Thursday, September 30, 2010
NC LIVE password of the day FIXED
Some of you may have noticed that the NC LIVE password of the day was not always working. The problem was reported to NC LIVE and fixed within hours. Thanks to all of the great folks at NC LIVE!
No more acad/pub split!
Questionpoint has finally allowed our queues to properly back each other up. As you recall, in the past, it took 40 seconds for patrons from academic queues to show up to public librarians and vice versa. As of last week, that has been changed. Now public and academic patrons appear to all NC libraries instantly. It still takes backup librarians 40 seconds to see NC calls. This gives us a head start in claiming our own patrons.
This is part of a new version of Questionpoint which will also affect us in other ways that I will be sharing soon.
This is part of a new version of Questionpoint which will also affect us in other ways that I will be sharing soon.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
NCknows on TV!
Jill Robinson Morris from NC LIVE gave NCknows some media attention today. Check it out: http://www.mycarolinatoday.com/2010/08/nc-live-homework-help/
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Mount Olive College goes live with Libraryh3lp!
Mount Olive College is now offering the Libraryh3lp widget on their library's homepage. Thanks to Heather, Susan and the rest of the great librarians there for making it happen. (note: if you see the link to NCknows, that means that no one is currently online to monitor Libraryh3lp).
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Two new trainings
There will be two trainings in early August.
Monday August 9 10-3 at Vance Granville CC.
Thursday August 12, 9:30- 2:30 at Chapel Hill Public Library.
If you are interested, email me (phil at philblank dot net) as soon as possible and let me know how many from your library are interested.
Monday August 9 10-3 at Vance Granville CC.
Thursday August 12, 9:30- 2:30 at Chapel Hill Public Library.
If you are interested, email me (phil at philblank dot net) as soon as possible and let me know how many from your library are interested.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Browser check
Summer may be a good time to get the attention of your IT folks so they can finally get around to updating your browsers. Questionpoint recommends using Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher but since the new NC LIVE site is ideal with something newer than IE 7, why not just upgrade to the highest versions available now? The following is from NC LIVE's current guidelines for browsers:
Any computer accessing the NC LIVE website (going live in early July) via Internet Explorer 7.0 or older will experience formatting issues. In addition, some of our vendors no longer support IE 6.0 or older for their products. For your convenience, here is a link to the top browsers for download:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html
http://www.apple.com/safari/
Questionpoint's Chat Setup PDF with info on browsers.
Any computer accessing the NC LIVE website (going live in early July) via Internet Explorer 7.0 or older will experience formatting issues. In addition, some of our vendors no longer support IE 6.0 or older for their products. For your convenience, here is a link to the top browsers for download:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html
http://www.apple.com/safari/
Questionpoint's Chat Setup PDF with info on browsers.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Librarian is, amazingly, typing!
It happened!
A long awaited development has finally arrived to Questionpoint! Patrons now see an alert that "librarian is typing" when you are typing a message. This means that they will, hopefully, be less likely to leave the session while you are a typing a message. This is something we were hoping to see years ago. Better late than never! Click on the link above to see screenshots of the patron's view.
A long awaited development has finally arrived to Questionpoint! Patrons now see an alert that "librarian is typing" when you are typing a message. This means that they will, hopefully, be less likely to leave the session while you are a typing a message. This is something we were hoping to see years ago. Better late than never! Click on the link above to see screenshots of the patron's view.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Wake County puts 200 years at your fingertips
"Both the county's Register of Deeds office and the Olivia Raney Local History Library are offering new means by which private citizens and professionals can research the county's past and families' personal histories. To make county documents dating back to 1785 easily available, the Register of Deeds office recently scanned and indexed more than 88,000 documents for perusal on the Web."
Read full article from the N&O.
Read full article from the N&O.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
NCLIVE and the Password of the Day
NC LIVE is trying to improve the password of the day policy. After much deliberation we've come to consensus on how it works. Click on the image below to see the new password of the day page:
NC LIVE has changed the policy in these ways:
1. First, ask the patron if they are a NC resident or student. If the patron's email is from a NC school or business, or if for some other reason you are confident they are eligible to use NC LIVE, then you can skip this.
2. After that, the new policy is similar to the old one. Copy and paste the correct text depending on whether or not they are in NC or not.
3. NC LIVE has also asked that we encourage the patron to get their permanent password. This can mean offering to refer the call if they have listed an email address or offering them a phone number to their local library. You can use the links at the bottom of the page to find the phone number of any library. Please use your own discretion as to how to proceed.
As always, the NC LIVE password of the day page can be found by clicking on "Policies" when helping a patron and then looking in the "Databases" section of the policies. Also, when helping academic patrons, please try to direct the patron to using NC LIVE and other resources from their library's pages instead of NC LIVE when possible.
We will see how this new policy works in practice. Please feel free to contact me with your reactions and I'll forward them to NC LIVE.
NC LIVE has changed the policy in these ways:
1. First, ask the patron if they are a NC resident or student. If the patron's email is from a NC school or business, or if for some other reason you are confident they are eligible to use NC LIVE, then you can skip this.
