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NCknows February 2014 Monthly Report

Statistics

Monthly Activity

This Month:

2119 (coop coverage) + 952 (libraries monitoring their own queues)

= 3071 transcripts + 600 FAQ views

 

Last Month:

1592 (coop coverage) + 579 (libraries monitoring their own queues)

= 2171 transcripts + 445 FAQ views

 

This Month Last Year:

2100 (coop coverage) + 940 (libraries monitoring their own queues)

= 3040 transcripts

Check Your Own

There's been a few changes to the tool for individual statistics, http://ncknows.philblank.net/tools/LibStats.php

Not only does it have a new look, it also goes back to August 2011, when NCknows switched to the LibraryH3lp platform, and it shows activity on internal queues as well as on the shared, co-op staffed queue.

If there's anything else you'd like to see monthly statistics for on a regular basis, let me know and I'll see if I can't add it.

Housekeeping Note (Important)

In going over the transcripts this month, I noticed several instances when the librarian didn't confirm with the patron that they were students in or residents of North Carolina before giving them the NC LIVE password of the day.  I don't want to be nitpicky, but this isn't just a matter of etiquette.  NC LIVE is contractually obligated to limit access to their resources to North Carolina, and they have chosen to do so by asking for good-faith confirmation from patrons rather than limiting IPs or some other code-based solution.

 

You don't have to use the phrasing they suggest on the password of the day site - some people ask for the usual library, some ask what county they live in, some ask what school they attend.  But please, no matter where they seem to be coming from, do remember to ask.

Member Involvement

New Libraries:

We are still in the midst of a large multi-month project to add new libraries and encourage libraries to use the correct code.  Two new libraries joined in February:  Carteret Community College and Chatham County Public Library.  Welcome aboard!

Getting Subject-Specific Help:

As everyone knows, it's inevitable that sooner or later a patron will have a question that just can't be answered by the librarian who picks up the chat.   Sometimes it really straightforward, but it's something that only a local librarian could know, in which case we generally refer the patron to the library and that's that.  Sometimes, however, it's just a question about a specific field that not everyone has in-depth knowledge of.  For example: business.

If a business question is beyond the scope of your knowledge, there are now two ways to deal with it that will give the patron a more positive end to the interaction, and a greater chance of a fast, accurate answer.

1) Contact the local business librarian: 

The first thing to do is to look up whether the library in question has a designated business librarian.  You can now do this at the Library Information page for NCknows (http://www.ncknows.philblank.net/tools/LibInfo.php ).  Simply mark the checkbox for "Business" when you do your search, and if there's a business librarian at that library it will have their name, email, and phone number.  Additional categories will be added as I get the information.

Once you have their contact information you can either note in the comment field of the "tag for followup" dialog that it's for them, or you can email them the transcript if you think they're already familiar with NCknows, or you can just give the contact information to the patron.  In most cases the patron will be delighted to have a single person who they know for certain will be able to help them.

2) Refer to askBLINC (via the local library):

If the library does not have a business librarian, then the second option is a service called askBLINC.  The Business Librarians In North Carolina section of NCLA has worked together with NC LIVE to create a service where any NC librarian is welcome to contact askBLINCwith business questions that are beyond their scope, and the members of BLINC will get back to them with answers which they can then synthesize and pass on to their patron. More details about this service are available at http://www.nclive.org/librarystaff/askblinc .

All referred questions should be sent to whatever library the user logged in through, so to use askBLINC in conjunction with NCKnows, simply mention in the "tag for followup" comments that they can send the question on to askBLINC@nclive.org for business-specific help.

Does anyone know of similar services for other specialty subjects?  If so, let me know!

Ask-a-Librarian: Coming Soon to a Search Result near You!

The following announcement has been issued by NC LIVE.  Please distribute it to the appropriate people in your organization.

NC LIVE currently partners with NCknows, the statewide chat reference service, to offer an Ask-a-Librarian chat button on the nclive.org website. Beginning the week of March 10th, an  NCknows Ask-a-Librarian chat box will also begin to appear on the results pages of NC LIVE-provided ProQuest and EBSCOhost resources. The chat box will allow patrons to get live help from a librarian without leaving their search.

The chat box will be embedded on the right hand side of the results page in ProQuest Wall Street Journal, and in resources on the EBSCOhost platform (Academic Search Complete, MasterFile Complete, etc.). The chat box will be added the the EBSCOhost and ProQuest Wall Street Journal profiles of libraries who do not currently have their own chat box within these resources. Please see our blog post for more details, including screen shots of the chat box.

If your library does NOT want an NCknows chat box added to your library profile for these resources, simply contact the NC LIVE Help Desk at help@nclive.org by March 10th, 2014. If you have any questions or if you are interested in integrating your own chat service staffed by your library, contact the NC LIVE Help Desk for more information.

Sincerely,

The NC LIVE Staff

Transcripts

Transcripts with Tricks & Tips:

Reading through this month’s transcripts I found a number of tips, tricks, and helpful hints about using NC LIVE that I either never learned, or had forgotten, or just simply never thought of.

