Best Practices Session Agenda July 19, 2007 Review of attendees A special request Business update - Mark PR update - Renee Tom Carson on working with the media Ask?Away Users Council update from - Joy Local knowledge base for Wisconsin Time for transcripts

Can anyone help? John Dey of Racine is on family leave during July and August He needs substitutes for his chat shifts Thursdays from 9 am to 11 am If you can help please contact John at:

Marks Business Update Take it away,Mark

Update on Public Relations Renee Ponzio Reference Services Manager L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library

Update on Public Relations Final comments on Ask?Away Awareness Week How can we do it better/bigger/smarter next year? Creative use of signage to market AskAway services when your library is closed

Making the Most of Media Contacts Tom Carson Head of Reference Service Kenosha Public Library (262)

Kenoshas librarians urge residents to just AskAway BY BILL ROBBINS Call it a middle-of-the-night homework helper, an anytime Trivial Pursuit resource or a treat for the perpetually curious. The Kenosha Southwest Library is participating in AskAway, a nationwide program that provides the public with 24-hour, seven-days-a-week access to professional librarians who seek answers to their questions on any topic. The Southwest library is providing two hours of coverage a week, and that entitles Kenosha County residents to participate in the free service at any time by visiting the librarys Web site at During separate, one-hour stints, two Kenosha reference librarians field questions from callers across the country on a huge range of topics. The emphasis at Southwest Branch is to answer questions from Kenosha County residents first, said Tom Carson, head of reference services for the Kenosha Public Library system. Whats great about this is its a cooperative effort among hundreds of public and academic libraries across the country, Carson said. Its working out very well. The Southwest library is entering its second year in the program, he said. Patty Bajabir, who works in reference services there and is one of the Ask-Away question answerers, said she has researched topics including carnivorous plants, a state of emergency in India declared in the 1970s, a list of Canadas major holidays and a prominent Italians visit to Oshkosh several decades ago. Bajabir said she often tracks down Web sites to get answers to the questions. One of her most memorable homework questions involved a student asking for information about how Clorox kills plants, and what baking soda does to vegetation, she said.

Book Reviews from Kenosha Whip up a little Revolution with books on founding fathers BY SCOTT KROES KENOSHA PUBLIC LIBRARY In a previous article we discussed some fine books on the Revolutionary War. Now I would like to turn our attention to books on the founding generation, especially biography. It seems there is no end to books published about such figures as George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and others of that era. The author Joseph Ellis has written three books that would be a good place to start when reading about this time in history. They are: His Excellency: George Washington, American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson and Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Another author of note writing on this period is Gordon Wood. He has two biographies that are a nice addition to those noted above: The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin and his latest, Revolutionary Characters: What Made The Founders Different. In addition to Gordon Woods book on Benjamin Franklin there are two other fine books on Franklin that have come out in recent years: Walter Isaacsons Benjamin Franklin: An American Life and Edmund Sears Morgans Benjamin Franklin.

Ask?Away Users Council update Joy Schwarz Web Librarian/Interlibrary Loan Librarian Winnefox Library System

Local Knowledgebase for Wisconsin Reference and Loan is in information-gathering stage Conferring with implementers of other local KBs Joy will contribute her expertise as a global KB editor Learning about the process Wiki page now available Updates as available

Transcript #1 I have saved some article abstracts from ERIC in a folder, and now I want to read the entire article. How do I access the full article? Some of them had pdf copies, but I am interested in the ones that do not. Librarian 1: Hello! My name is X, and I'm a reference librarian with the QuestionPoint chat service. Your librarians have asked us to staff this 24-hour service when they are unavailable. I'm reading your question right now to see how I can help you... Librarian 1: Are you on campus right now, or off? Patron: off Librarian 1: What is your school? Patron: Edgewood, what does that have to do with the articles? I have a dane cty library card. Librarian 1: Did you find the ERIC abstracts using your library's EBSCO database? Or another way? Patron: i logged on using my library card through the dane cty library website Librarian 1: [Cobrowse session created by librarian] Librarian 1: Send Page: Patron: is there any way to view the entire article or check it out from a library? Librarian 1: Send Page: Librarian 1: Which is the article you're asking about, Leslie? Librarian 1:We seem to have lost our connection. Please feel free to connect with us again if we can be of help. Thank you for using our service! Librarian 1: Librarian ended chat session.

