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What your library's patrons see
Please note: This document has not been updated to reflect the QuestionPoint changes installed in October 2004. Although the concepts, features, and functions described still apply, some illustrations and procedure steps are out of date.
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Audience
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All QuestionPoint roles
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Subscription type
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Full; Global-only (Only some parts of this section apply to global-only subscribers.)
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Document type
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Overview
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Purpose
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Improve the Web-based reference service experience
for your patrons.
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Last updated
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March 9, 2004
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Introduction
Subscription types
All of this section applies to QuestionPoint full subscribers. Some parts of this section also apply to global-only subscribers.
Full subscriber: This section describes what your patrons experience while
using your Web-based reference
service. Use this section to consider
ways that your library can improve the experience for them.
Global-only subscriber: Only the following parts of this section apply to you because
your library does not use QuestionPoint to provide Web-based reference service
for its patrons:
Purpose
Full subscribers: The following are some suggestions for you to consider as
you read this section:
- Find places on your library's Web site where links to your
question form, chat form or both could be helpful to patrons.
- Identify other Web sites in your community that could link to your
forms.
- Define instructions, graphics, or links that your library could add to its
forms to make them easier to use.
- Decide what fields your question form should include to request information needed
to provide effective service to your patrons.
- Customize the e-mail messages and acknowledgement screen that patrons receive about questions
that they submit.
- Provide a patron survey form to gather information about your patrons experiences with your library's Web-based reference service.
Global-only subscribers: The following are some suggestions for you to consider as
you read this section:
- Customize the e-mail messages that patrons receive about questions.
- Provide a patron survey form to gather information about your patrons experiences with QuestionPoint.
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System requirements for patrons
The following table lists what patrons
need and why they need it:
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On your library's Web
site
Global-only subscriber: This information does not apply to you if your library is a global-only subscriber.
Forms for patrons
For its Web-based reference service, your library provides
on its Web site:
- A form that your patrons use to ask questions
- A form they use to request chat sessions with librarians
- Both forms.
Your library may also have multiple forms to meet different
patron needs. For example, the Library of Congress (LC) Hispanic
division has forms in three languages:
By placing links to the forms where patrons may need
assistance, your library can expand its assistance to patrons and
increase the use of its Web-based reference service.
Your library can also encourage community groups and
local government agencies to place links to the forms on their Web
sites to provide your library's service to more people
in your community.
Library of Congress examples
Some examples below are taken from the LC Web site. LC
has links to its forms on its home page and many
other pages on its Web site. In the following illustration, the
highlighted links on the LC home page lead to its forms
or to pages containing links to those forms.
Library of Congress home page
QuestionPoint subscription. If your
library has a QuestionPoint full subscription, it
participates in QuestionPoint much as each LC reading room does.
Each reading room has its own QuestionPoint subscription, which
includes an institution account and profile. Each reading room also has its own
question form, chat form, or both. Questions asked through a reading
room's forms are captured and managed in that reading room's
QuestionPoint account.
QuestionPoint group. If your library
participates in a QuestionPoint group, your group can operate like the LC
reading rooms do. They refer
questions to each other to share their workloads and expertise,
and provide more effective service to their patrons and Web site
visitors.
Global Reference Network. Each LC reading room participates
in the Global Reference Network, receiving questions from, and referring
questions to, the Global Network, just as your library
and all QuestionPoint subscribers do.
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On your library's question
form
Global-only subscriber: This information does not apply to you if your library is a global-only subscriber.
Templates and instructions
Your library uses the QuestionPoint patron
form templates and instructions to prepare and customize its question form.
Basic parts of a question form
Your library's question form contains:
- The institution ID for your library's QuestionPoint account. (Although not
visible to patrons, the institution ID is used by QuestionPoint to send submitted
questions to your library's account.)
- Customized instructions for your library's patrons.
- Graphics and links to integrate the form with your library's Web site.
- The two fields required by the QuestionPoint system: E-mail address and Question.
- A link (Check Your Questions and Answers) that patrons can
click to go to the logon screen for the QuestionPoint Patron interface, where
they can view questions they have asked and learn the status of your library's
responses.
- A link to your library's chat form, if it has one.
The
following illustrations show the question form for the LC Business
Reference Services reading room.
Basic parts of a question form
Additional parts of a question form
Your library's question form may also contain:
- Fields that your library adds and requires patrons to complete.
- Fields that your library adds but does not require patrons to complete.
