Quality Tip: Local Service is possible, even for non-Local Librarians

Sometimes a local question may be difficult to answer, especially if the librarian is located in another state. But there are some quick and easy things you can do to give them the best service possible.

1) check out the Info Tab
the info tab is the first tab on the bottom left of your chat monitor (when you're with a customer) that tells you where they came from and what their home library is. Depending on the entry point for the local service, you may get branch or campus information as well as zip code.

2) Look at the Policy Page
The policy page link appears when you're with a customer- it's in the middle of the chat monitor screen, to the top right of the Info Tab area. The policy page link will take you to the kept-within-QuestionPoint policy page for the library your customer came in through. It gives you website information, phone numbers, as well as databases, local policies, and "how-to's." This should always be your first stop for local information.

3) Ask them questions
The reference interview (or question clarification, as I like to call it) is your first trick to best answering a customer's question. In my favorite example, they may be asking "where are your medical books" but they may really want to know "what are the symptoms for x condition." The more you have a conversation, the more information you can figure out. The Who, What, When, Why, and How's are so important.

If the first three steps didn't get you very far, or you really just need someone who has access to their local systems Ask if the customer can wait for an email response. If they can,

1) verify their email
If given, the customer's email address will show up in the InfoTab but even if the customer gave their email when they entered the service, it may have been typed wrong- or they may have given a fake one, not knowing if we'd spam them or not. Verify the email address you have on record for them, or ask for one if they didn't give it.

2) let them know a local librarian will get back to them
fill them in on what you're going to do now. Let them know that you are forwarding their question to their local library and that a local librarian will get back to them within x timeframe (there may be information on the turnaround time on the policy page).

3) make sure there's nothing else you can do for them
Before you end the session, make sure the customer has no other questions. Perhaps he had two, and one of them you can help with!

4) mark the session with the "Follow up by Patron's Library"
After your customer has told you they have what they need, you can go ahead and exit the session. To make sure it gets sent to the customer's library for follow-up, MAKE SURE you add the "Follow-up by Patron's Library" resolution code to the session.


For more details, and the original post, check out the QuestionPoint blog