2. After that, the new policy is similar to the old one. Copy and paste the correct text depending on whether or not they are in NC or not.
3. NC LIVE has also asked that we encourage the patron to get their permanent password. This can mean offering to refer the call if they have listed an email address or offering them a phone number to their local library. You can use the links at the bottom of the page to find the phone number of any library. Please use your own discretion as to how to proceed.
As always, the NC LIVE password of the day page can be found by clicking on "Policies" when helping a patron and then looking in the "Databases" section of the policies. Also, when helping academic patrons, please try to direct the patron to using NC LIVE and other resources from their library's pages instead of NC LIVE when possible.
We will see how this new policy works in practice. Please feel free to contact me with your reactions and I'll forward them to NC LIVE.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Value Added Service
This is from Jessica O Brien (Lenoir-Rhyne University), who reviews transcripts on Monday and Tuesdays:
This transcript from Question Point backup librarian stood out as I read the chat transcripts this morning. The patron was a student in need of the NC LIVE login information. The librarian quickly related the information to the student, but did not immediately wrap up the chat. Instead she took the initiative to ask the patron if she needed help selecting a database, then offered to suggest some potential search terms. The student ended the chat on the right track to completing her assignment thanks to the value added service of our backup librarian.
Patron:
20:06:58 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Chat Transcript
Librarian:
20:06:58 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Note: Patron's screen name: anonymous
Patron:
20:07:43 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
HOW DO I LOG ON TO NCLIVE
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:08:49 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
(24/7 Librarian)' has joined the session.
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:08:54 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Hello!
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:09:04 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
My name is. I'm a reference librarian with the Question Point chat service. Your librarians have asked our librarians to staff this 24-hour service when they are unavailable. I'm reading your question now to see how I can help you.
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:09:16 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Which library are you from? I'll try to help you with that.
Patron:
20:09:58 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
CLIFFDALE
Patron:
20:10:38 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
IN FAYETTEVILLE, NC
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:11:12 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Thanks much! It looks like that is part of the Cumberland County library system.
Patron:
20:11:25 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
YES
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:11:33 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Do you have a password already? If not, I can get you a temporary password to use.
Patron:
20:11:48 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
NO
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:12:13 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Okay, please hold just one moment while I get that for you.
Patron:
20:12:15 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
IM TRYING TO DO SOME RESEARCH
Patron:
20:12:24 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
THNK YOU
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:12:33 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Sure!
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:13:27 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Here is information about how the temporary password works. The password is at the bottom.
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:13:33 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
"NC LIVE requires a password when used outside a North Carolina library. The password below is available only as a temporary convenience, and automatically changes at 9:00 AM (EST). This password works for all libraries found on the NC LIVE login page. If you need continued access to NC LIVE, please contact the staff at your local public or college library to get the regular password, which is good through the summer of 2010. Keep in mind your local library will be able to help you get started using NC LIVE, and in many cases may purchase additional online resources available only from their web site. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The password of the day is: q@m94ws@
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:14:11 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
I think you should be able to use the password with the databases from your library's website:
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:14:14 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
http://www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/resources/alphabetical.htm
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:14:21 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Do you want to give that a try?
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:14:35 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
If that doesn't work, I can give you another link to try.
Patron:
20:14:47 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
ND IT WILL LET FIND JOURNALS AND OTHER WORKS
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:15:21 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Right. Do you need some help deciding which database to use? I'll be happy to help you with that if you want to tell me your topic.
Patron:
20:15:53 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
IM TRYING TO FIND INFO ON STUDENTS WEARING SCHOOL UNIFORMS...PROS AND CONS
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:16:24 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Sure, one moment please and I'll look over your database options and recommend one to you.
Patron:
20:16:39 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
OK
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:18:21 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
http://www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/resources/alphabetical.htm
Patron:
20:18:39 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:18:43 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Select "•Academic Search Premier"
Patron:
20:19:07 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
IM THERE NOW
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:19:18 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Okay, great!
Patron:
20:19:29 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
HVE A GOOD WEEK
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:19:34 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
I can give you some search terms to try if you want.
Patron:
20:19:49 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
OK SURE
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:19:53 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
school uniforms and pros and cons
Patron:
20:20:07 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
THANKS A LOT
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:20:07 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
school uniforms and controversy and research
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:20:19 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
school uniforms and expense
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:20:30 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
school uniforms and student behavior
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:20:45 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
school uniforms and opposing views
Patron:
20:20:49 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
OK I DIDNT THINK ABOUT THAT
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:21:10 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
You are very welcome. You may want to limit your searches to "full-text" articles just to make it easier too.
Patron:
20:21:24 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
OK
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:21:33 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
I hope you find some good articles! If you need more help, please let us know!
Patron:
20:21:51 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
I WILL THANKS U VERY MUCH
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:21:54 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
There are other terms and more databases that could be tried!
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:22:11 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Sounds good! Thank you for using this service. Best wishes!
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:22:15 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Librarian ended chat session.
