Submitted by Sydney Brogden on
In case you missed it, catch up on the cozy Holiday 2022 issue of the Chat Box newsletter:
Submitted by Cristen Polley on
The new Open Education tag allows us to track those questions when a service provider explains or provides access to Open Access, Open Education, or Open Textbook resources. This includes questions about no-cost textbook options, for example a student looking for an older version of a textbook from the library. In celebration of this new tag, Elizabeth Padilla (BCIT) shares the B.C. Open Collection and her role in developing the new home for the collection.
Submitted by Sydney Brogden on
In this post, find out about recent updates to the Recommended Citation Guides and Websites. Many thanks to Elizabeth Fernandes (Liaison Librarian at University Canada West), Shannon Moist (Head of Reference Services at Douglas College) and Tina Bebbington (Humanities Librarian at the University of Victoria) for their work on this update!
Submitted by Cristen Polley on
Changes to the AskAway chat box are coming! We will soon upgrade to the next generation chat box, which comes with new features and special attention to visual accessibility. As the next generation chat box is rolling out, there are new features and functions we’d like to bring to your attention!
Submitted by Cristen Polley on
In case you missed it, catch up on the Summer 2022 issue of the AskAway newsletter.
Submitted by Cristen Polley on
There are three new tags that you can now apply to your AskAway chat sessions in LibraryH3lp: Copyright, Course Reserves, and Open Education. These tags were recommended by AskAway participants and will help the service and libraries better understand student needs in these areas. The Interlibrary Loan tag has also been updated to include (ILL) so that it is faster to bring up in the drop-down list by typing ILL.
Submitted by Cristen Polley on
It has been almost a year since UBC Library implemented OpenAthens for e-resource authentication. Many thanks for all of your help in supporting our users transitioning to the new process. We have heard that accessing UBC’s e-resources via OpenAthens as an AskAway service provider can be tricky. We have updated the wording on the Guest Login page as follows, and we hope it clarifies the issue.
Submitted by Cristen Polley on
We're pleased to share that FAQs for service providers have been refreshed!
Previously, these FAQs were spread out in two places, with some available on the AskAway website FAQs page and others available on the Service Provider FAQs site. Initially, this was to support the transition to LibraryH3lp but having this information available in two places made it difficult to know where to look for answers and less efficient to maintain.
Now, you can find all of your FAQs in one convenient place: the Service Provider FAQs site, linked from the AskAway website FAQs page and the homepage.
Submitted by Cristen Polley on
A new tool is now available to you on your evening and weekend AskAway shifts. If you’re alone or short-staffed on an evening or weekend shift (weekday after 5pm, Saturday, or Sunday), you can now easily send an automated message to the evenings-weekends list and request assistance.
Submitted by Cristen Polley on
AskAway has guidelines in place to help you respond to patrons who are abusing the service with prank calls, inappropriate language, or rude behaviour. They're designed to provide you with the tools you need to communicate clearly with the patron, give them an opportunity to change their behaviour, and if needed, to end the session.
In addition to these guidelines, here are some general tips to respond to inappropriate and prank chats based on feedback and input from service providers.