Suvanida Duangudom from Wake Tech (waketechsd):  

Hovering over the "magnifying glass on top of an article" image in the upper right corner of each result will give you the citation and abstract.

Clicking on the folder with the plus will add your articles to a list, which will allow you to print, email, or save them all at once. (No more inbox spam from 20+ individual articles!)

Keith Eric Gay from the backup service (nckeithg):  

*

“Using * will make sure all endings of the word are included.” (Most people probably know this one but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded, and this particular phrasing is great for non-techies.)

Phil Blank from the backup service (ncknows):

“[Y]ou can email the transcript to yourself by clicking the envelope icon on the chat window.”

(Most of us send transcripts on request, but apparently patrons can also send it to themselves.)

Extra Mile Transcript:

This month I noticed one transcript where the librarian went beyond what might be expected, to make sure that patron was completely satisfied.  

Jennifer Calvo from the backup service (jcalvo):

Addressed initial complaints, as well as the actual question

The patron opened the conversation by saying that they'd been having trouble finding articles ever since the site had been changed.  In addition to helping the patron find the database and articles they needed, Jennifer took the extra step to find the appropriate subject liaison, and give their contact info to the patron.  This made the patron feel more empowered in the face of change, and hopefully resulted in some good feedback to the site and/or tutorial designers.

Transcript of the Month:

This Transcript of the Month award also belongs to two librarians.  Stephanie Bowers (pittcc-sb) was the one who picked up the call, but she credits Angela Davis (pittcc-ad) as the one who “supplied all the lightning-fast responses.”  If Angela hadn’t been available, this is exactly the sort of situation where a librarian might want to check the LibInfo site for the business librarian contact, and refer to askBLINC via the local library if there wasn’t one listed.

Stephanie Bowers & Angela Davis, both from Pitt Community College

15:08 patron: Hi Steve, this is [patron’s name]. I am trying to look up NAICS codes and SIC codes for the solar industry. I have taken classes for this before, but I cannot remember where to search for these codes before researching the industry!

15:08 Stephanie: Hi and

15:08 Stephanie: welcome to NCknows.

15:08 Stephanie: Did you want to get in touch with a specific person?

15:09 Stephanie: (I'm not with UNC-G, myself, but would be happy to try to help.)

15:09 patron: The chat box says "Steve is online" so I thought it was Steve, our database librarian. I'm sorry!

15:09 patron: Would you be able to tell me how to use our database system to look up NAICS and SIC codes?

15:11 Stephanie: Oh, that's OK--here are two places to look:

15:11 Stephanie: SIC codes: https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/sicsearch.htmlnNAICS codes: http://www.naics.com/search/

15:11 patron: Perfect, thanks so much!

15:11 Stephanie: You're welcome!  Is that all you needed right now?

15:12 patron: Well, can you tell me what the difference is again between the NAICS and SIC codes?

15:13 Stephanie: Not offhand, but I can look . . .

15:14 patron: Thanks! Would you also happen to know which databases to use those codes for research into that industry?

15:15 Stephanie: Let me also see what your library offers in that area--there are a few choices . . .

15:15 patron: thank you!

15:16 Stephanie: From this list--Mergent Intellect is a good choice:

15:16 Stephanie: http://library.uncg.edu/dbs/dbs-byletter.aspx?showdbs=M

15:17 Stephanie: (you can search just by keyword)

15:17 Stephanie: If you choose "Advanced Search" you can choose to search by industry in the left side bar . . .

15:18 patron: Great, thank you!!

15:18 Stephanie: SIC keyword search - Contains - solar (then you get a drop-down box)

15:20 patron: Perfect

15:20 patron: This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

15:21 Stephanie: You're welcome!  (And I have to give credit to another librarian who happened to also be online with me and has more expertise than I in this area.)

15:22 Stephanie: Do you think you have what you need then--there a few other places to look as well  . . .

15:22 patron: Any other suggestions you have are welcomed! I would love to look into a few other databases when researching the industry

15:23 Stephanie: Industry snapshots: https://www.census.gov/econ/census/snapshots/index.html

15:23 Stephanie: (or, if that doesn't work, try:  https://www.census.gov/econ/isp/index.php

15:23 Stephanie: and perhaps: http://www.bls.gov/iag/

15:26 Stephanie: And here are a couple of things that give background on and compare the two classification systems:

15:26 Stephanie: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/plastics/sic_naics_comparison.html

15:26 Stephanie: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/naics-codes-vs-sic-codes-4094.html

15:27 patron: Great, thanks so much!!

15:27 patron: This is a really good start. I appreciate all your help!

15:27 Stephanie: You're most welcome!  I'll let you digest all this for now--contact us again if we can be of further assistance.

15:27 Stephanie: Thanks for using NCknows.

15:28 Stephanie: Bye!

15:28 patron: Bye and thanks!