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Origins and basic motivation(or, “Why did you do this?”)
Why do libraries chat?
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill27,000 students
North Carolina State University30,000 students
Duke University12,000
How UNC, Duke, and NCSU collaborate
Tools, historically
• Commercial Virtual Reference software • Call Center software
Crucial Thing that Made it Work?
Evolution of tools
• Commercial Virtual Reference software • Call Center software• IM/Meebo?
Virtual Reference Traffic (general and Davis Ref queues)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
2001-2 2002-3 2003-4 2004-5 2005-6 2006-7 2007-8 2008-09
Web Chat
IM
Total
The Widget Effect (tm Josh Boyer)
The Nature of IM
A little problem
Evolution of tools
• Commercial Virtual Reference software • Call Center software• IM/Meebo?• Pidgin4Lib (defunct prototype)• Libraryh3lp
LibraryH3lp 101
At a glance…
LibraryH3lpJabber Server with IM Gateways
AIM
ChatWidgets
Yahoo!
MSN
Librarian
Librarian
Librarian
Librarian
LibrarianLibrarian
Google Talk
SMSText
msgs
LibraryH3lp Lingo• Widget
• patron entry point on your website.
• Queue• specified by widget; • one or more librarians assigned to the queue.
• Gateways• Integrate other patron entry points into queue.• IM (AIM, Google Talk, MSN, Yahoo!), SMS Text Messages,
Twitter, Facebook
• (Jabber/XMPP) Client• Software used by librarian to answer patron messages.
Widgets
http://libraries.claremont.edu/help/askus/
http://www.d.umn.edu/lib/
http://www.lib.unc.edu/ask.html
http://www.library.gsu.edu/
Queue
• Widgets specify a queue.
• Queue name is visible to librarians answering chats.
• Librarians are assigned to queues based on expertise.o Reference, Youth
Services, Circulation, Reader’s Advisory, etc…
http://libraryh3lp.com/chat/[email protected]
Client• Librarians use a Jabber (XMPP) client to answer chats.
• Feature-rich Web client available.o Development funded largely by state of North Carolina for NCknowso Referring URL, patron’s IPo Easy transfer, send fileo Character countdown for text messageso Queue avatars and profile pages for context
• Clients also available for PC, Mac, and Linux.
IM Gateways
• Associated with a queue.
• Allow MULTIPLE librarians to monitor AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, Google Talk.
• IMs can be transferred just like any other chat.
SMS Gateways
• Lets patrons text the library at a phone number.
• Three different kinds availableo Android phone (obsolete for US users now)o Google Voice (free, semi-fragile)o Twilio (inexpensive, very robust)
Librarians’ Web Client
LibraryH3lp Routing Model
• Patron chats go to ALL librarians available on a queue.• First librarian to send the patron a message wins the chat.• Other librarians get disconnected from that patron and receive a
message about which librarian was connected with the patron.
Presence (online/offline)
Presence, with Pop-Up Widgets
Presence: Service Rollover
Collaboration Service Model
Web page can:
1) Show widget for Subject Expert at Library A if online. If not….
2) Show Library A’s widget if the library is online. If not…
3) Show widget for collaborative service.
4) If collaborative service is offline, show something else.o Email form for local library.o Email form for collaborative service.o Entry point for after-hours backup service like QP.o Nothing.
Service Rollover Code<div class="needs-js">Chat requires JavaScript.</div>
<div class="libraryh3lp" jid="[email protected]" style="display: none;">Chat with Subject Expert:<br /><iframe src="http://libraryh3lp.com/chat/[email protected]"frameborder="1" style="border: 2px inset black; width: 350px; height: 300px;"></iframe></div>
<div class="libraryh3lp" jid="[email protected]" style="display: none;">Chat with Generalists:<br /><iframe src="http://libraryh3lp.com/chat/[email protected]"frameborder="1" style="border: 2px inset black; width: 350px; height: 300px;"></iframe></div>
<div class="libraryh3lp" style="display: none; border: 1px solid;">Both Subject Expert and Generalists are offline.<br />PUT YOUR OFFLINE OPTION HERE by inserting whatever HTML you want.</div>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://libraryh3lp.com/js/libraryh3lp.js?multi"></script>
Show if patron has javascript disabled.
Subject expert: first level of service.
General reference queue: second level of service.
Offline option: point to email, backup service (like QP).
Javascript makes it work.
Admin Site
• Manage users, queues, gateways
• Design widgets and code for your websites
• Monitor system activity
• Download (and/or delete) transcripts
• Create reports
Reports
Most parts optional.
Use what you need…
Change it as desired.
Platform for Virtual Reference
NCknows
• In pilot mode with several libraries.• Service roll over to OCLC’s QuestionPoint for
24/7 service.• ANY NC public or academic library can join.• Contact Phil Blank, [email protected], for more
information.
Demo
• Questions first?
