Comments for LibrariDan

Comment on My library now using LibraryH3lp by admin

admin — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:31:53 +0000

rajashree,

I haven’t experimented with Spark. The LibraryH3lp admin allows you to set up gateways for Google Talk, MSN, etc. It sounds to me that you’re interested in monitoring a LibraryH3lp chat box using Google Talk. That’s not the approach we’re using, and I wouldn’t know how to do that. I would suggest you get in touch with LibraryH3lp for further assistance.

Cheers,
Dan

Comment on My library now using LibraryH3lp by rajashree

rajashree — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:02:33 +0000

How do I connect to libraryh3lp using Spark or Gtalk?

I have tried with username@libraryh3lp.com.

Comment on LibX UWO live by Nancy Collins

Nancy Collins — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:42:09 +0000

Dan, these are amazing! We’re gearing up to start promoting LibX at Waterloo too, so it’s cool to see what you’ve done. I’m impressed.

Comment on LibraryH3lp + Pidgin by admin

admin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:44:25 +0000

No handouts at the moment, sorry….

Dan

Comment on LibraryH3lp + Pidgin by Susan

Susan — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:33:40 +0000

Hey,
we’re installing the new pidgin at my library as well. Do you have any sort of training handout that you give to staff?

Comment on Lively at LibrariDan’s Dead by John

John — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:47:40 +0000

Hi Dan, I visited once but no one was home. I found Lively’s visual experience to be quite fragmented, possibly due to my video card, not sure. I have since uninstalled it. But worth a try. Cheers.

Comment on My library now using LibraryH3lp by admin

admin — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:08:13 +0000

Yes, unfortunately a great many patrons _do_ appear to grab the first obvious search engine — often the OPAC — and try to use it to find journal articles.

That’s why I find options like UBC’s OneSearch http://www.library.ubc.ca/ so appealing.

OneSearch/MetaLib might not enable simultaneous searching of _all_ of UBC’s indexes & databases, but it gets a lot of them, and is clearly better than the OPAC when it comes to finding articles.

I see the primary function of single search engines like OneSearch as giving patrons a fighting chance at finding journal articles when there’s no reference staffer within easy reach (i.e. most of the time).

Comment on My library now using LibraryH3lp by Ellen

Ellen — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:45:04 +0000

Yes, the pop-out is quite nice. We’re trying to put language near the chat box that explains the pop-out feature and train our staff to mention it. FYI, we put a widget in our OPAC’s no hits page and it gets a lot of traffic! However, it’s really interesting how many people coming from that page ask about finding articles… hmmmm. More work to do in making our library’s webpage accessible and intuitive!!

Comment on My library now using LibraryH3lp by admin

admin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:23:00 +0000

Good to hear that your business is booming, Ellen. At my last job (UWaterloo) we found that chat traffic exploded in a similar fashion once we’d installed our MeeboMe widget. I think it’s the immediacy of MeeboMe and LibraryH3lp that appeals to users.
One question in the back of my mind is whether we should place these chat boxes ‘everywhere’ on our sites, or opt instead to provide obvious links to our Research Help / Ask a Librarian pages.
The LibraryH3lp ‘pop out’ feature helps overcome one problem with the idea of putting a chat box widget on specific pages (e.g., an OPAC’s ‘no hits’ page), that being the disconnect that occurs when the user leaves the widget-enabled page to follow the staffer’s instructions.

Comment on My library now using LibraryH3lp by Ellen

Ellen — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:16:08 +0000

We’ve been using Libraryh3lp at Baylor since early April, and it has kind of revolutionized our chat reference. We were getting swamped with chat ref at the desk during the spring semester (3x the traffic as fall, 80% coming through our previous meebo widget - which meant that the one person who could log into Meebo couldn’t handle the traffic…) when we implemented Libraryh3lp, it spread the love, so to speak, among the other staffers. We’re excited about the other features as well, like transfer, and all the other things in the works…