![Additional parts of a question form [13b]](images/13b.gif)
Additional parts of a question form
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After they submit a question
To ask a question using the question form, your patrons
complete the required fields and click the Ask button. Then they receive:
Global-only subscriber: Only the following information applies to you if your library is a global-only subscriber:
Acknowledgment screen
When the patron submits a question, QuestionPoint displays a screen that acknowledges
the question.
Customize. Your institution administrator can customize this screen.
Acknowledgment screen
Acknowledgment e-mail message
Acknowledgment e-mail message if the patron submitted other questions previously
QuestionPoint sends to the patron's e-mail
address a message that acknowledges the question. The following example shows the message that a patron receives if the patron had submitted other questions previously.
Customize. Your institution administrator can customize e-mail messages to patrons.
Acknowledgment message
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Label |
Item |
Description |
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From e-mail address |
E-mail address to which patron e-mail replies may be
sent or to which undeliverable messages are returned. |
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Patron e-mail address |
Patron e-mail address as supplied by the patron. |
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Question ID |
Identification number for the question. A patron
can use the number in the Patron interface to quickly find the question. |
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Patron name |
Patron name as supplied by the patron if your library
adds a Name field to its question form. |
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Question |
The patron's question. |
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Patron interface link |
A link to the QuestionPoint Patron interface for
checking the status of the question. |
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Question form link |
A link to your library's question form
if your institution administrator provides the question form location
in the QuestionPoint Administration module. |
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Custom message |
A custom message from your library to its patrons
if your institution administrator provides the custom reply text
in the QuestionPoint Administration module. |
Acknowledgment e-mail message for a patron's first question
Full subscribers: The first time that a patron submits a question, QuestionPoint creates an account for the patron in the Patron interface and sends the patron an acknowledgment e-mail message with account information.
Global-only and full subscribers: QuestionPoint
also creates a patron account and sends the acknowledgment message if your library uses the Add Question feature in the Ask a Librarian module to add a question for a patron who does not already have a patron account.
The
acknowledgment message with account information contains:
- The patron's question, and
- Information about how to access the patron's account.
Acknowledgment message with patron account information
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When they receive a response
Global-only subscriber: The information in "When they receive a response" also applies to you if your library is a global-only subscriber and you:
E-mail message
When your library (or another library answering a question for your library) sends its response to the
question in the QuestionPoint Ask a Librarian module, the patron
receives an e-mail message containing the answer or a request for clarification.
Message containing the answer to a question
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Label |
Item |
Description |
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From e-mail address |
E-mail address to which patron e-mail replies may be
sent or to which undeliverable messages are returned.
Your institution administrator specifies the following options in the Outgoing
E-mail Address settings in the QuestionPoint Administration module:
- Whether to accept e-mail replies. If your library does, patron e-mail replies are sent to QuestionPoint (questionpoint@oclc.org) and added to the question history of the question in the Ask a Librarian module. This lets library staff process and respond to patron e-mail replies in QuestionPoint.
- Whether the From address is one of your library's e-mail
addresses or the default AskALibrarian@oclc.org e-mail
address at OCLC. The From address receives patron e-mail replies (if they are not added to the question history). It also receives messages to patrons that are returned because they are undeliverable.
Notes:
- If your institution administrator does not accept e-mail replies,
patrons must use the QuestionPoint Patron interface to respond to
your library's messages about a question.
- If another library is answering the question for your library, the other library's From e-mail address is used.
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Patron e-mail address |
Patron e-mail address. |
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Question ID |
Identification number for the question. A patron
can use the number in the Patron interface to quickly find the question.
If a patron contacts your library about a question, the number also
helps you find the question faster in QuestionPoint. |
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Question |
The patron's question. |
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Reply |
The librarian's reply. |
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Patron interface link |
A link to the QuestionPoint Patron interface for
checking the status of the question. The link includes the patron's
e-mail address and the question ID to take the patron directly to
information about the question in the interface after the patron enters his/her Patron interface password.
The patron receives his/her Patron interface password in the acknowledgment e-mail message for the patron's first question.
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Patron survey link |
A link to your library's patron survey form that gathers information about your patrons' experiences with QuestionPoint. The link appears only if your institution administrator creates the survey form in the Administration module. It does not appear if the message is a request for clarification.
Note: Even if another library is answering the question for your library, the link leads to your library's patron survey form.
