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Appendix B:
InfoEyes Guide for Librarians

InfoEyes Guide for Librarians

Draft of May 25, 2004

Please send suggested additions, corrections, and deletions to Tom Peters (tpeters@tapinformation.com)

Part 1: Getting Started with Your Desk Hours

Note: Please use the user ID and password assigned to you or your institution.

You should now be on a webpage called QuestionPoint Home. From this page you can do many things (e.g., change your password, browse the KnowledgeBase), but for a normal desk shift you will want to enter the Ask a Librarian service to review any unclaimed email questions and to accept any incoming chat reference sessions.

Note: Another link to the Ask a Librarian area is located in the lower left area of the screen under the Services banner.

Note: For more information about the features and functionality of QuestionPoint, please see Mary Mohr's PowerPoint presentation at http://www.infoeyes.org/librariantrng.2_files/frame.htm.

On the Ask a Librarian homepage you can review the active questions (i.e., new and pending questions that have been submitted by patrons). Questions with a red question mark in the status column are available to be claimed by you and worked on during your reference shift.

Note: When you are monitoring chat sessions, your QP automatic timeout timer is turned off.

Congratulations, you have now logged onto QuestionPoint and are ready to monitor the active questions (including pending email reference questions) and to monitor incoming chat sessions. These are two of the three modes of communication we are using for the InfoEyes Service.

The third, new mode of communication involves using the iVocalize software to engage in enhanced reference service with InfoEyes patrons.

When you have entered the ivocalize room as a moderator, your username will appear in bold.

Part 2: Providing Enhanced Reference in an iVocalize Room

Changing Your Settings

Note: You should need to make these changes only once. The changes you make should stick even after you exit the program, turn off your computer, etc.

Adding Time Stamps to Every Chat Component: Either pull down the file menu and click on timestamp chat entries or simultaneously press Alt + Shift + I.

Inserting URLs into Text Chat of Every Webpage Visited: Either pull down the file menu and click on show URLs in text chat or simultaneously press Alt + Shift + U.

Enhancing the Accessibility of the Software:

Highlight new text messages: Either pull down the help menu, click on the accessibility option, then click on highlight new text messages or simultaneously press Alt + Shift + 5.

Append text icons to user names: Either pull down the help menu, click on the accessibility option, then click on append text icons to user names or simultaneously press Alt + Shift + 4.

Speak Using Voice over IP (VoIP)

Press and hold the Control key on your keyboard.

To lock the talk key, either pull down the file menu options and click on the lock talk key option, or simultaneously press the Alt and L keys, or just click on the microphone icon in the lower left corner, which acts as a toggle switch. Locking the talk key frees up your hands, but no one else can speak until you unlock the key.

Synchronized Browsing

Either pull down the moderator menu and click on synchronized browsing or press the F3 key.

Note: the phrase synchronized browsing will appear in the lower right area of the screen.

Note: you may want to routinely turn on synchronized browsing when you begin your desk shift.

Note: it always is possible to have another browser window open outside the iVocalize reference room, so that you can browse individually.

To lock the talk key, either pull down the file menu options and click on the lock talk key option, or simultaneously press the Alt and L keys, or just click on the microphone icon in the lower left corner, which acts as a toggle switch. Locking the talk key frees up your hands, but no one else can speak until you unlock the key.

Text Chatting in an iVocalize Room

The text chat input box is located in the left center area of the screen. You can send your text chat to everyone in the room, or to a specific individual. Use the drop-down menu immediately above the text chat input box to do that.

Transmitted text chat messages appear in the box in the upper left corner of the screen. The most recent message is at the bottom of the box.

Scripts

Scripts are not provided in the current version of iVocalize.

Application Sharing

Application sharing is not currently available in iVocalize, but a beta version of application sharing is being tested by the iVocalize product development team.

Part 3: Reporting iVocalize Reference Sessions

Saving the Text Chat at the End of Every Reference Interaction

The text chat portion of each reference interaction should be saved as a separate file.

To save the contents of a text chat interaction into a file, pull down the file menu, then click on Save Text Chat to File. Alternatively, simultaneously press Alt + Z.

When prompted for a file name, just leave the file name offered by the software. It includes the date and time that the file was saved.

Note: Unless you specify otherwise, the text chat file will be saved on the local hard drive of the computer you are using to provide enhanced reference service.

Until further notice, please send each text chat file as an email attachment to Tom Peters (tpeters@tapinformation.com), who is serving as the evaluator of this project. He will input the session information into the QuestionPoint administrative module.

Protecting Patron Confidentiality

The InfoEyes iVocalize room for enhanced online reference will be only a two-seat room, so that only the reference librarian (also known as the moderator) and the patron can fit into the room.

If another patron attempts to use enhanced online reference while a patron is in the room, the second patron will be redirected to a webpage of options (e.g., wait for a few minutes, then try again; use the basic chat interface; or email us your question).

When you have finished a session with a patron, you should save the chat messages (see below), then clear the chat message window. To clear the text chat messages, either pull down the file menu, then click on Clear Text Chat Display, or simultaneously press Alt + C.

Part 4: Closing Down at the End of Your Desk Shift

  • In QuestionPoint, in the Monitor Chat Sessions window, click on the logoff chat link in the upper right corner. Then click on close window or the x in the upper right corner to close that window.
  • In QuestionPoint, in the Ask a Librarian window, click on the exit link in the upper right area of the window. This will return you to the QuestionPoint Logon window. You then can close that window.
  • In iVocalize, merely close the entire window by clicking on the x in the upper right corner. Alternatively, pull down the file menu and click on exit.

Last updated: January 9, 2014.
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