AskAway Blog

News About Upcoming Enhancements From OCLC

Submitted by admin-boss on

From the QuestionPoint listserv:
OCLC's QuestionPoint and Mosio's Text a Librarian announce virtual reference collaboration
Project to offer text messaging reference options to QuestionPoint users
DUBLIN, Ohio, January 15, 2010-OCLC and Mosio are working together to enable seamless integration of Mosio's Text a Librarian text messaging reference software with OCLC's QuestionPoint reference management service to provide a comprehensive virtual reference solution for libraries.

UBC Primo Session Recording Available

Submitted by admin-boss on

The online tutorial about UBC's new federated search tool Primo is now available for viewing on the Staff Portal:
http://www.eln.bc.ca/askaway/index.php?page=recordings#primo
Thanks so much to Trish and Sally for providing this very popular session for AskAwayers!
Something new at your library that other AskAwayers should know about? Let Sunni help you set up and record an online session - it's easy, fun and will ultimately benefit your patrons!

Very Successful Term!

Submitted by admin-boss on

Hi folks,
Just a reminder that AskAway is now closed until January 18th, 2010.
Congratulations on a very successful Fall term! This was our busiest term ever, with 8281 calls received from September 21st to December 11th. To compare, last Fall AskAwayers handled 3963 calls in total.
A colourful chart comparing AskAway calls per term is available on the Portal:
http://www.eln.bc.ca/askaway/index.php?page=fte#term
Our busiest day this term was Tuesday November 3, with 181 calls.

UBC's New Search Tool Primo

Submitted by admin-boss on

UBC Library's Primo for AskAwayers
Trish Rosseel will present an online session about UBC Library's new search tool Primo on Monday, January 11th, 1:30-2:30pm.
UBC has a spiffy new federated search tool - Primo. Users can perform one search and get integrated results from the library's catalogue, e-book collections, digital collections, and institutional repository.
Come to this session to:
- see a demo of Primo
- learn how to search it and discern what you find
- try some searches yourself
- ask questions and provide feedback

Online Bookmarking Tools for Reference

Submitted by admin-boss on

Ref22 is pleased to present Jaclyn McKewan on December 8th 2009, from 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Jaclyn is the Virtual Services & Training Librarian for the Western New York Library Resources Council. For this month’s Ref22 session she will present on how and why to use online bookmarking tools, specifically Delicious bookmarks and the Firefox Delicious plug-in, to improve the services you provide via online reference. Virtual and physical reference librarians and any library staff that use the internet to regularly answer questions will find this session of interest.

UFV - off campus access to research databases

Submitted by admin-boss on

The server between UFV registration and the library's databases is being worked on. This is effecting off campus access to the library's databases for only SOME of our students.
A workaround this problem until our server is fixed is:
1. try logging in using your student number and the default date of birth password (YYMMDD).
2. change your password in MyUFV to force synchronization, and then wait a couple of hours for the system to update your account.

Set Amount of Disk Space To Use

Submitted by admin-boss on

To ensure that your browser is operating at maximum efficiency to handle all those AskAway calls coming in, do the following in your browser:
If you are using FIrefox to staff AskAway, do this in Firefox:

  1. In the Tools menu, choose Options.
  2. Under Advanced, click on the Network tab and make sure that Offline Storage is set to 50 MB. (This is critical! Higher settings will affect the speed at which you see and are able to pick up new patrons coming in.)

If you are using Internet Explorer to staff AskAway, do this in IE:

Q & As for Handling Multiple Patrons

Submitted by admin-boss on

Some very useful questions from a service provider around handling multiple patrons, with my answers:
How do we know which patron is first in the line-up?

Patrons will be listed in the New tab in the order in which they come in, with newest at the top and oldest at the bottom. The Time column will tell you how many seconds the patron has been waiting.

Rules of Engagement for Busy Times

Submitted by admin-boss on

We've reached the busy peak of this term - on average we're handling 130 - 160 calls per day, 10-20 per hour. Our busiest hour so far was Tuesday Nov 3 from 2-3 PM when 27 calls came in!
As we get busier, things get stressful for our patrons and for us. Here's some coping strategies:
Rules of Engagement for Patrons

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