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Custom message |
A custom message from your library to its patrons
if your institution administrator provides the custom reply text
in the QuestionPoint Administration module.
Note: If another library is answering the question for your library, the other library's custom message is used.
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Patron response to e-mail message
The patron has two methods for responding to the e-mail message:
- Patron interface. If the patron goes to the Patron interface to respond to the message, the response is added to the question history in the Ask a Librarian module where you can act on it.
- E-mail reply. If the patron replies to the e-mail message, the reply goes either to the question history or to an e-mail address, as specified by your institution administrator.
On your library's patron survey form
Your library can create a patron survey form to gather information about your patrons' experiences with QuestionPoint.
If a patron clicks a link to the form in an e-mail message, the form appears in a browser window. The patron can choose a response for each question, type additional comments, and click Submit to send the response to QuestionPoint. The system displays a message thanking the patron.
Global-only subscriber: The information in "On your library's patron survey form" also applies to you if your library is a global-only subscriber and your patrons receive responses through QuestionPoint from your library or from libraries in the Global Reference Network that are helping your library.
A patron survey form
Your institution administrator creates the patron survey form in the Administration module and can choose to send it with:
- Each answer sent to a patron in an e-mail message from QuestionPoint. (The survey is not sent with requests for clarification.)
- Each chat transcript sent to a patron in an e-mail message from QuestionPoint (if your library is a QuestionPoint full subscriber).
- Both (each answer and each chat transcript).
You can view a patron's survey response with its related Full Question record in the Ask a Librarian module. Your institution administrator can view survey reports in the Administration module.
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On your library's chat
form
Full subscriber: Your library can use the QuestionPoint chat
form templates and instructions to provide a chat form for your library's
patrons.
Global-only subscriber: This information does not apply to you if your library is a global-only subscriber.
Fields on a chat form: If your library provides a chat form, it contains one or more of the following fields. Your library decides which of these fields to include on its chat form. Your library also decides which of these fields are optional and which are required for patrons to complete in order to chat with a librarian.
- Patron Name field
- Patron E-mail address field
- Question field (If a patron provides a question on the chat form, the question is included at the beginning of the chat transcript so the librarian can see the question when joining the session.)
Anonymous chat: A patron can leave the E-mail address field and Name field blank and chat anonymously if your library does not require those fields.
A chat form also contains:
- The institution ID for your library's QuestionPoint account. (Although not
visible to patrons, the institution ID is used by QuestionPoint to associate chat
sessions with your library's account.)
- Customized instructions for your library's patrons.
- Graphics and links to integrate the form with your library's Web site.
LC Business Reference Services chat form
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During a chat session
Global-only subscriber: This information does not apply to you if your library is a global-only subscriber.
Full subscriber: To start a chat session using the chat form, a patron
completes the form's fields and clicks the Chat button.
Enter the chat queue
Chat available: If your library or another library in your chat coverage group is monitoring chat sessions in the Ask
a Librarian module, the patron sees a screen that shows how many sessions are ahead of his or hers and asks the patron to wait for a librarian to join the session.
The screen displays the patron name and e-mail address if the patron provided them. It displays "Library Patron" if the patron did not provide a name.
Chat not available: If no one is monitoring chat sessions for your library, the patron sees a screen that states chat is not available currently and asks the patron to see your Web page for chat hours and contact information.
Enter chat queue
Begin the session
When a librarian joins the chat session and greets the patron, the screen changes so the patron can see messages from the librarian and type
and send messages to the librarian.
Send messages
Chat with a librarian
The chat session continues in that screen. The librarian
and the patron send messages and push Web pages to each other.
Chat session in progress
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Label |
Item |
Description |
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End Session |
A link the patron can click at any time to end
the session. |
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Transcript |
The transcript of the session, containing all patron
and librarian messages, with the latest at the top. A scroll bar lets the patron review the entire session transcript. |
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Web page link |
A link to a Web page in a transcript. The patron can click it to
go to the Web site. For more information, see Push Web pages. |
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Message box |
The box in which the patron types messages. |
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Send |
The Send button that the Patron clicks to send
a message to the librarian. |
Push Web pages
The librarian
and the patron can push Web pages to each other during a chat session. When one of them sends a URL in a message, the other sees a separate browser window open containing the Web page. Also, they both see a link to the page in the transcript on the chat screen.
Notes:
- Begin URLs with http:// (for example, http://www.google.com/).
