New version of the Chat Reference service in the catalog

This is on the no results found page of a keyword search. It's spiffed up with attractive buttons and clear instructions, and points to our hours and our ask a librarian reference service, so patrons have access to our email and phone number.

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Comments

The Shifted Librarian says:

I like the additional color on the page, but I still miss the hours. I realize it's just me, but there's so much unused space on the page that I think they could still be added back in.

If I click on "business hours," I've now left the catalog, and while I can hit the back button, that's two extra clicks on my part now, especially if I want to get back to the "ask now" button.

I like the "open today" widget on the web pages - I'd at least want to insert that to show the library is open/closed right now as the user is running this search.

My two cents....
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

mstephens7 says:

I agree with J.

I'm also interested in what prompted the switch from Meebo. I liked the fact the librarian was right there at the point of need...
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

davidking says:

The librarian is still right there at the point of need - libraryh3lp is an IM ref tool, just like meebo.

Meebo didn't allow us to push live URLs out to people, and having the widget embedded meant we had lots of starts to questions ... but then the patron clicked something ... and disappeared. The pop-up version fixes that problem.

On the hours thing - I'm thinking a link is good enough, plus it shows that patrons can ALWAYS ask a question, since they have easy access to email and phone ref, too. But we'll see - if it's a problem for customers, we'll change it!

Thanks for the feedback!
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

diverdee987 says:

I really like the use of color as well. I am going to use this as an example of promoting chat to Florida libraries.
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

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