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:22:18 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Note: Set Resolution: Answered
This transcript from Question Point backup librarian stood out as I read the chat transcripts this morning. The patron was a student in need of the NC LIVE login information. The librarian quickly related the information to the student, but did not immediately wrap up the chat. Instead she took the initiative to ask the patron if she needed help selecting a database, then offered to suggest some potential search terms. The student ended the chat on the right track to completing her assignment thanks to the value added service of our backup librarian.
Patron:
20:06:58 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Chat Transcript
Librarian:
20:06:58 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Note: Patron's screen name: anonymous
Patron:
20:07:43 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
HOW DO I LOG ON TO NCLIVE
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:08:49 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
(24/7 Librarian)' has joined the session.
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:08:54 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Hello!
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:09:04 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
My name is. I'm a reference librarian with the Question Point chat service. Your librarians have asked our librarians to staff this 24-hour service when they are unavailable. I'm reading your question now to see how I can help you.
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:09:16 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Which library are you from? I'll try to help you with that.
Patron:
20:09:58 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
CLIFFDALE
Patron:
20:10:38 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
IN FAYETTEVILLE, NC
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:11:12 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Thanks much! It looks like that is part of the Cumberland County library system.
Patron:
20:11:25 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
YES
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:11:33 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Do you have a password already? If not, I can get you a temporary password to use.
Patron:
20:11:48 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
NO
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:12:13 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Okay, please hold just one moment while I get that for you.
Patron:
20:12:15 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
IM TRYING TO DO SOME RESEARCH
Patron:
20:12:24 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
THNK YOU
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:12:33 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Sure!
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:13:27 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Here is information about how the temporary password works. The password is at the bottom.
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:13:33 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
"NC LIVE requires a password when used outside a North Carolina library. The password below is available only as a temporary convenience, and automatically changes at 9:00 AM (EST). This password works for all libraries found on the NC LIVE login page. If you need continued access to NC LIVE, please contact the staff at your local public or college library to get the regular password, which is good through the summer of 2010. Keep in mind your local library will be able to help you get started using NC LIVE, and in many cases may purchase additional online resources available only from their web site. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The password of the day is: q@m94ws@
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:14:11 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
I think you should be able to use the password with the databases from your library's website:
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:14:14 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
http://www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/resources/alphabetical.htm
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:14:21 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Do you want to give that a try?
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:14:35 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
If that doesn't work, I can give you another link to try.
Patron:
20:14:47 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
ND IT WILL LET FIND JOURNALS AND OTHER WORKS
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:15:21 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Right. Do you need some help deciding which database to use? I'll be happy to help you with that if you want to tell me your topic.
Patron:
20:15:53 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
IM TRYING TO FIND INFO ON STUDENTS WEARING SCHOOL UNIFORMS...PROS AND CONS
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:16:24 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Sure, one moment please and I'll look over your database options and recommend one to you.
Patron:
20:16:39 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
OK
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:18:21 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
http://www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/resources/alphabetical.htm
Patron:
20:18:39 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:18:43 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Select "•Academic Search Premier"
Patron:
20:19:07 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
IM THERE NOW
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:19:18 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Okay, great!
Patron:
20:19:29 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
HVE A GOOD WEEK
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:19:34 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
I can give you some search terms to try if you want.
Patron:
20:19:49 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
OK SURE
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:19:53 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
school uniforms and pros and cons
Patron:
20:20:07 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
THANKS A LOT
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:20:07 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
school uniforms and controversy and research
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:20:19 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
school uniforms and expense
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:20:30 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
school uniforms and student behavior
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:20:45 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
school uniforms and opposing views
Patron:
20:20:49 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
OK I DIDNT THINK ABOUT THAT
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:21:10 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
You are very welcome. You may want to limit your searches to "full-text" articles just to make it easier too.
Patron:
20:21:24 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
OK
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:21:33 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
I hope you find some good articles! If you need more help, please let us know!
Patron:
20:21:51 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
I WILL THANKS U VERY MUCH
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:21:54 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
There are other terms and more databases that could be tried!
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:22:11 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Sounds good! Thank you for using this service. Best wishes!
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:22:15 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Librarian ended chat session.
Librarian At QP Backup:
20:22:18 2010/05/02 (GMT-5)
Note: Set Resolution: Answered
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Audio book workshop
Please take a moment to check out this NC LIVE workshop on using audiobooks. We are seeing a lot of questions about it and also seeing lots of happy patrons!
Monday, April 12, 2010
NC LIVE Audiobooks return!
Online Audiobooks will be available through NC LIVE on Thursday, April 15. When audiobooks were discontinued last year, many patrons were disappointed and have anxiously been awaiting their return. There are sure to be lots of questions as patrons try to use these audiobooks with their various audio devices. Please take a look at the NC LIVE blog post on this, including their sample page.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
NC LIVE Password of the day
You may have noticed that the text presented in the NC LIVE password of the day has changed. It now reads:
----
NC LIVE Temporary Password
NC LIVE is a service available only to students and residents in North Carolina. Anyone identifying themselves as being in North Carolina is allowed to use the password below until their member library is open for business. During normal operating hours, please refer them to their local library for the password.
