queues

You may notice that chat questions now list a 'queue' - 'lnet', 'prank' or 'academic'. The queue is just a way of routing the patron to the most appropriate librarian if possible - you do not need to do anything differently.

Pranksters queue

When patrons submit questions now, we check for pranks from the same IP address in the last hour. If there is one, the patron is put into the 'pranksters' queue.

Please note, this doesn't make the patron a prankster. Rather, it makes them someone using the same computer, or possibly only the same computer network as a prankster. I checked recently, and up to 25% of our questions can be coming from the same IP address.

If Emily or I are monitoring L-net, questions in the 'pranksters' queue will be sent to us first (you are welcome to join us if you want to monitor also). If we are not on, they will be sent to whoever is available.

Part of the idea is to keep you from having to deal with unpleasant situations. Most pranks are harmless, of course, but you should never dread clicking 'accept' on a question.

We like this option better than simply blocking these IP addresses or making these patrons use the e-mail service. By tracking what questions are assigned to the 'pranksters' queue, we can get a better sense of how big the problem really is. We'll also have data to help us decide if blocking patrons along these lines would be effective.

Academic queue

If a library links to L-net's chat by linking to www.oregonlibraries.net/academic, the patron's question will be marked for the 'academic' queue.

Like the 'pranksters' queue, patrons in the 'academic' queue will go to an academic librarian if one is online and available. If not, it will go to the next available librarian.

I also like the idea of an academic pool, a place where academic librarians can hang out all the time, monitor your local services and pick up questions in the academic queue when they come, without attracting the attention of the rest of the L-net traffic.

Each library's patrons would come to their own librarians first, then another academic librarian, and then the general L-net queue, and finally AfterDark or KnowItNow backup staff.

If we can get a few more academic libraries interested and signed up for L-net local, we can make this happen.