How to have your own live virtual reference desk through L-net

Partner libraries with L-net have the opportunity, free of charge, to customize a live queue and staff it with their own staff in order to offer a virtual reference service directly to their own patrons using L-net’s license with Tutor.com’s Virtual Reference Toolkit.

What is a partner library?

If your library is contributing to answering statewide digital reference questions by staffing our live chat queue or taking referrals, then you are a partner.

Right now, L-net partner libraries have no service agreement. Our Service Agreement Team is busily working on creating one and refining the definition of partner library, however. A draft of this will be completed 2/14/05.

What is a queue?

Think of a queue as a virtual reference desk. Patrons visit it through your website and librarians staff it from wherever they are.

A few libraries are considering setting up their own queue so that they can staff it with their own staff and offer service directly to their own patrons, but there is no reason why you can’t collaborate on a queue with another (and another, and another) library, even if that library isn’t in Oregon.

A queue can be customized by changing wording, logos, and the number and type of questions you are asking the patron when they connect. You can also change which page loads in the left-hand frame.

Take a look at these different queues to see what might be possible:

OSU: http://vrl-web10.lssi.com/wcscgi/CDM.exe/oregon?SS_COMMAND=CUST_SUP&Category=OREGONSTATEUNIVERSITY∞

L-net schools: http://vrl-web10.lssi.com/wcscgi/CDM.exe/oregon?SS_COMMAND=CUST_SUP&Category=SCHOOLS∞

You may also wish to look at another library’s interface or setup.

Each queue also its own URL, so it is easy to link to your queue from your library’s home page.

Our software is set up so that if no one is monitoring your queue, or if it is very busy, you can have it automatically forward your patron to another queue. For example, OSU’s queue is set up forward to the general L-net queue when they are not staffing it. In this way, they are able to offer 24/7 service.

What is a seat?

In virtual reference pricing models, a seat is the capacity to have one librarian logged on staffing a live queue, excluding training queues. Generally, the more seats we want, the more we have to pay.

Our original pricing model with LSSI/Tutor.com had us paying on a per-seat basis. We could do anything we wanted with the queues, but only had 3 seats to staff them with. We now have unlimited seats and can have as many librarians staffing as many queues as we want.

What is the future of L-net?

L-net is not guaranteed grant funding beyond June, 2004, but we are working hard to secure it so that we may continue to offer this valuable service to Oregonians.

In order to be more cost effective, we may need to choose a software vendor that does not offer unlimited seats. We will then make a decision about how many seats L-net needs for collaborative purposes.

What about e-mail?

Partner libraries may also wish to customize an e-mail queue using our RefTracker software. Right now, it is even less certain that we will be using RefTracker in the future than it is we will be using Virtual Reference Toolkit.

Getting Started

If you are ready to set up a queue, please contact the service coordinator. After that, events will go something like this:

Library

CaleB

Library

CaleB

Library

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Library

Tutor.com technical support

Your library is welcome to work with Tutor.com staff directly. Gabe Hollombe is the technical support coordinator for Tutor.com.


Kay Henshall is a trainer based in Portland and is very knowledgeable about the software.

Training

You are welcome to utilize L-net’s trainings to help your staff learn how to use Tutor.com’s virtual reference toolkit.

Tutor.com also offers a number of training options, including a teleconference that’s priced on a per-person model.