PREVIEW About LibAnswers - Start Here - LibAnswers Guide for Library Staff & Librarians

Welcome to this training guide for LibAnswers (Ask Us!)

This guide and training is for all library employees. Revisit this guide any time from the LibAnswers Dashboard (you'll learn what that is as we go along).

Here you'll find quick links, tips, and documentation to help you succeed in virtual reference as you're being trained by someone at your campus. If you don't already have an account and have just been sent this link, please email the LibAnswers Admin, Amanda Ross, at amanda.ross87@tulsacc.edu. Don't forget the 87!

Navigate through each tab at the top and read through the information. At the bottom of each page, including this one, is an embedded quiz/tutorial that you should take to practice your skillz. There are 5 quizzes total. You won't be scored, but the LibAnswers admin and your director will be notified as you complete them. Make sure you see the submission complete screen once you're done with a quiz!

What is LibAnswers?

LibAnswers stands for "Library Answers." Our LibAnswers (AskUs!) is a knowledge base of frequently asked questions and a way patrons can ask us questions virtually if they cannot find the answer. It is one of our LibApps products from Springshare. Some staff have access to more LibApps than others, depending on their roles in the TCC Library.
Library users (patrons) can search by keyword or type a question to find answers we've created in the LibAnswers FAQ. Please note, the FAQ is not the library catalog! Learn more about what a catalog is here with these FAQ results.

Accessing LibApps (Including LibAnswers)

LibAnswers and other LibApps are not connected to the MyTCC single sign-on system, as they are part of an internal library platform. This means your MyTCC password or password reset will not apply to LibApps.

If you are having trouble logging in, especially if you are locked out due to MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication), help is available. Please reach out to our LibApps and Website Administrator, Liz Binger, at liz.binger@tulsacc.edu, and she will be happy to assist you.

For more information, visit the TCC Library Website Directory.

What Does it Look Like for Patrons (Students, Faculty, and Non-Library Staff)?

AskUs! (LibAnswers at TCC)
This is what patrons see on the public-facing end. It is the main access point for how patrons will use it.

Breaking Down the Jargon

Why We Like LibAnswers:

Similar look and feel to LibGuides -- all part of the LibApps suite of products! It integrates with our other products, such as through the creation of FAQ Widgets and LibChat Widgets and Systems Widgets that can be embedded on websites and LibGuides. Check out the Humanities LibGuide (opens in new window) for LibAnswers widget examples. There are actually three (!) LibAnswers widgets on the homepage. Can you spot them all?
A way to connect with library users and answer their questions via their points of need.
Helps us work remotely. We can answer chat questions in real-time just like we could in-person!
Track library user search activity and can log information about their virtual reference questions for analytics.
A way of offering information about other departments/collaborating with other departments (many have added to the FAQ in their own groups).
Reuse answers in various ways to save time and push out vital, consistent information about resources.
You can Google how to use this product! Example keyword search for an issue: "Springshare create ticket from chat." It's super easy to figure out!

Quick Links For Later!

These pages will assist you in providing Virtual Reference. Refer back to them as needed (ie you might want to bookmark these!):

TCC Library Website - The website is good to have bookmarked at your station so that you can search the catalog quickly for patrons needing info on specific items, get links to the databases (be sure to use TCC permalinks from the A-Z "Articles & Databases" list if sharing a specific database link), or other online library resources like Research guides (AKA "LibGuides"). Familiarize yourself with the website and its pages.
FAQ entries - A page of the Library Website called "Chat & FAQ." You can link to an individual FAQ entry during a virtual reference or copy and paste an FAQ answer into your response. Example: If you get a question about tutoring, find an FAQ to link to about tutoring at TCC. You may want to bookmark this specific page of the Library Website so that you can search for an answer quickly, even for in-person questions.
TCC Library Staff Directory - A page of the Library Website. This is a direct link to our librarian and full-time staff list, so that you can easily identify librarians and staff at various campuses. You should know your co-workers, even if they work at another campus. You can give office contact information from these pages out as well to any patron. Clicking on the name of a librarian will get a direct link to their profile you can also send. Librarian profiles have research consultation and direct chat buttons for that librarian that students might benefit from knowing about in a particular virtual reference interaction. For example, Amanda Ross is the interlibrary loan librarian. Sending a direct link to her profile could be helpful in answering an ILL question.

