1. LibraryH3lp Pam Sessoms University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pam@unc.edu

2. Origins and basic motivation (or, “Why did you do this?”)

3. Why do libraries chat?

4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 27,000 students North Carolina State University 30,000 students Duke University 12,000

5. How UNC, Duke, and NCSU collaborate

6. Tools, historically Commercial Virtual Reference software Call Center software

7. Crucial Thing that Made it Work?

8. Evolution of tools Commercial Virtual Reference software Call Center software IM/Meebo?

10. The Widget Effect (tm Josh Boyer)

11. The Nature of IM

12. A little problem

13. Evolution of tools Commercial Virtual Reference software Call Center software IM/Meebo? Pidgin4Lib (defunct prototype) Libraryh3lp

14. LibraryH3lp 101

15. At a glance… LibraryH3lp Jabber Server with IM Gateways AIM Chat Widgets Yahoo! MSN Librarian Google Talk SMS Text msgs

16. LibraryH3lp Lingo Widget patron entry point on your website. Queue specified by widget; one or more librarians assigned to the queue. Gateways Integrate other patron entry points into queue. IM (AIM, Google Talk, MSN, Yahoo!), SMS Text Messages, Twitter, Facebook (Jabber/XMPP) Client Software used by librarian to answer patron messages.

17. Widgets http://libraries.claremont.edu/help/askus/ http://www.d.umn.edu/lib/ http://www.lib.unc.edu/ask.html http://www.library.gsu.edu/

18. Queue Widgets specify a queue. Queue name is visible to librarians answering chats. Librarians are assigned to queues based on expertise. o Reference, Youth Services, Circulation, Reader’s Advisory, etc… http://libraryh3lp.com/chat/ queue @chat.libraryh3lp.com

19. Client Librarians use a Jabber (XMPP) client to answer chats. Feature-rich Web client available. o Development funded largely by state of North Carolina for NCknows o Referring URL, patron’s IP o Easy transfer, send file o Character countdown for text messages o Queue avatars and profile pages for context Clients also available for PC, Mac, and Linux.

20. IM Gateways Associated with a queue. Allow MULTIPLE librarians to monitor AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, Google Talk. IMs can be transferred just like any other chat.

21. SMS Gateways Lets patrons text the library at a phone number. Three different kinds available o Android phone (obsolete for US users now) o Google Voice (free, semi-fragile) o Twilio (inexpensive, very robust)

22. Librarians’ Web Client

23. LibraryH3lp Routing Model Patron chats go to ALL librarians available on a queue. First librarian to send the patron a message wins the chat. Other librarians get disconnected from that patron and receive a message about which librarian was connected with the patron.

24. Presence (online/offline)

25. Presence, with Pop-Up Widgets

26. Presence: Service Rollover

27. Collaboration Service Model Web page can: 1) Show widget for Subject Expert at Library A if online. If not…. 2) Show Library A’s widget if the library is online. If not… 3) Show widget for collaborative service. 4) If collaborative service is offline, show something else. o Email form for local library. o Email form for collaborative service. o Entry point for after-hours backup service like QP. o Nothing.

28. Service Rollover Code Chat requires JavaScript. <div class="libraryh3lp" jid="subject-expert@chat.libraryh3lp.com" style="display: none;">Chat with Subject Expert: <iframe src="http://libraryh3lp.com/chat/subject-expert@chat.libraryh3lp.com" frameborder="1" style="border: 2px inset black; width: 350px; height: 300px;"> <div class="libraryh3lp" jid="generalists@chat.libraryh3lp.com" style="display: none;">Chat with Generalists: <iframe src="http://libraryh3lp.com/chat/generalists@chat.libraryh3lp.com" frameborder="1" style="border: 2px inset black; width: 350px; height: 300px;"> Both Subject Expert and Generalists are offline. PUT YOUR OFFLINE OPTION HERE by inserting whatever HTML you want. <script type="text/javascript" src="http://libraryh3lp.com/js/libraryh3lp.js?multi"> Show if patron has javascript disabled. Subject expert: first level of service. General reference queue: second level of service. Offline option: point to email, backup service (like QP). Javascript makes it work.

29. Admin Site Manage users, queues, gateways Design widgets and code for your websites Monitor system activity Download (and/or delete) transcripts Create reports

30. Reports

31. Most parts optional. Use what you need… Change it as desired. Platform for Virtual Reference

32. NCknows In pilot mode with several libraries. Service roll over to OCLC’s QuestionPoint for 24/7 service. ANY NC public or academic library can join. Contact Phil Blank, phil@philblank.net, for more information.

33. Demo Questions first?