AskAway Blog

UBC big engineering classes

Submitted by admin-boss on

Colleagues:

Starting with this week, we are teaching approximately 1,800 UBC engineering students in a number of major engineering classes - Engineering Cases (APSC 150), Engineering Communication (APSC 176) and Technical Communication (APSC 201)

If you get those students coming to you, please help them by starting with our SciEng homepage - http://scieng.library.ubc.ca where you will see links to the appropriate course pages – APSC 150, 201, 176 and 262.

Please refer any questions you may have with these folks my way.

Back in the Saddle!

Submitted by admin-boss on

As we move into the beginning of another AskAway term, here’s a couple of tips for ‘getting back in the saddle’:

1.  Get familiar with the Staff Portal again.  This is where you’ll find links to all the tools you need to staff your shift (QP login, Campfire login, scripts, library guest logins, policy pages, etc..).

Secrets of AskAway Success

Submitted by admin-boss on

We've started a series of Secrets of AskAway Success Spotlights on AskAway institutions focusing on how AskAway is promoted and managed at institutions who see a lot of AskAway usage. The aim of these Spotlights is to highlight and share information about successful strategies being employed across a broad range of institution types and locations.  The first two of these Spotlights are available on the Staff Portal Secrets of AskAway Success page:

Lost call? Before you end your session...

Submitted by admin-boss on

Check-out part one of this post Lost call? Here's a few reasons why... first!

So now you have a red dot or unresponsive patron what do you do? Before you end the session, here's a few tips for providing a consistent patron experience for AskAway users:

1. Inform the patron that you are going to end the session, give a reason why, and give them a few moments to respond before you exit.

Patron Status Indicators

Submitted by admin-boss on

There are a variety of helpful indicators available in QuestionPoint to inform us of the current status of our patrons. During these busy times it can be helpful to know at a glance if our:
( ! ) Patron is typing.
(+) Just sent a new response.
 Is off searching or may be slow responding.
If they may have disconnected from the session.

New Script: Contact Security Situations

Submitted by admin-boss on

With the new mobile AskAway option and the prevalence of laptops in libraries, AskAway service providers are responding more and more to patron security complaints & queries. At times it can be difficult to know what to do when an upset or stressed patron asks for help... Should we provide them with contact information or call and pass along the concern/complaint ourselves?

Responding to Patrons in Crisis

Submitted by admin-boss on

On rare occasions, AskAway staff have had to deal with patrons in crisis -- callers who may mention suicide, self harm, or abuse.

It can be hard to know how what to say to someone who appears to be in crisis, particularly in the online environment, where you are unable to see or hear the patron.

Sunni and I have created a set of guidelines and tips for dealing with these situations. You can read the guidelines on the Staff Portal Patrons in Crisis page.

Patron Typing Bug

Submitted by admin-boss on

We continue to have reports of patrons experiencing difficulty typing into some Qwidgets.  QP is continuing to investigate this issue, and has requested our help in identifying the issue.

If a patron reports difficulty typing during their chat session with you, please send me an email with the following information:

1. Time and date of the call
2. Patron's institution
3. Whether the patron's status indicator (beside their name in the My Active tab) is a green square, yellow triangle or red circle.
4. The About info:

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