LibAnswers Guide for Library Staff & Librarians: Tiered Reference

Best Practices and Protocol for Librarians and Staff Directions for Staff: When do questions go to the librarians?

Use this version of the READ Scale to determine what you are expected to know as a library employee.

All staff are expected to answer level 1 and 2 questions. Level 3 and 4 questions may be answered by part-time staff based on their comfort level and the complexity of the question, but they should at least attempt to try to answer the question and then verify that the patron needs additional help beyond their abilities to answer before involving another employee. Full-time staff/CTLs are expected to answer these and not forward unless more help is needed (see box on the right). Part-time staff can forward these levels to CTLs/full-time staff before a librarian depending on their comfort level with the question, but they do not require a librarian. Level 5 and 6 questions require forwarding to a librarian from part-timers and full-timers.

Reference Effort Assessment Data (READ) Scale breakdown:

1. Answer requires no specialized knowledge skills or expertise. (Examples: When do you close? Does the NEC campus have a Writing Center? When is Spring Break for TCC?) These are things that could be answered off the top of someone's head, but giving a link to more information is encouraged. 

2. Answers require more effort than the first category, but require only minimal specific knowledge. (Examples: What does this call number mean? Where do I search for books online? How do I renew my ILL?) These are things that you might know off the top of your head after working here a long time, but otherwise might require searching the FAQ, website(s), research guides, etc. to find the best answer. But you CAN find the answer online. 

3. Answers require looking up resource or double checking a resource etc. for a patron and/or using reference material may be needed. (Examples: How can I tell if this article is peer-reviewed? Which databases offer Newspaper content? Why does this Discovery record result not show an interlibrary loan option?) This may require you looking up material as if you were the patron and then explaining why something is the way it is. 

4. Answers require the consultation of multiple resources. (Examples: My instructor said to use Ebsco and JSTOR to find an article but I am not sure why I am getting no results for my topic, can you help me? How do I get a copy of a chapter from this book? Where could I go to get topic ideas for my research paper?) Like #3 but more in-depth, possibly duplicating the patron's path to check what they are seeing and then presenting other helpful information, like FAQ, for how to correct an issue in the future or further explain how you corrected or answered something for them. 

5. Answers require specialist and evaluation of resources. (Examples: I found three resources on Google Scholar but I’m not sure they're what my instructor wants me to use for my assignment. Can you review them or help me find different ones? Or, Can you find the articles this book references in its bibliography and teach me how you did it? Or, My instructor told me that the three sources I found did not work and that I also need 3 ebook sources and a source from a government database but I'm not sure where to go.). Make ticket for a librarian to answer or unclaim ticket if question came in as one (see information below on how to create a ticket). 

6. Answer requires the most effort and follow up information may be required. (Examples: I am an instructor who needs a rare manuscript that doesn’t show up in Discovery interlibrary loan options as well as the ability to digitize it for my online class. Can you do that for me? Or, I am a student and the ILL Librarian cancelled my request. The reason why doesn't make sense to me and I need it as a resource or to choose another resource. Can you help? Or, I have a copyright question about the reserves material I want to post in my online Blackboard course. Can a librarian help me?) Make ticket for a librarian to answer or unclaim ticket if question came in as one (see information below on how to create a ticket). 

• Librarians may show up on chat to monitor their direct chat channels ("departments") to be available for their classes (especially online students), but are not expected to be on chat unless coverage for their campus (according to our schedule) is needed. Staff are still the frontlines of chat and will filter out questions just like at a circulation desk. It is preferred that if a librarian is needed to answer a question, it be turned into a ticket for any librarian to grab as they are able, rather than transferring the chat to them or assigning the ticket to a specific librarian. The expectation is that staff need to grab chat questions first to see if it is a question they can answer, asking clarifying questions to be sure it needs to be forwarded. 
• To motivate librarians to be on virtual reference, if a chat or ticket takes longer than 5 minutes to answer they can count it as a research consultation for their consultation stats (approved by LMT in 2018). Librarians, please still record the transaction in LibAnswers' Ref. Analytics, not just LibInsight, so we can keep stats on how the VR system is being used. This also applies for tickets and emails sent to them personally (use your best judgment on how to estimate the time) outside of the system.
• Librarians can see this documentation on how to add a chat widget to their LibApps profile box, so that students can chat with them directly, not having their question to go the library "department." 

