Cooperative groups (overview)
- What are cooperative groups?
- How do subscribers form cooperative groups?
- Form a cooperative group when subscribing to QuestionPoint
- Form cooperative groups online
- Related topics
What are cooperative groups?
QuestionPoint subscribers can form cooperative groups so they can do one or more of the following:
- Refer questions among themselves when they need assistance providing answers. When a group member needs assistance, it can refer a question to another group member that it selects. (All QuestionPoint subscribers, of course, are encouraged to submit questions to the Global Reference Network when they need assistance from a wider community.)
- Provide chat session coverage and extended hours of service for each others' patrons. At any particular time, group members who are monitoring chat requests respond to requests from patrons of group members who are not monitoring requests. To help the group plan this coverage, each member specifies the times when it needs coverage and the times when it will provide coverage.
- Provide Web-form question coverage and extended hours of service for each others' patrons. Each group member specifies the times when it needs other group members to respond to questions submitted through its Web form. Each member also specifies the times when it will respond to questions submitted through other members' Web forms. QuestionPoint automatically refers questions based on the specified times of need and availability.
Examples:
- Law libraries might form a group to share their collections and expertise to answer law-related questions.
- Libraries with strong collections and expertise about Abraham Lincoln might form a group to help each other with questions about Lincoln.
- Libraries in a particular country, state or region might form a group to strengthen their ability to answer questions for the people of their area.
How do subscribers form cooperative groups?
Subscribers can:
Form a cooperative group when subscribing to QuestionPoint
One type of cooperative group is a subscription group, formed when multiple libraries subscribe to QuestionPoint as a group. The group's administrator implements and manages the group.
Members that join a subscription group when subscribing must be full subscribers. They:
- Can, if they have active profiles in the group, refer questions to the group's Referral Partners chosen by the administrator.
- Share the group's local knowledge base.
- Receive subscription fee group discounts.
- May have an active profile in, and submit questions to, the Global Reference Network.
- May also join or create up-to-5 cooperative groups online.
Form cooperative groups online
Two types of cooperative groups formed online let QuestionPoint full and global-only subscribers work together even if they do not subscribe to QuestionPoint as a group:
Create virtual groups
A virtual group is created and managed in the Cooperative Groups section of the Administration module. It can be created by any institution administrator whose institution has an active profile in the Global Reference Network. When the administrator creates the group, he or she becomes the group administrator and activates institutions requesting membership.
Members of a virtual group must have an active profile in the Global Reference Network. They can do any of the following that the administrator designates as group activities:
- Refer questions among themselves when they need assistance providing answers.
- Provide chat session coverage and extended hours of service for each others' patrons.
- Provide Web-form question coverage and extended hours of service for each others' patrons.
Also, members of a virtual group:
- Do not share a local knowledge base.
- May also submit questions to the Global Reference Network.
- May be full subscribers or global-only subscribers.
- May also join or create up-to-4 other cooperative groups online.
- May leave the group at any time.
- May also be a member or administrator of a subscription group.
And, members of a virtual group help build the Global knowledge base in the following ways:
- Any question that one member refers to another member using the Refer to Partner (Cooperative Groups) method is automatically submitted to the Global knowledge base when the answered question is closed.
- Any chat session that one member covers for another member is automatically submitted to the Global knowledge base when the chat transcript is closed.
- Any Web-form question that one member answers for another member is automatically submitted to the Global knowledge base when the answered question is closed.
Make a subscription group "public"
A subscription group is made "public" and managed in the Cooperative Groups section of the Administration module. It can be made public only by its administrator and only if the administrator's institution has an active profile in the Global Reference Network. When the administrator makes a subscription group public, he or she becomes the group administrator and activates institutions requesting membership.
Members of a public subscription group must have an active profile in the Global Reference Network. They can do any of the following that the administrator designates as group activities:
- Refer questions among themselves when they need assistance providing answers.
- Provide chat session coverage and extended hours of service for each others' patrons.
- Provide Web-form question coverage and extended hours of service for each others' patrons.
Also, members that join a public subscription group online:
- Share the local knowledge base of the subscription group.
- May also submit questions to the Global Reference Network.
- May be full subscribers or global-only subscribers.
- May also join or create up-to-4 other cooperative groups online.
- May leave the group at any time.
- May also be a member or administrator of a subscription group.
And, members of a public subscription group help build the Global knowledge base in the following ways:
- Any question that one member refers to another member using the Refer to Partner (Cooperative Groups) method is automatically submitted to the Global knowledge base when the answered question is closed.
- Any chat session that one member covers for another member is automatically submitted to the Global knowledge base when the chat transcript is closed.
- Any Web-form question that one member answers for another member is automatically submitted to the Global knowledge base when the answered question is closed.
Note: Questions that subscribing members refer using the Refer to Partner (Subscription Group) method are not automatically submitted to the Global knowledge base. Members are encouraged to submit these answered questions manually when closing them.
Related topics