Send session to follow-up if you lose the connection (but have an ) Librarian 1: I just wanted to follow up on your reference session. Some journal articles and documents are not full-text in ERIC. If you have the titles of the journals you can check the catalog to see if the public library ( owns the journals or if Edgewood's library ( owns the journals. You could also search other EBSCOhost databases, such as Academic Search elite for the articles to see if they are full-text. In order access indivdual EBSCOhost databases you must choose All EBSCOhost databases after you log into EBSCOhost. Otherwise, you can submit an interlibrary loan request to get a copy of the article in which you are interested, but that process can take 2-6 weeks. Please contact us if you have any further questions. Thanks for using AskAway. Please use our service again! Note from Wren Spangler: I am reviewing this session at the request of the AskAway-South Central Library System librarian. She was concerned that you did not send this session to follow-up after losing the connection, given that the patron did leave an address. Policy is that if there is an , and the question is incomplete in any way, to send it to followup by patron library. Please let me know if you have questions about this

Kudos to Joy! Hi, Joy, I'm passing along a compliment from the Virginia librarian: This is a Hey! Good Job! report. Librarian Joy exhibited thoroughness, fantastic initiative, and a willing, cheerful spirit in helping this patron. We appreciate it! Thank you for providing such excellent service through your reference transaction and through your masterful use of the QP software! Regards, Wren Spangler Quality Control Librarian 24/7 Reference Cooperative, OCLC QuestionPoint

Joy and the case of the missing videos There is a problem with the new videos on DVD May-June It lists 65 titles but when you go to the list only 61 show up. I've had this problem in the past and called and the library was not aware of the problem. I've called twice today about it and each time, more titles have been added and I'm not able to reserve at this point. Patron: I notice you re in Wisconsin? So you may not be able to help. Librarian 1: If I'm not able to help you, I'll be happy to set your question to be followed up by a librarian local to you. Librarian 1: Perhaps I can help you though... Patron: I just saw this live chat as an option and thought I'd give it a try. As I said, I've called them twice. Librarian 1: Sure, I'm glad you decided to try something new. :-) Librarian 1: If you can tell me more, I can set your chat session to local followup. Librarian 1: That way a librarian at your library will get back to you by . Librarian 1: Are the videos listed on a web page?

Intrepidly exploring librarypoint.org Patron: Well, I left my phone number with one of the local librarians. Yes they are. Librarian 1: Or is this a list that you get from searching the library's catalog? Librarian 1: If you can tell me link address for the web page, I can take a look at it for you if you'd like. Patron: librarypoint.org Then I go to the "featured" tab and to the new videos for May-June 2007librarypoint.org Librarian 1: I'm taking a look at your library's web site, but I'm not yet seeing a list of new videos. Librarian 1: OK, let me check that for you... Librarian 1: I just now searched the list, and I came up with 65 titles. May I share my screen with you to show you? Librarian 1: I can open what's called a co-browse session, and it allows me to share my screen with you. Patron: okay it does list 65 titles but when you go to the list it only has 61 Librarian 1: OK, I'll start the screen share now, and it'll be easier for you to show me the problem that way. Just a sec... Librarian 1: Cobrowse session created by librarian]

Cobrowsing the catalog Librarian 1: ) [Cobrowse session created by librarian] Librarian 1: Send Page: Librarian 1: Send Page: Librarian 1: Are you seeing the library's catalog screen on your monitor now? Patron: ok I see it Librarian 1: Send Page: ote&menu=bestmain&ts= ote&menu=bestmain&ts= Librarian 1:Send Page: ote&menu=bestmain&ts= #focus ote&menu=bestmain&ts= #focus Librarian 1: OK, I'm going to try to re-create the problem so I understand...

Patience and persistence Librarian 1: Send Page: Patron: I only see the basic search screen Librarian 1: And the last page shows through Librarian 1: Uh oh, it looks like screen-sharing isn't working... let me re-try that. Librarian 1: Send Page: Librarian 1: Are items showing up on your screen yet? Patron: It does not allow me to click on the "featured" tab Librarian 1: OK, I can click on the featured tab for you... just a sec... Patron: No, maybe there is something on my computer that prevents me from being able to? In any case, you can click on the list and see 65 titles? Librarian 1: Send Page: Librarian 1: Send Page: Librarian 1: Send Page: Librarian 1: Yep, I saw 65 titles.

FINALLY pay off! Librarian 1: By any chance does the screen of items show up on your monitor now? Patron: I've got it now, thank you so much. Librarian 1: OK great -- I'm glad it's working for you now. Librarian 1: Is that everything you need, or can I help you with anything else? Librarian 1: Send Page: Patron: no thank you.

In Conclusion Thanks for your time and attention Any random announcements from the group? Burning issues we should plan to discuss in August or September? Susan McGlammery of QP and Connie Von Der Heide of the Wisconsin Law Library will be joining us in September Happy chatting/ ing/searching!