Help for chat with a librarian

Contents

• What do I need to know about this service? I have not used it before.
• How can Preferences help me?
• Can I receive the transcript without providing my e-mail address to the librarian?
• What problems might occur during the chat session?
• Does this service support Web accessibility?

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What do I need to know about this service? I have not used it before.

There is not much that you need to know:

• You chat with a librarian from your library or another library that is helping yours.
• You type messages in the box at the bottom of the chat window. You press Enter or click Send to send a message.
• Each message that you and the librarian send is added to the chat transcript. The newest message appears at the bottom.
• You can click on a URL in the transcript to open a new window containing the Web page for the URL.
• Sometimes the right side of the chat window contains a viewport for displaying web pages. If your chat window has a viewport, wait for the librarian's instructions before you click any links in it.
• When you finish, click Exit Chat (located below the message box). The service sends the transcript to your e-mail address if you provide it.

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How can Preferences help me?

Use Preferences to control the chime and display settings:

• Turn off or on the chime that sounds when new messages are received.
• Enlarge the font size.
• Change the font face.
• Change the font and background colors.

Click Preferences (located below the message box) to access them.

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Can I receive the transcript without providing my e-mail address to the librarian?

Yes, you can. If you do not provide your e-mail address on the request form at the beginning of the chat session, the service asks you to provide it when the session ends if you want to receive the transcript. If you provide your address at the end, the service sends the transcript but the librarian does not learn your e-mail address and cannot provide additional information to you after the session.

If you did provide your e-mail address at the beginning of the session, the service sends the transcript to your address at the end. And the librarian can provide additional information to you after the session if necessary. The librarian would use your address only for that purpose.

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What problems might occur during the chat session?

Your communications connection with the librarian might stop working. Each time that you send or receive a message, the message should be added to the transcript. If you send a message but it does not appear in the transcript within 30 seconds, your connection may be lost. You may need to return to the request form and submit a new chat request.

Your session might time out while you are changing Preferences. Do not remain on the Preferences page for more than 2 or 3 minutes. Your session might time out and cause your communications connection to stop working.

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Does this service support Web accessibility?

Yes, we focused on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines during the design and implementation of the service.

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