InfoEyes

Meeting Minutes: May 20, 2004

InfoEyes Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes

Meeting time:

1:00 central / 2:00 eastern

Meeting place:

Go to http://www.talkingcommunities.com/entrance.pl?LIB-Auditorium&nopass_field=1
Input your name and click enter to go into the meeting room.

Present:

Melora Ranney Norman, ME
Lori Thornton, WA
Gloria Leonard, WA
Maryte, WA
Mary Mohr, LOC
Lori Bell, Mid IL
Joyce Spears, TX
Stacey Hathaway Bell, TX
Blaine Redemer, IL State Lib.
Sharon Ruda, IL State Lib.
Linda Rossman, MA
Tom Peters, TAP
Diana Sussman, S. IL
Ann Hay

1. Welcome Everyone (Tom, Lori Bell)

Welcome New Mexico and Washington!

2. iVocalize (Tom, Lori Bell)

iVocalize trainings still available: May 21, 25, 27 Please attend one!
Mentors will be available for post-training practice sessions
Patron privacy:
- 2 seat iVocalize room for reference sessions with scripting or redirect to web page if patrons attempt to enter during an existing session.
- Audio recordings of reference sessions probably not a good idea: Group discussed advantages and disadvantages of recording audio reference transactions. A vote was taken. The following libraries voted unanimously not to record audio: ISL, TX, LOC, MID-IL, TAP, MA, ME, WA, S. IL

There was concern that the question and answer be typed into the text chat and be added to Question Point for statistics and for future reference.

There was also concern that personal identification should be stripped from the question before making a permanent record. This is especially important for the patron's privacy. The need for the librarian's privacy was discussed. At the Library of Congress librarian identity is not included in questions added to the Question Point knowledge database. The question and answer become an information document for use by librarians and patrons, potentially worldwide. Mary Mohr (LOC) did not want to see personal information added to the knowledge database. When entering a question into the a question there is no place to input a librarian's name. The following procedures were decided:

Be sure the question and answer are typed in the text chat (the transaction may have been largely via audio).
Save the text chat. This is a menu option in iVocalize. It will save to your local PC and is a very small file. Use the default file name iVocalize offers.
Email the saved text chat to Tom Peters: tapinformation@yahoo.com
- Tom will input questions into Question Point
- Tom will send a survey form to the patron
- Tom will remove any personal identity information from the question before adding it to QP

3. Launch date for iVocalize (June 7th?) (Diana, Tom, Lori Bell)

There were no objections to launching iVocalize service on June 7.

4. Basic text chat training (Tom)

Getting logged in:

Go to www.questionpoint.org
Click on "librarian logon"
You will then be prompted to input your log-on ID and password. Be sure to use your own log-on (not Lori Bell's).
When you log in, a second screen opens. From there, click on "Ask a Librarian"
From the "Ask a Librarian" page you can answer unanswered questions that came in via chat or email while you monitor chat.
From the "Ask a Librarian" page, click the "chat" tab to monitor incoming chat. This is the most important step! This opens a new window. The window says "monitor chat sessions."

Incoming questions:

When a new user comes in the chat window will pop to the front of your screen and a message will pop up, which reads: "New Chat User." Click OK.
Click the name of the patron to begin interacting with them.
A text chat interaction window will open.
You can see the patron's question in the top center.
Type into the white box and click "send" to send your message to them.
You will see all the text you and the patron have sent in the upper portion of the screen (above the white chat box).
The screen refreshes frequently.
To end a session, click "end session."

Setting up scripts:

Log onto questionpoint.org (see above).
Click "Ask a Librarian."
Click "Scripts" to add scripts that only you will have access to,
or
click "my institution scripts" to add scripts for all of us to use.
Each of us can have up to 25 personal scripts.
We can have up to 25 institution scripts.

Questions:

Please contact your mentor with any questions, or to practice.
Also, Mary Mohr will answer questions: 6:30am - 4pm eastern, ph: 202-707-9381
Screen refresh does not work well with screen readers:
- Jeff Penka (OCLC) is working with students at the WA school for the blind to fix this problem.
- Ask Jaws users to switch to iVocalize.
- The InfoEyes web site says that QP does not work well with screen readers at this time.

5. Scheduling: (Diana)

Summer schedule
1. Need to redo: Indiana and TAP will not be covering weekly hours through the summer, and Washington and New Mexico have joined.
2. Consider less hours per week for each library, and the option to combine with other libraries. WA TBL & WA State Library need to share four weekly hours.
  Vote taken on the following options:
  1. 4 weekly hours each library. Libraries may share coverage within their own state, allowing one shared vote for partnered libraries. (no votes)
  2. 4 weekly hours each library. Libraries may share coverage within or outside own state, allowing one shared vote for partnered libraries. (no votes)
  3. 3 weekly hours each library. No shared coverage (if WA TBL can cover 3 hours independently). (option discarded, as WATBL is not able to do this).
  4. 3 weekly hours each library. Libraries may share coverage within their own state, allowing one shared vote for partnered libraries. (Voted for this option: TX)
  5. 3 weekly hours each library. Libraries may share coverage within or outside own state, allowing one shared vote for partnered libraries. (Voted for this option: S. IL, M. IL, TAP, ME, WA, MA, LOC)
  6. Other proposals? (none proposed).
  Decision made: 3 weekly hours each library. Libraries may share coverage within or outside own state, allowing one shared vote for partnered libraries.
  
  The Library of Congress is willing to share coverage (and voting rights). Contact Mary Mohr if interested.
3. Summer schedule will be worked out by June 7. Please respond to Diana's requests for schedule preferences.
4. Usage analysis by day and time: Most popular times: 10am - 6pm M, T, TH; 10am - 4pm W, F.
Alternatives for emergency coverage? Would we like to use one library as a substitute? Which library would do this (need to have flexible schedule and multiple staff available for coverage). Need a way to track their monthly hours and alternatives if they are not called to cover enough hours in the month.

Discussion of ideas.
- Vote: Have a substitute library? Yes or No.
  The following libraries voted Yes: M. IL, S. IL, TAP, ME, TX, MA, LOC, WA.
  There were no "no" votes.
Decision made: There will be a substitute library if one of the participating libraries is willing to fill that role.

6. Monthly update on usage statistics and overall project evaluation (Tom)

Report will be made available on www.infoeyes.org/particpantinfo.htm

7. Report of online training sessions with patrons (Tom)

About 13 people were trained in an iVocalize session to use google. Most participants were legally blind. The training went well and was very well received. More training sessions of various types are planned. InfoEyes libraries are encouraged to advertise these free online training sessions to patrons. A list of upcoming sessions will be emailed to the listserv.

If you want to get involved with the training (planning, performing sessions, etc.) contact Lori Bell.

8. Publicity (Lori Bell):

Links and icons are available for adding to your library’s web page to prompt patrons to use InfoEyes. Contact Lori for these: lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com
We can't do enough publicity! More publicity is always welcome!
There will be another publicity push with the introduction of iVocalize.
Share publicity you create with the listserv.
Let the listserv know where you’ve posted publicity.

9. Reminders:

Attend iVocalize trainings and answer emails regarding scheduling.
Remember to cover your shifts.