Tips (General)

Reminder: Please click "add" after entering  each description code. Without this extra click, the information you entered will be lost! See below for more information on how to add descriptive codes.

We have reached the end of the week, and our final tip on ways to run the service smoothly when it gets busy.

Tip #4: Use referrals!

Refer, refer, refer! During busy times, you may not have the time to give every patron the in-depth help you’d like to give them. If you can’t transfer them to another available service provider, and the wait it too long, don’t hesitate to refer the patron to email, telephone or in-person reference at their home library.

If you haven't noticed from our previous Tips posts - Tip#1 and Tip#2, you probably have noticed on your shift that it's already getting busy at AskAway this year. Here is our third tip this week on ways to make busy shifts go smoother for service providers and users.
Tip #3:
Log in everywhere, and early!

As we mentioned yesterday, AskAway is already getting busy! We’re posting tips this week to help service providers when there are a lot of questions coming in. Here is Tip #1, in case you missed it.

Here is tip #2:

Swamped Calls: don't hesitate - use the Swamped tool to email the listserv for help as soon as it starts getting too busy!

Click on the Swamped button on the Staff Tools page of the portal to email the listserv for help as soon as it starts getting too busy for the number of service providers on AskAway.

AskAway is already getting busy this year! We'll be implementing some patron-side communication to help manage patron expectations. In the meantime, we are going to post some tips over the next few days to help ease the burden on AskAway service providers and stressed patrons when it’s busy.

Here is tip #1:

Use the new script: Queue: Off-Peak Hours, as well as the Swamped scripts to manage patron expectations and queue flow.

Just a reminder to update and check-out all your qwidgets each term! AskAway Qwidgets provided on your Library web pages, Libguides and EBSCO & ProQuest databases

ProQuest has now added the option to embed custom widgets into their databases!

UPDATE: The option to delete the qwidget is now available!

Already have an AskAway Qwidget in your EBSCO databases or library web pages? Why not check-out the new option in ProQuest to add a custom widget to all your standard-platform ProQuest databases like CBCA (the options to select individual databases or non-standard platforms like Chadwyck are not currently available).

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?

ProQuest has now added the option to embed custom widgets into their databases!

Already have an AskAway Qwidget in your EBSCO databases or library web pages? Why not check-out the new option in ProQuest to add a custom widget to all your standard-platform ProQuest databases like CBCA (the options to select individual databases or non-standard platforms like Chadwyck are not currently available).

You can re-use your already existing AskAway qwidget code OR create/update your AskAway qwidget code to embed in ProQuest.

Many ELN libraries use a Content Management System (CMS), such as IronPoint, to deliver their Institutional and Library web pages.