- If you include multiple URLs in a single message, only the page for the first URL opens in a separate window.
- Pop-ups must be enabled in the browser in order for the separate window to open.
Web page pushed during a chat session
End the session
When the patron or the librarian clicks End Session,
the patron sees the final session screen.
End of a chat session
View the chat transcript
When a chat session ends, QuestionPoint sends a message containing a transcript
of the session to the patron's e-mail address. Any Web
site links included in the chat session also appear in the transcript.
The message includes a custom message from your library if your institution administrator provided custom reply text in the QuestionPoint Administration module. If another library in your chat coverage group chatted with the patron, its custom message is included instead.
QuestionPoint also adds the transcript in the answered questions list in the Patron interface and includes a link to the Patron interface in the message, if the patron provided an e-mail address on the chat form. Also, if the patron does not already have an account for the Patron interface, QuestionPoint creates one and sends the patron an e-mail message with account information similar to the acknowledgment e-mail message for a patron's first question.
The transcript message may also contain a link to your library's patron survey form that gathers information about your patrons' experiences with QuestionPoint. The link appears only if your institution administrator creates the survey form in the Administration module.
If the patron replies to the transcript message, the reply is
sent to the message's From address or added to the question history in the Ask a Librarian module as specified by your institution administrator.
Transcript in an e-mail message
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In the Patron interface
Introduction
In the QuestionPoint Patron interface, patrons can view
questions they have asked and the answers your library has provided. QuestionPoint sends information about the Patron interface in the acknowledgment e-mail message for a patron's first question.
If your
library sends a message to the patron asking for clarification of
a question, the patron may enter the clarification in the Patron
interface so the information appears in your library's
QuestionPoint account.
If your institution administrator does not accept e-mail replies,
patrons must use the Patron interface to respond to
your library's messages about a question.
Global-only subscriber: The information in "In the Patron interface" also applies to you if your library is a global-only subscriber and your patrons receive responses through QuestionPoint from your library or from libraries in the Global Reference Network that are helping your library.
Standard logon
If the Patron interface is accessed at its standard address
(http://questionpoint.org/crs/html/home/patron_authorize.htm),
patrons enter their e-mail addresses and passwords and may also
enter a question ID to log on.
The first time that a patron submits a question, QuestionPoint creates an account
for the patron in the Patron interface. QuestionPoint includes the account's initial
password in the e-mail message that acknowledges the question.
Standard logon
Express logon
If the Patron interface is accessed by clicking a link
in a message about a particular question, patrons do not enter their
e-mail address and go directly to information about the question
after entering their password, because the link in the message contains
the e-mail address and question ID.
Express logon
Forgotten password
QuestionPoint provides assistance to patrons with forgotten
passwords. If a patron clicks Click Here on a Patron
Logon screen, QuestionPoint sends a message containing the password
to the patron's e-mail address.
Change password
The first time the account is accessed, the patron is
prompted to change the password.
Change password
Message confirming the password change
The patron receives an e-mail message confirming the
password change.
Message confirming the password change
Questions list
The Patron interface contains lists of the patron's
answered, unanswered, and closed questions. Chat transcripts are included in the list of answered questions. Each list contains similar
information.
Question list
Question
In any list, the patron can click on a question to see
the My Response screen containing more information about the question.
Question
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Label |
Item |
Description |
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Question ID |
QuestionPoint ID number for the question |
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Question |
The question entered by the patron. |
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Date and time |
Date and time that the question was entered |
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Question History |
The question history which contains the question
as entered by the patron and any other messages and responses about
the question enter by the patron, your library staff, or staff of
other libraries to which the question may have been referred. |
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Reply box |
A text box in which the patron can enter a reply
containing additional information about the question. |
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Ask A New Question |
A button the patron can click to go to your library's
question form if your institution administrator provides the address
in the QuestionPoint Administration module. |
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Send Response |
A button the user can click to send the reply typed
in the text box. |
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Close Question |
A button the user can click to close the question
indicating that no more information is needed. |
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Return to Question List |
A button the user can click to return to the question
list containing the question. |
Settings and Change password
The patron can also click Settings to
edit the patron name associated with the account and can click
Password to change the password.
Settings
Patron terms of service
On any screen in the Patron interface, the patron can click Terms of
Service to view the QuestionPoint patron terms and conditions.
Online help
On any screen in the Patron interface, the patron can
click Help to view online help. The Patron Help is also available from the QuestionPoint website.
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