If the patron identifies themselves as being outside North Carolina - please send them the following message:
NC LIVE is a service available only to residents and students of North Carolina. Please check with your local public library, as many states have a service similar to North Carolina's NC LIVE.
If the patron identifies themselves as being a North Carolina resident or student:
NC LIVE requires a password when used outside a North Carolina library. The password below is available only as a temporary convenience, and automatically changes at 9:00 AM (EST). This password works for all libraries found on the NC LIVE login page.
If you need continued access to NC LIVE, please contact the staff at your local public or college library to get the regular password, which is good through the summer of 2010. Keep in mind your local library will be able to help you get started using NC LIVE, and in many cases may purchase additional online resources available only from their web site.
The password of the day is: XXXXXXXXXX
----
Sometimes the patron's email address will give you clues about the patron's academic affiliation or location, but if it doesn't, please ask if the patron is a resident of North Carolina and respond accordingly. Thanks.
----
NC LIVE Temporary Password
NC LIVE is a service available only to students and residents in North Carolina. Anyone identifying themselves as being in North Carolina is allowed to use the password below until their member library is open for business. During normal operating hours, please refer them to their local library for the password.
If the patron identifies themselves as being outside North Carolina - please send them the following message:
NC LIVE is a service available only to residents and students of North Carolina. Please check with your local public library, as many states have a service similar to North Carolina's NC LIVE.
If the patron identifies themselves as being a North Carolina resident or student:
NC LIVE requires a password when used outside a North Carolina library. The password below is available only as a temporary convenience, and automatically changes at 9:00 AM (EST). This password works for all libraries found on the NC LIVE login page.
If you need continued access to NC LIVE, please contact the staff at your local public or college library to get the regular password, which is good through the summer of 2010. Keep in mind your local library will be able to help you get started using NC LIVE, and in many cases may purchase additional online resources available only from their web site.
The password of the day is: XXXXXXXXXX
----
Sometimes the patron's email address will give you clues about the patron's academic affiliation or location, but if it doesn't, please ask if the patron is a resident of North Carolina and respond accordingly. Thanks.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Advisory Board Meeting
Greetings from Greensboro Public Library! The NCknows advisory board met in March to discuss the various ways we could proceed in the future. One of the more exciting options we explored was using Libraryh3lp exclusively in the state. Libraries using Libraryh3lp jumped dramatically in number of questions asked and the service was found easy to use. Our current service also offers a widget option that would predictably raise traffic as well but Libraryh3lp it was decided, offers us more flexibility in designing and offering the service. The challenge is now to figure out how to provide staffing, especially 24/7. The board came up with a variety of options and I am currently trying to determine the feasibility of them. No firm decisions have been made but I did want everyone to know we are seriously exploring a new direction. I hope to have more to say about this soon! As usual your comments are welcome. [pictured above (L to R): Barbara Gwynn, Mark Wilson, Phil Blank, Steve Osler, Pam Sessoms, Tim Rogers, Carol Tobin- also in attendance but not pictured are Timothy Owens and Grant Pair]
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Advisory Board Meeting
The Advisory Board is meeting on Monday. Is there anything you would like us to address?
Friday, February 12, 2010
Another great transcript
Posted by Jessica O'Brien:
In this chat, Nina Exner was assisting a student who had a rather detailed research question and was directed to use articles and books for research. Nina took the time to explain to the patron why the topic was better suited to articles and also explained how the topic could be contained within a book on a broader topic. She successfully answered the question, while at the same time, was able to educate the patron. Nina was also considerate of the person on the other side of the chat, and took the initiative to explain why she had used caps (usually indicates “shouting” and is considered to be poor etiquette) in the preceding message.
Question History
Patron:
19:43:22 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Chat Transcript: Where should I be looking to find articles and books that would provide understanding and info on the lack of students in urban communities attending college right after high school???
Librarian:
19:43:22 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Note: Patron's screen name:
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:43:43 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Librarian 'NC A&T Librarian Nina' has joined the session.
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:43:53 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Hello ! Welcome to NCknows. I am looking at your question...
Patron:
19:44:14 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
ok
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:44:27 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
That's pretty complicated. It sounds liek a godo topic for articles, but you might not find books that specific
Patron:
19:44:48 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
So what do you suppose I look up instead??
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:45:06 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Book topics alot of times are more general, like a book on urban higher education.
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:45:19 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
That might include your topic and lots of others as well
Patron:
19:45:54 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Also like students who feel like that cant make it in school.....are there any books or topics on things like that??
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:47:37 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Some. Again, articles might be easier. Let me see what kind of books I can find
Patron:
19:47:38 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Maybe somebody has made a book or article on ways they have tried to address this issue of the lack of students from urban places attending college..would all this only fall under urban higher education??
Patron:
19:47:49 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
ok thankyou
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:48:16 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Books and articles use different search engines, so let me try to deal with some books first and then do articles, oK?
Patron:
19:48:34 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
I am looking for articles as well so that is fine.