Part-time staff are only held responsible for questions that come in via SMS and chat. Full-time staff members and librarians will respond to all other ticket questions. Exception: if you are a part-timer who works evenings and weekends and have been given access, answer ticket questions to the best of your ability. At the very least, reply to the patron with a link to an appropriate help (FAQ link, research guide, etc.) and explain that you have referred it to a librarian who will be in contact as soon as possible.

Be sure to unclaim the ticket and/or submit it as "Open" if the patron continues to respond to the same thread. If it is an SMS question that came in over chat, you will have to go to the LibAnswers Dashboard to assign the question or unclaim the ticket. Librarians and CTLs will be able to see your message history for context.

Library tiered reference for "Computer Support Assistants" (CSAs):

Please note that any chats that come in about computer support can be directed to Kenneth Loveland or Natalie Manke. If they are logged in, you can transfer the chat. If it is after their working hours in the evening, you can tell the patron you are assigning a support ticket to a Computer Support Assistant and they will get back with them. You can also just assign the ticket back to the Library department at large if you aren't sure who should grab the ticket (if someone is out that day, etc.) and the next available CSA can grab it.

Hotspot and Student Laptop Loan Program: Natalie Manke is the main contact. 

For information on how to assign tickets and turn chats into tickets, see this page of the LibAnswers LibGuide. 

The new LibChat interface has the ability to request a screenshare. This feature is to be used only for librarians as of 2020, because of privacy issues. It allows the librarian to create a zoom meeting quickly to demo what is on their screen. This is one way that chats can turn into research consultations for a librarian. 

(Many circulation desk stations do not have microphones for staff to utilize this feature).

There may be special cases where you need to manually add Ref. Analytics for a Virutal Reference transaction.

We also ask that if any library employee gets a virtual reference question about the library/library services via email that isn't from another library employee or for a research consultation (librarians get those), to please manually log that stat as well in Ref. Analytics to keep stats on how we are helping patrons "virtually." Students and non-library employees can find even part-time staff email in the directories and may try to ask you questions that way, especially if they know your name from working with you in-person. Examples include, emails from students asking about HLLP. Emails from faculty asking how to book the think tank. And so on! 

(!) when logging a virtual reference, it is better to choose "Unknown" in a field than to leave it blank. (!)

If you accidentally leave one blank, go back and edit the transaction here (under Ref. Analytics>View/Edit Transactions): 

This video was made before confirmed that 1) it would not affect the placement of the Get Help widget on the library homepage and 2) there was a way to make urls hyperlinked. These issues have been corrected. 

1. If in a chat, tell the patron you will have to forward their question (either for the next available librarian or person they need) and create a ticket. Check to see if they have submitted all their contact information, including an email. Ask for their TCC email if they have not supplied one. If they have used a personal email, you can look up their student email via any supplied T# in WMS, but let them know they will get a response to their TCC email. 

2. Unless a specific librarian is needed (maybe due the an assignment a specific librarian is doing with a class, an ILL question, or an OER question), just assign it to the general queue (right click to open in new tab for expanded view or select this): 

Remember: don't be afraid to use the Call for Backup Button on the LibAnswers Dashboard if there's not enough people on chat. Using it reminds others to log in if they forgot or asks them to refresh settings in case there was a glitch. If you are about to leave chat and leave someone on their own, use the button to get someone to come on to replace you. 

Members button on the LibChat Dashboard: Some librarians are logged on even outside of their campus coverage times. But, be sure to check that they really are monitoring the Library's chat, and not just their personal chats for a class or consultation before contacting them or assuming they are monitoring the library's "department." They might be busy with an online class. You can check this in the new chat interface by selecting "Members" by the Department name (learn more about this and how to change what you are monitoring here): 

Notice that Marianne is online, but not for the department. That means patrons are free to chat directly with her from her profile (patrons can get links to librarian profiles in the staff directory on LibGuides, for example) and only she will be able to grab chats that go through this profile widget:

Everyone else who is "green" in the previous screenshot can grab Library department chats and are monitoring the library department chat. 

