTER FOR EARLY LEARNING SYMPOSIUM 5) MY SKILLS MY FUTURE 6) ALCTS RDA E-FORUM 7) YOURS, MINE, OURS – LEADERSHIP THROUGH COLLABORATION 8) FREE ONLINE TRAINING NEXT WEEK

Ask-WA(tch): Stats, Kudos and Comments for Dec 2009

Ask-WA(tch): Stats, Kudos and Comments for Dec 2009

Ask-WA Statistics – December, 2009 December tends to be a slower month for Ask-WA, mainly because academic traffic drops off so sharply during the holiday breaks. In numbers: Email questions received: 3319 Chat sessions requested: 3474 Chat sessions accepted: 2883 Qwidget requests (% of total): 791 (22.8%) On a positive note, our answering percentage rose from its dangerously low 74% last month up to 83% in December, which is ideal. The best part is that this higher ratio is due…

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Ask-WA(tch): Stats, Kudos and Comments for Nov 2009

Ask-WA(tch): Stats, Kudos and Comments for Nov 2009

Ask-WA Statistics – November, 2009 Ask-WA slowed down a bit in November compared to October, but since we were super-extra busy in October, that isn’t saying too much. November numbers were still well ahead of September, August, and July numbers, especially in terms of chat sessions requested. In numbers: Email questions received: 3743 Chat sessions requested: 4912 Chat sessions accepted: 3645 Qwidget requests (% of total): 965 (19.6%) As a cooperative we maintained an answering percentage of 74% for the…

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Ask-WA(tch): Stats, Kudos and Comments for Oct 2009

Ask-WA(tch): Stats, Kudos and Comments for Oct 2009

Ask-WA Statistics – October, 2009 Ask-WA picked up significantly in October, beating September and August in every category. Except Qwidget requests, which remained about even, percentage-wise. In numbers: Email questions received: 4287 Chat sessions requested: 5303 Chat sessions accepted: 4343 Qwidget requests (% of total): 1282 (24.2%) As a cooperative we maintained an answering percentage of 81.9% for the month, which is down nearly 5% from September (probably because of the increased traffic), but remains well over the goal rate…

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Join Ask-WA for Free in 2010

Join Ask-WA for Free in 2010

Dear libraries of Washington State, Are your users on the internet? I’m willing to bet that a lot of them are. Do they use chat software to communicate? IM tools like ICQ and AIM have been around since 1996/1997 (respectively), and companies like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! all provide IM services. Chat and IM aren’t new, and lots of people use them to communicate with friends, family, and colleagues. Chat and email are probably the two most-used methods for online…

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Got a question? Try Ask-WA!

Got a question? Try Ask-WA!

When you think of libraries, I bet you think of books. Don’t worry, everyone does. If you’re a library power-user, you might be aware of free internet access, computer use, and some fun programs. What you might not be aware of is that libraries have powerful information experts eagerly waiting for you to ask them your toughest questions. Getting the best answers to  your questions just got a lot easier with Ask-WA. More than 60 Washington libraries, backed by an…

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Ask-WA Quality Tip: Updating Flash/Java/Web Browsers

Ask-WA Quality Tip: Updating Flash/Java/Web Browsers

If QuestionPoint seems more buggy than useful to you, it may be because certain settings on your computer are causing issues. Here are a few tips that may help improve your QuestionPoint experience. Update Java and Flash You can get the latest version of Java here: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp – and the latest version of Flash here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/. Keeping both of these updated will improve your QP performance (generally), and will help you get the most out of your web experiences in…

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Ask-WA Quality Tip: Resolution Codes

Ask-WA Quality Tip: Resolution Codes

They appear simple, but within their murky depths lurks weird issues you may have never considered. Here’s a quick guide: ANSWERED: If you’re not using this most of the time, you might want to review how you are helping people. You don’t have to stay on the line with them until their paper is written or their family tree thoroughly researched. You SHOULD spend the time, though, to identify why they came to us in the first place, and to…

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Ask-WA: Tips & Tricks for Serving Multiple Patrons in Chat

Ask-WA: Tips & Tricks for Serving Multiple Patrons in Chat

One of the benefits of being part of a large national cooperative is that we can share expertise not only within the state, but globally. And by share, of course, I mean that we can benefit from the hard work all the other states are doing while we sit around and … Okay, so we’re working hard too. Anyway, AskAway Best Practices meetings cover Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois virtual reference cooperatives, and they rotate monthly to cover an issue pertinent…

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