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:50:00 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
There's a book titled "City comp : identities, spaces, practices" about case studies of urban universities. In the A&T STACKS at LC5131 .C52 2003. There's also a book "Teaching city kids : understanding and appreciating them" that looks helpful. It's in the A&T STACKS at LC5131 .T42 2007
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:50:29 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Those look liek the best books
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:51:28 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
On your second topic, reaching students who don't think they can do college, you might also look at "Condition of access : higher education for lower income students" in the A&T STACKS at LC4069.6 .C66 2002
Patron:
19:52:04 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Thank You!!! Is there any way to hold those book??
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:53:26 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Unfortunately I can't hold books :( You could call Access Services and see if they can, but normally Bluford doesn't pull and hold books. If you want to check with that department jsut in case their number is 285-4164 though
Patron:
19:53:56 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Well thanks...
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:54:55 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
FOr articles, I see a few things. In your second topic the best I see is "THE INVESTIGATION OF STUDY STRATEGIES THAT MAXIMIZE LEARNING FOR UNDERPREPARED STUDENTS"
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:55:09 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Sorry for the all-caps, that's how they typed it on the article ;)
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:55:22 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Does that sound interesting?
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:55:51 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
There's another article called "Aligning Planning and Budgeting: Creating Transformational Change for Underprepared Students" that would have more to do with how the college can help
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:57:01 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
If those sound interesting I can email them to you
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:58:05 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Alysha are you still there?
Patron:
19:58:40 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Patron is no longer connected.
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:07:07 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Librarian ended chat session.
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:07:10 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Note: Set Resolution: Answered
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:07:16 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Note: Set Description: Research
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:08:22 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
I e-mailed a couple of articles, but none of them were directly on your initial topic. You might want to disit the "DATABASES" tab and under "Databases by Title" pick the "Academic Search Premier" database. It's a good place to try for articles on all kinds of topics
In this chat, Nina Exner was assisting a student who had a rather detailed research question and was directed to use articles and books for research. Nina took the time to explain to the patron why the topic was better suited to articles and also explained how the topic could be contained within a book on a broader topic. She successfully answered the question, while at the same time, was able to educate the patron. Nina was also considerate of the person on the other side of the chat, and took the initiative to explain why she had used caps (usually indicates “shouting” and is considered to be poor etiquette) in the preceding message.
Question History
Patron:
19:43:22 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Chat Transcript: Where should I be looking to find articles and books that would provide understanding and info on the lack of students in urban communities attending college right after high school???
Librarian:
19:43:22 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Note: Patron's screen name:
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:43:43 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Librarian 'NC A&T Librarian Nina' has joined the session.
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:43:53 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Hello ! Welcome to NCknows. I am looking at your question...
Patron:
19:44:14 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
ok
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:44:27 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
That's pretty complicated. It sounds liek a godo topic for articles, but you might not find books that specific
Patron:
19:44:48 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
So what do you suppose I look up instead??
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:45:06 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Book topics alot of times are more general, like a book on urban higher education.
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:45:19 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
That might include your topic and lots of others as well
Patron:
19:45:54 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Also like students who feel like that cant make it in school.....are there any books or topics on things like that??
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:47:37 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Some. Again, articles might be easier. Let me see what kind of books I can find
Patron:
19:47:38 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Maybe somebody has made a book or article on ways they have tried to address this issue of the lack of students from urban places attending college..would all this only fall under urban higher education??
Patron:
19:47:49 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
ok thankyou
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:48:16 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Books and articles use different search engines, so let me try to deal with some books first and then do articles, oK?
Patron:
19:48:34 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
I am looking for articles as well so that is fine.
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:50:00 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
There's a book titled "City comp : identities, spaces, practices" about case studies of urban universities. In the A&T STACKS at LC5131 .C52 2003. There's also a book "Teaching city kids : understanding and appreciating them" that looks helpful. It's in the A&T STACKS at LC5131 .T42 2007
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:50:29 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Those look liek the best books
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:51:28 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
On your second topic, reaching students who don't think they can do college, you might also look at "Condition of access : higher education for lower income students" in the A&T STACKS at LC4069.6 .C66 2002
Patron:
19:52:04 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Thank You!!! Is there any way to hold those book??
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:53:26 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Unfortunately I can't hold books :( You could call Access Services and see if they can, but normally Bluford doesn't pull and hold books. If you want to check with that department jsut in case their number is 285-4164 though
Patron:
19:53:56 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Well thanks...
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:54:55 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
FOr articles, I see a few things. In your second topic the best I see is "THE INVESTIGATION OF STUDY STRATEGIES THAT MAXIMIZE LEARNING FOR UNDERPREPARED STUDENTS"
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:55:09 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Sorry for the all-caps, that's how they typed it on the article ;)
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:55:22 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Does that sound interesting?
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:55:51 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
There's another article called "Aligning Planning and Budgeting: Creating Transformational Change for Underprepared Students" that would have more to do with how the college can help
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:57:01 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
If those sound interesting I can email them to you
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
19:58:05 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Alysha are you still there?
Patron:
19:58:40 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Patron is no longer connected.
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:07:07 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Librarian ended chat session.