Your LibAnswers Admin

amanda headshot with balloons like the cat pic Hi, I'm Amanda Ross, your LibAnswers Admin. I'm based at the NE campus and also handle interlibrary loans for the college in the Access Services Office. Back in the day, before I became a librarian, I used to be an aide at Metro! So, I know what's it's like to staff the circulation desk and work chat at the same time. I know how stressful it can be to juggle chat while, for example, the phone is ringing, there's a line for help at the desk, and there's a million other fires you need to put out. I get it. That's also why I was excited when, in 2023, Springshare launched chatbot. Chatbot will help filter out some of the more basic questions, as well has help our patrons ask better questions, so that they get the best answers when the questions do come to us on chat. While it relieves some stress on staff, we still need to be giving the best customer service to our online patrons. These tutorials are designed to help you think about and practice how you would handle interactions for virtual reference.

These are the types of messages you'll see on the LibAnswers Dashboard. Be sure to bookmark it as your main way to log into LibAnswers!

LibAnswers Admin Alert Box Messages Short-term Archive📌 (scroll for more)

11/5/25 Library FAQ of the Week: If you see any FAQ that still mention the Northeast location as being closed, please let Amanda know or edit if you have access. Run don't walk to correct it! She's tried to update all that she could find.

8/25/25 Library Virtual Reference Tip of the Week (again) AND FAQ of the Week:

If you are getting creepy or suspicious questions over chat (like the frequent "synonyms" or "needing another word for" question for the person claiming to need help writing a short story), a good deterrent is verifying that they are a student before continuing the conversation. There are ways to disengage with the user to impede the behavior while still maintaining our customer service standards. You can use one of the following:

I see that you're looking for a similar word, which a thesaurus is good for. Before I recommend a resource, can I get your name and T-number to verify if you are a student so that we know what options are available to you?

I can help with this! Could you please provide your student ID for verification before we proceed? This helps us ensure we're providing the right resources to our students.

To assist you further, I’ll need to confirm your enrollment status. Can you share your T-number?

If they say they are not a student, in this example, you can refer them to Google or another search engine or simply link to this FAQ (I would not go out of your way to recommend free online options or give them synonyms). It is likely the conversation will end there. The important thing is to not show them they are affecting us or to escalate it, which might only increase the harassment and abuse/continued use of our system. The intent is to not give them what they are looking for (engagement with a question that can veer into inappropriate).

⚠️ We are not the only one to be getting this chat question. ⚠️

Please do not put yourself or your co-workers at risk by interfacing too much with chats like this. It will only encourage repeat attempts (which there have been)

7/29/25 Library Virtual Reference Tip of the Week (again): Librarians and those with LibGuide access! Please update any previously mapped chat/virtual reference boxes with these (excluding FAQ boxes). There is a new tab (from April of this year) on the LibAnswers LibGuide with boxes you can map or copy for your own guides with LibAnswers widgets in them. You can use them to replace any you might already have on your guides that are mapped to guides whose existence is being endangered (like sandboxes).

Right click on image to open in new browser to expand.

11/5/25 Library Virtual Reference Tip of the Week: Reminder that you can leave tickets (email/system or SMS) that require research help as unclaimed until the next available librarian is able to answer. If you need to unclaim a ticket, you can learn how to do that here. Unlike chats, tickets are not pressing and the patron may also take their time in responding, so it is OK to leave them open until morning to be sure there is no response or that it gets answered by the best person. You can unclaim the ticket so that the morning folks will be able to continue where things were left off.

There is also an option to get a librarian to look at the dashboard tickets using the "call for backup" button, and it is important to note that librarians who offer research help to students on this virtual reference platform count those as research consultations, just like they do walk-ins. So, leaving a ticket unclaimed on the dashboard is not a bad thing.

1/5: Take this first tutorial! Don't worry - it's just 3 questions. :)

LibAnswers Guide for Library Staff & Librarians: About LibAnswers - Start Here