On transferring chats:

Here is a how-to from Springshare.

It is good practice to also internally let the other employee in the other department know you are trying to transfer the chat so they have context, and so you can make sure they are really available. If it's just to the entire department (anyone available in that department currently), you might not need to. Also, let the patron know what you are doing so they do not think you have abandoned the conversation. You cannot create a ticket for another department because the library is the only department with a ticketing system (called a "queue"). 

Chatting internally (with co-workers) on the new chat interface: Keep in mind that, unlike in the classic view, the internal chat will ding only one time (for every message sent), not continually until you pick it up. If you see a chat on the dashboard and think a chat was grabbed after hearing a ding, you might double check and scroll down to make sure it wasn't actually an attempted internal chat. An internal chat will look like this and they are hard to miss, especially if you think the sound was a chat and assume it was just grabbed or that the patron left (see left - number in red).

Likewise, if you are the one trying to chat internally with someone, send another message to create another "ding" for your co-worker to notice. Amanda will change the sound for internal chats to help us differentiate. Up to 1/19/21 it was the same sound as a patron chat. 

1. Local free organizations and services (law, mental health, etc.): http://www.tulsalibrary.org/tos
2. Legal Questions: We are allowed to show a patron where the legal resources are, and describe their functions. We do not offer legal advice or interpret the law. For legal advice, suggest they contact the Tulsa Bar Association (they offer 20 minute sessions for around 30 dollars) or direct them to https://oklahoma.freelegalanswers.org/
3. Medical questions: We do not offer medical advice.
4. Mental health questions: See TCC Wellness services: https://www.tulsacc.edu/student-resources/wellness-services/counseling-and-resource-coordination // From TCC Wellness services:  Jessica Heavin Director of Wellness Services 918-595-7269 jessica.heavin@tulsacc.edu, Randii Harrald Health Promotions Coordinator 918-595-7270 randii.harrald@tulsacc.edu. Need help right away? Call the Student Assistance Program at 1-800-327-2251
5. If in doubt, see if there is a solution listed in our FAQ (all of this info is listed in our FAQ in some fashion)

Inappropriate Content/Spam in Tickets Reminders: If employees see a ticket on the dashboard with a suspicious or inappropriate subject, please mark it as spam so that the system learns to block such senders before deleting. You do not need to open or view suspicious content (this is why it is important to have both dashboards up, because selecting a ticket that appears from the LibChat dashboard may cause you to open the potentially inappropriate content in order to navigate back to where you can move it to spam, but you can quickly mark tickets as spam from the LibAnswers dashboard, however).

A few relevant staff are being emailed copies of tickets to help with our response time, so they may be emailed a copy of the inappropriate ticket and are aware. If you are unsure if it is a legitimate ticket, move it to spam and don't delete, but inform Amanda and/or a CTL about it so we can mitigate quickly. 

Learn more about marking tickets as spam from Springshare help. 

Mitigating inappropriate chats: There may be times when we get rude or inappropriate questions on chat besides tickets. Marking these as spam is a bit more complicated, because they could be chatting from our computers and we do not want to block our own IPs. However, there are ways to stop such interactions or keep them from escalating: 

1) Ask for the patron's T# before proceeding if they did not supply one before starting the chat. You do not have to respond if they do not identify themselves. If they ask why, tell them that chat must be used for the TCC Community only. Check their T# in WMS and that it matches with their name. If necessary, use this information to report to campus police, etc. 

2) End the chat if the questions are obviously inappropriate. Do not engage. If they create a new chat, you can grab it and quickly close it out. You can warn others by chatting with the whole department (everyone online monitoring the library) as well about what you just dealt with. 

3) Use the canned messages set up by the LibAnswers admin in a chat. If you are stressed, you can use the canned messages to help you find the words to quickly shut down the conversation and get you back on track. As of 2023, there is a canned message called "Decline service to a non-TCC person" that can get you started. 

Talk with your director or CTL if you feel like something should be deleted from Ref. Analytics as stats.