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:07:10 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Note: Set Resolution: Answered
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:07:16 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
Note: Set Description: Research
Ninaexner At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:08:22 2010/02/08 (GMT-6)
I e-mailed a couple of articles, but none of them were directly on your initial topic. You might want to disit the "DATABASES" tab and under "Databases by Title" pick the "Academic Search Premier" database. It's a good place to try for articles on all kinds of topics
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Total Chat traffic in NC in 2009
Last year we saw a slight increase in NCknows’ traffic over 2008. However, because some other libraries in NC were offering their own chat reference options, that increase was merely the tip of the NC chat reference iceberg. We now have a better idea of how many questions were asked with chat in NC:
The total amount of questions asked by chat reference by all NC patrons was a whopping 47,006. NCknows traffic comprises about 22% of that. Here is the breakdown based on the traffic reported by these libraries' independent chat services (not their NCknows traffic):
Questions
NCknows 10264
UNCCH 10000
Duke 8732
NCSU 8212
PLCMC 3952
UNCW 1998
ASU 1948
UNCG 1795
NC LIVE 105
The good news is that this is likely the portrait of the chattiest year in NC’s history. More people are chatting with librarians than ever before. This is mostly due to the academics that have been adding widgets to their website and staffing them. However it is interesting to note that even with some of NC's biggest libraries diverting substantial traffic to their independent services, NCknows was still able to increase its total over last year. My guess is that people have come to accept and expect to chat online with libraries (and companies and friends and coworkers, etc). NC LIVE’s traffic reflects December only, the first full month they have offered chat.
Even though academics are far outpacing publics in total chats, we saw that when a public did offer the widget, as in PLCMC’s case, traffic grew similarly. When I speak with other public libraries about adding widgets, the main stumbling block to offering the service is staff time. Currently, libraries must monitor their own widgets during the hours they want the widget to appear. My hope is that this will change soon as ways of sharing widget traffic become possible (with Questionpoint, the ability to roll traffic from widgets up to the backup staff is becoming technologically possible and with Libraryh3lp, where the technology has always made sharing traffic possible, the feasibility of a multi-state backup coop is being explored- more on this soon I hope.)
All in all, there was a shockingly dramatic increase in people being helped by NC librarians through chat in 2009.
The total amount of questions asked by chat reference by all NC patrons was a whopping 47,006. NCknows traffic comprises about 22% of that. Here is the breakdown based on the traffic reported by these libraries' independent chat services (not their NCknows traffic):
Questions
NCknows 10264
UNCCH 10000
Duke 8732
NCSU 8212
PLCMC 3952
UNCW 1998
ASU 1948
UNCG 1795
NC LIVE 105
The good news is that this is likely the portrait of the chattiest year in NC’s history. More people are chatting with librarians than ever before. This is mostly due to the academics that have been adding widgets to their website and staffing them. However it is interesting to note that even with some of NC's biggest libraries diverting substantial traffic to their independent services, NCknows was still able to increase its total over last year. My guess is that people have come to accept and expect to chat online with libraries (and companies and friends and coworkers, etc). NC LIVE’s traffic reflects December only, the first full month they have offered chat.
Even though academics are far outpacing publics in total chats, we saw that when a public did offer the widget, as in PLCMC’s case, traffic grew similarly. When I speak with other public libraries about adding widgets, the main stumbling block to offering the service is staff time. Currently, libraries must monitor their own widgets during the hours they want the widget to appear. My hope is that this will change soon as ways of sharing widget traffic become possible (with Questionpoint, the ability to roll traffic from widgets up to the backup staff is becoming technologically possible and with Libraryh3lp, where the technology has always made sharing traffic possible, the feasibility of a multi-state backup coop is being explored- more on this soon I hope.)
All in all, there was a shockingly dramatic increase in people being helped by NC librarians through chat in 2009.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Welcome NCCU!
North Carolina Central University is now helping to monitor NCknows on Monday nights 5-7. Thanks to Ife Grady and Elizabeth "Libby" Gorman for working with me to get the training and scheduling together for NCCU.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Excellence
Here is another great transcript from Nina Exner (NCAT), who is able to bring a very helpful, conversational and informative tone to her calls. Plus she is sending messages at a very frequent rate (check the timestamps!) Thank Nina!
Question History
Patron:
20:41:36 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Chat Transcript: Looking for sociological articles on satire and society
Librarian:
20:41:36 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Note: Patron's screen name: (ANONYMOUS)
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:41:42 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Librarian 'NC A&T Librarian Nina' has joined the session.
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:41:50 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'm glad you logged back in!
Patron:
20:42:04 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Sorry about that! We got disconnected somehow
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:42:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'm sorry for that; my computer's having issues and I disconnected you accidentally trying to get it to behave
Patron:
20:42:22 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) haha, no problem
Patron:
20:42:38 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Did you get my last couple of messages regarding my topic?
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:43:02 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yes! I sent you a book review on a book called "Good Humor, Bad Taste: A Sociology of the Joke."
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:43:20 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I don't have access to the book, but the book review talks some abotu the conclusions in it. So it might be a little helpful
Patron:
20:43:39 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Ok, thanks! Did that go to my e-mail address?
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:44:40 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I hope so ;) And the one we discussed earlier too
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:44:44 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Can you check for me?
