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LibChat Practices and Procedures: III. Chatting

A guide to best practices and common procedures for LibChat.

Chatting With Staff

Once you are logged into LibChat, so long as your status is set as either “Online,” "Internal," or “Set Away,” then you will have access to chat options between yourself and any of your fellow staff who are also logged into the system.  In order to start a chat dialogue with another staff member, you will need to…

  1. Click on the “Chats” tab at the far left side of your LibChat desktop.

  1. Look down at the list of “Operators” who are currently logged into the service.  Select an Operator who has a Green dot next to their name.  This indicates that they are available.  Red dots = Offline.  Yellow dots = Away.

  1. Clicking on the name will open a chat window between the two of you.  Screensharing options are available in this mode, just as they are with outside patron chats.

  1. Please note that these chats are archived within the system. You should maintain professionalism at all times.

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1. Begin by clicking the Add Participants icon in the chat window.

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2. Locate the Department or Staff member to whom you wish to transfer the chat. If transferring to a staff member, first click the bubble icon next to their name to begin an internal chat with the individual – here you can brief the staff member on the patron’s need, and any solutions you’ve already tried.

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3. When you click the Staff member or Department name, the chat will be transferred to them. You will see a notification of this in the chat box.

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4. Once the Staff member or Department has joined the chat, you will no longer be able to end the chat. You may either remain and work as a group to help the patron, or you may leave the chat.

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Chatting With Patrons

  1. When a new chat request is submitted by a patron / student on a Chat Department channel that you are monitoring, you will see an entry appear in the field on the left side of your LibChat dashboard screen, under the heading “Patron Chats.”  Just in case you are working in another app / window on your computer, you should also see a small pop-up alert appear on the lower-right corner of your screen, to notify you of the chat request.  If your computer’s audio is turned on  (which we recommend),  then you should also hear a chirping alert noise.

  1. If you would like to preview the question before answering, simply click on the Patron’s name.  (See diagram.)
  1. Next to the Patron’s name, you should see an option to “Claim Chat.”  This is located just below the stats counter that shows how many overall chats are currently in-progress, how many are “new,” and how many you are personally attached to.  (See diagram above.)  Click on “Claim Chat” in order to start a live-chat conversation with the student / patron asking for assistance.
  1. Once you have claimed the chat, a dialogue box should open in the panel on the right side of your screen.  Start off by greeting the student, identifying yourself  (just as you would over the telephone),  and let them know that you are working on their question  (or, if it is a simple question, go ahead and provide the answer).

  1. During the course of your chat, if you need to refer to the patron’s information for any reason, there is a tab that will show you their name, IP address, where / how they accessed the chat widget, and anything else they gave.

  1. Once you have completed your chat transaction, you should see an option on the far-right side of the LibChat dashboard for “End Chat.”  (Some browser versions may show this button as an X.)  Click on that button once.             

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  1. Once you give the “End Chat” command, you should be prompted to enter a record of your LibChat question into Analytics.  This is a tool provided by LibApps that allows for tracking statistics, trends, and keeps an automatic record of the entire chat dialogue.  User drop-down menus for Question Type, Time Spent, etc.

    Add any additional notes that you wish to include for the Analytics entry, and then be sure to click Save at the lower end of the box.

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  1. To share your screen with a patron during a chat, click the “Request Screenshare” button at the bottom of the chat window.

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  1. The patron will receive a request to join the screenshare, and the Operator will see a Launch button. Click Launch to start the screenshare.undefined
  2. If this is your first time sharing your screen, you may need to download the Zoom software – and the patron may need to do the same. You will be prompted with an automatic download.

 

  1. Open the Zoom.exe file that has downloaded and a Zoom meeting will open. Join with Computer Audio so that you can speak out loud to the patron during the screenshare.

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  1. Once your audio is connected, click Share Screen to begin sharing your screen with the patron.

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  1. Choose which screen or window you want to share with the patron. Then click Share.

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  1. Use the control panel to manage your screenshare session. To stop sharing your screen but continue speaking aloud to the patron, click the red Stop Share box just below the control panel.

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  1. The More menu provides more options, including End Meeting. This option will end the Zoom session and you can return to the chat. 

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