QuestionPoint – Week 4

Well, I got “behind the wheel” this week. Quill gave me the choice of doing a practice session or just jumping into the live queue and start fielding questions. I chose the latter. I felt that I could handle going live since she was right beside me and could provide assistance if necessary. I didn’t break any speed records, but I had a successful first run.

It took awhile to get used to where to find things such as the policies for the other libraries participating in the QuestionPoint consortium. It also took me awhile to get the hang of navigating the queue and for developing a rhythm for answering questions. It didn’t help that the system was a bit glitchy. Either we sat in silence with no questions coming in, or we had questions beeping in one right after the other. Fortunately, there were plenty of other librarians on duty for that hour, so I did not feel pressured to work quickly.

On my first transaction, my first inclination was to assume that I completely understood the requestor’s information need, and then to just give a direct answer. But, I caught myself. Instead, I asked the patron to tell me more about their information need, and I provided links to where the patron might find his or her own answers.

Doing live chat reference takes a different approach and somewhat different skills than the asynchronous mode of IPL reference services, but I am glad I am getting the chance to develop these skills.