Patron:
20:45:08 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yes, they are in my inbox
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:45:21 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I have another possibility, "Humor styles and personality-vulnerability to depression." from the International Journal of Humor Research. Is that in line with what you're thinking of, or is that too psychological?
Patron:
20:45:32 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Do you think I can find enough resources to write on this topic?
Patron:
20:45:57 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I don't know, I'd be willing to read the abstract and make a call. Do you mind sending that one along as well?
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:46:11 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'd be happy to
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:46:30 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) There's alot more on sociology of humor in general than specifically on satire, fortunately
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:47:21 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) There are two humor papers that might interest you from the American Sociological Association's 2008 annual conference. One is "Class Differences in Volunteers' Group Process Preferences and Humor Styles." The other is "Laughing Matters: The Stand-Up Comedian as Social Observer, Teacher and Conduit of the Sociological Imagination."
Patron:
20:47:44 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) well, I could try to use some of those articles to form the base of my essay, and from that make some further comments about satire
Patron:
20:48:28 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'd at least like to open the discussion, because I suspect there is a lot to be said in that regard
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:48:39 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Those are more indirect to your topic, yeah. But maybe you could tie them in? For example, talk about how satirical television is expanding on the one-person satire of stand up
Patron:
20:48:54 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'm a little surprised there has not been more research done on the topic. I guess it flies a little below the radar
Patron:
20:49:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yes that's what I'm thinking
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:50:25 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) It may also be a terminology issue. As I look through the humor abstracts I'm seeing satirical, satirist, parody, and alot of other word-variants I didn't get with my initial search for satire
Patron:
20:50:44 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Perhaps another approach would be to discuss (and this assumes there is sociological research on this topic) the ways that societies make judgments about themselves and/or the lenses through which a society can view itself
Patron:
20:51:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) and from there tie in the role of tv sponsored satire
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:51:21 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) That sounds like a good framework for it, yeah.
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:53:26 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Outside of sociology, I find, "The Language of Laughter: A Quantitative/Qualitative Fusion Examining Television Narrative and Humor." from the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:53:47 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) and "Political Satire and Postmodern Irony in the Age of Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart." from the Journal of Popular Culture,
Patron:
20:53:48 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) that sounds very interesting
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:54:11 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) and ""I Am Not Down with That": King of the Hill and Sitcom Satire." from the Journal of Film & Video,
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:54:20 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) but those are all getting away from the sociology angle
Patron:
20:54:48 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yes. And I know I need to be careful about being to argumentative
Patron:
20:54:59 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Sometimes I have trouble with that. =)
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:55:22 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) lol :) It's hard to write in a neutral tone when doing research papers though
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:55:38 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Do you want any or all of those three articles?
Patron:
20:56:03 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yes, please send them along. Even if they aren't exactly what I need they might help direct my thoughts
Patron:
20:56:55 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Well, do you think we can find some material along the second line of attack? Regarding the mechanisms of societal self-reflection
Patron:
20:57:50 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) It may be that I have to abandon this topic, but I'd hate to do that. I think it's very interesting, and I imagine my professor will find it interesting as well. Seems pertinent.
Patron:
20:58:07 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Thanks again for your assistance Nina!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:58:19 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I think your professor would find it interesting to look at. There's alot out there; it jsut needs a LOT of synthesis to pull it together
Patron:
20:58:58 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) haha...that's a fair point. unfortunately I'm not in a position to bite off more than I can chew right now
Patron:
20:59:06 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) =)
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:59:24 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) The biggest issue with TV as a mechanism for self-reflection is, I think it's too broad for articles. It's really the kind of topic that's more in the book literature
Patron:
20:59:49 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) hmm
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:00:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) That's a topic that's likely to have someone constructing a comoplicated model to try to explain the why and how of societal self reflection. They usually get really expansive on that stuff
Patron:
21:00:27 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) You may be right, at least as regards sociology. Which, by the way, is no strong point of mine! =)
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:01:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) So while I think it's a good framework, it might not be practical right now. Sociologists tend to build models to describe things when they get into a broader topic like that
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:01:26 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) How long is your paper?
Patron:
21:01:31 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Well maybe I should just shelve this topic for now and think of something with more accessible research. Gender roles, anyone? lol
Patron:
21:01:42 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Uh, 10-15 pages
Patron:
21:02:27 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) And sadly I have no guidance on the topic, just whatever interests me and is represented in sociological research/essays
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:02:53 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Not due tomorrow I hope?
Patron:
21:03:34 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) No - due last semester. =) I have a couple of weeks to finish the incomplete, but I'd like to get it out of the way sooner than later
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:04:00 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Good plan!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:04:37 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) What you might do is, check with your professor about whether media studies journals are acceptable. If they are then there's alot more to pull from.
Patron:
21:05:22 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) No, I just looked over the requirements again. It needs to be specifically sociological
Patron:
21:05:44 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Well, given your knowledge of whats available, do you have a recommendation for a topic I can look into? I honestly don't care that much, I mostly just want to get it off my back
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:06:17 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Some people could media anthropology as a form of sociology though. It might be worth jsut sending the journal names to see if htey're OK?
