L-net goings-on

Hello,

This newsletter is supposed to be biweekly, but I've only been able to acheive that 4 times in the past two years. Who wants to help write newsletters?

I also want to remind you that there is a lovely shift available for swap on December 28 from Noon to 1pm. It promises to be slow, as will the whole week between the holidays. If you just realized you need to request a swap, please send me a note.

Talk to you soon - Caleb

1. Duplicate questions, one with no response
2. Are you going to PLA?
3. More titles from the Gale Virtual Reference Library
4. Handheld Librarian 2 conference
5. Patrons chat back

1. Duplicate questions, one with no response

You may notice sometimes that a question will come in with a duplicate copy of itself immediately afterwards. The patron will be 'live' in the second one and disconnected in the first.

What happens is that the patron submits a question, but the server somehow drops the question. This has always happened, but before the software upgrade, those patrons would simply languish. Now, the server notices there has been an error and submits the question again.

If you see a question where no one is responding and it says the patron has disconnected, close the question and use the 'disconnected' resolution code.

2. Are you going to PLA?

Are you headed to Portland (or are you already here) for the Public Library Association conference coming up March 23-27, 2010?

If you are, I would love for us to get together with some of those virtual reference librarians in Ohio we work so distantly with. Will you also write me and say if you are interested in meeting up with them?

3. More titles from the Gale Virtual Reference Library

You probably have seen this already, but I wanted to remind you that the Gale Virtual Reference Library is an excellent source for working with patrons on L-net (though I was recently dissapointed that "Middle Ages Reference Library" did not help the student looking for diagrams of catapults).

10 Titles We Already Had in GVRL as of 10/12/09:

American Decades Primary Sources
Ancient Civilizations Reference Library
Complete Human Diseases and Conditions
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd ed.
Encyclopedia of Religion
Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Ethics
Encyclopedia of World Cultures
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia
UXL Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, 2nd ed.
Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia

15 Additional Titles as of 11/16/09:

Ancient Greece and Rome: An Encyclopedia for Students
Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion
Encyclopedia of Education
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World
Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement
Europe 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire
Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction
Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health, 2nd ed.
Middle Ages Reference Library
Real-Life Math
Social Issues Primary Sources Collection
Witchcraft in America
World War I Reference Library
World War II Reference Library

4. Handheld Librarian 2 conference

I'm copying and pasting from one of the many announcements I've seen for this conference that you may be interestd in:

More people than 2000 people attended the first ever Handheld Librarian Conference in July 2009 which featured a wide array of collaboration, learning and networking activities focused on Mobile Library Services!  The Handheld Librarian 2 will continue the dialog with a 2-day online conference scheduled for February 17-18, 2010 and is now accepting registrations at http://www.handheldlibrarian.org. The program -- sponsored by Alliance Library System, and LearningTimes
-- will include a series of  wonderful keynote and featured speakers collection of available resources, discussions boards, and access to the recording of all live events for one year after the conference. More people than ever are using mobile devices for a wide variety of purposes including communication, internet access, text messaging, and entertainment. It is important that libraries provide mobile services as handheld use increases.

5. Patrons chat back

One sad thing about our software upgrade is that we no longer automatically send patrons to a survey at the end of each session. Previously, somewhere between 8 and 11% of patrons filled out a survey, and now it is only 4%.

The good news is that patrons can keep reading and using their transcript after the session.

Here are some choice selections of what they've had to say since the software switch, in alphabetical order:

Art is great!

Chris was wonderful, helpful, informative and got me started in the right direction AND taught me something new! Thanks again!

I think this is a great service. Email or chat is the best way for me to communicate when I need to multitask, or when I'm in an office environment.

just for your information, when someone goes on this website they just need answers so don't give them websites because they sometimes don't work.or either they want answers fast

Mary in PDX was great! Kudos!

This is a great way to help school kids and others. I am glad I found this.

this is a helpful service! :)