Karen Sobel, lorrie evans

1
Apples and Oranges A Comparison of Proprietary
Chat Reference Software Versus Free Instant
Messaging Services

• Karen Sobel, lorrie evans Nina McHale
• Auraria Library
• Denver, Colorado

2
Proprietary Chat vs. IM

• Definitions
• Proprietary chat software products/services
• Tutor.com, LivePerson, QuestionPoint, etc.
• Regional consortia such as AskColorado and the
  Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
  that typically use this software
• Free IM products/services
• libraryh3lp, meebo, AIM, Yahoo!, etc.
• Are they mutually exclusive?
• Should libraries offer both?

3
What Well Cover

• Karen user/provider perspectives and concerns
• Student users
• Staff providers
• Lorrie the public services perspective
• History of both proprietary and IM services at
  Auraria
• Detailed comparison of AskColorado and
  AskAuraria! (libraryh3lp)
• Nina the technical stuff
• Display, implementation, tech support

4
Two User Populations

• Students using the chat services
• Library faculty and staff operating the services
• each with different needs and concerns

5
Students at Auraria

• Auraria Library serves a student body of 40,000,
  comprised of three populations
• Community College of Denver two-year community
  college
• Metropolitan State College of Denver four-year
  college
• University of Colorado Denver university
• Many students are from other nations and cultures
• Mostly commuting population
• Many low income
• Split between traditional and non-traditional
• Average student age 28

6
Faculty and Staff Concerns

• But Ive never used IM or other chat
• What if I cant keep up with the students? Will
  they get impatient with me?
• Will we ever get prank chats or time wasters?
• Would our patrons be comfortable with this?
• We already have so much to do

7
Staffing Questions

• Should we provide chat/IM service the entire time
  the desk is staffed?
• Is it appropriate to have paraprofessionals staff
  a chat/IM service?
• Should the person on back-up provide chat/IM
  reference service?
• What is the triage procedure when the
  desk/phone/chat are all busy?

8
AskColorado at Auraria Library

• AskColorado began in 2003 as a regional and
  consortial program offering chat reference
  service to Colorado residents.
• With our large and diverse student population, we
  felt the need to provide a flexible form of
  reference service.
• AskColorado would provide just that, with
  excellent support from the Colorado State Library
• Proprietary software used is Tutor.com

9
Auraria Library Participation in AskColorado
10
AskColorado Use Statistics
11
History of IM Chat at Auraria Library

• 2006/2007 started experimenting with chat boxes
  in class pages (Meebo)
• Very little activity and participation
• Spring 2008 Services Task Group recommended
  investigating possibilities for adding IM chat
  service
• Summer 2008 Testing and use of IM from the
  Librarys home page, branded AskAuraria!
  (libraryh3lp)
• Extremely active
• 16 chat sessions in the first 6 hours

12
Interface Comparison
13
Access/Integration into Library Web Space
14
Policies and Behavior
15
Psychological Aspects
16
Display AskColorado Login Screen
17
AskColorado Chat Interface
18
AskAuraria! Patron View Chat On
19
AskAuraria! Patron View Chat Off
20
AskAuraria! Librarian View Pidgin Client
21
Implementation AskColorado

• Tutor.com software needs to be installed with
  extensive configurations on staff workstations to
  support all features
• Day-long training sessions are offered at library
  sites throughout the state through the State
  Library AskColorado coordinator
• We heart Kris Johnson!
• Minimum staffing commitment 2-10 hours/week
• Cost 300-1500 annually
• Easy to integrate (link) to no customization

22
Implementation Process AskAuraria!

• Create account, queues, and operators on
  libraryh3lp server (libraryh3lp.com)
• Integrate code into Librarys web site
• Web Librarian set up account, queues, operators,
  and code on Library home page in one evening
• Install Pidgin chat client on staff workstations
• Training approach has been more piecemeal Hey,
  do you guys want to try this?
• Four staff members volunteered to monitor the
  queues initially seven others have since
  volunteered to join
• Internal training is being offered and planned
• New web page templates will include chat on all
  pages
• Free!!!

23
Technical Support
24
The Benefits of Both

• Including chat box on the Librarys home page
  provides immediate access to Auraria Library
  staff
• When a staff member is online, chat box with
  simple instructions is displayed
• When no one is monitoring the queue, a list of
  all other reference options is displayed
• For the most part, the pros and cons of both
  kinds of chat service are cancelled out when
  implementing both

25
Questions? AskAuraria!

• Karen Sobel
• Reference Instruction Librarian
• karen.sobel_at_ucdenver.edu
• Lorrie Evans
• Head of Library Instruction
• lorrie.evans_at_ucdenver.edu
• Nina McHale
• Web Librarian
• nina.mchale_at_ucdenver.edu
• Slides available http//library.auraria.edu/nmch
  ale/presentations/refren2008/