Patron:
21:06:33 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) OK, I can do that.
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:07:08 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) A good topic? Maybe something a little vaguer i nthe same area. "How does television reflect the viewing society?" maybe
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:07:22 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Or "What is the role of humor in a society?"
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:07:53 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) They're maybe less interesting, but you could use the same examples you've alreayd been thinking of, but not run out of things to say about it as soon ;)
Patron:
21:08:31 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) OK, well how do you recommend I find articles in those areas? IE, what search strings do you recommend?
Patron:
21:08:51 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I really am more inept in research than I should be after 4 years...=(
Patron:
21:09:16 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) probably doesn't bode well for grad school eg
Patron:
21:09:19 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) *eh
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:09:22 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Not inept at all! Computers are deceptively good at messing with research as well as helping with it
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:10:03 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'd suggest picking 2-3 key words and connecting them with the word AND. And if you don't like the results with one set of words, switch up rather than going through all of them
Patron:
21:10:45 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) OK
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:10:46 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) So, try "satire AND society" and if that doesn't work try "satirists AND society"
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:11:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Even though those words are similar to our brains, the comptuer treats them like totally different words. So it can really mess us up as researchers
Patron:
21:12:08 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yeah, I didn't know that. I guess the trick is to try try again sometimes!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:12:33 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Computers are VERY stupid
Patron:
21:12:48 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) lol
Patron:
21:12:55 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Part of me hopes they stay that way =)
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:13:17 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I always have to tell my students things like "If you don't get something for "college" you try changing to "university". Stuff like that. It's very literal, so the terms you put in have to be changed up in lots of different ways
Patron:
21:13:46 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Thank you for the advice. I honestly didn't realize that
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:13:57 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I've probably gone through thirty different search strings to pull the results I sent you, jsut changing terms a little each time I didn't liek what I saw
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:14:06 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Hopefully that will help :)
Patron:
21:14:50 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) really? so it can be somewhat time consuming
Patron:
21:14:54 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'll keep that in mind
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:16:16 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) To keep it un-time-consuming, just skim the titles. If a title doesn't look interesting, it probably won't be interesting. Don't give it a change jsut in case.
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:16:25 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) And if you get through a few pages and the results don't look good, change terms. Don't keep digging on a search string that's not giving you anything you like.
Patron:
21:16:29 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) It certainly has been a great help to me, and I really appreciate your time. There is nothing quite like being helped by someone - it's always very encouraging. Thanks so much for helping me out!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:16:47 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) If you don't like what's in those articles, feel free to come back for some different choices!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:16:56 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'm glad I could help. It was an interesting question!
Patron:
21:17:41 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I will! I feel like I've got some good direction now, so hopefully I can start to bang this thing out and get on with my life! Hehe. I hope you have a wonderful evening!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:17:45 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Have a good evening (ANONYMOUS). Good luck with your paper! Thanks for using the NCknows virtual reference desk
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:17:49 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Librarian ended chat session.
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:17:51 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Note: Set Resolution: Answered
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:17:58 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Note: Set Description: Research
Question History
Patron:
20:41:36 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Chat Transcript: Looking for sociological articles on satire and society
Librarian:
20:41:36 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Note: Patron's screen name: (ANONYMOUS)
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:41:42 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Librarian 'NC A&T Librarian Nina' has joined the session.
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:41:50 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'm glad you logged back in!
Patron:
20:42:04 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Sorry about that! We got disconnected somehow
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:42:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'm sorry for that; my computer's having issues and I disconnected you accidentally trying to get it to behave
Patron:
20:42:22 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) haha, no problem
Patron:
20:42:38 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Did you get my last couple of messages regarding my topic?
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:43:02 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yes! I sent you a book review on a book called "Good Humor, Bad Taste: A Sociology of the Joke."
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:43:20 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I don't have access to the book, but the book review talks some abotu the conclusions in it. So it might be a little helpful
Patron:
20:43:39 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Ok, thanks! Did that go to my e-mail address?
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:44:40 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I hope so ;) And the one we discussed earlier too
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:44:44 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Can you check for me?
Patron:
20:45:08 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yes, they are in my inbox
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:45:21 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I have another possibility, "Humor styles and personality-vulnerability to depression." from the International Journal of Humor Research. Is that in line with what you're thinking of, or is that too psychological?
Patron:
20:45:32 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Do you think I can find enough resources to write on this topic?
Patron:
20:45:57 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I don't know, I'd be willing to read the abstract and make a call. Do you mind sending that one along as well?
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:46:11 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'd be happy to
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:46:30 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) There's alot more on sociology of humor in general than specifically on satire, fortunately
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:47:21 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) There are two humor papers that might interest you from the American Sociological Association's 2008 annual conference. One is "Class Differences in Volunteers' Group Process Preferences and Humor Styles." The other is "Laughing Matters: The Stand-Up Comedian as Social Observer, Teacher and Conduit of the Sociological Imagination."
Patron:
20:47:44 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) well, I could try to use some of those articles to form the base of my essay, and from that make some further comments about satire
Patron:
20:48:28 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'd at least like to open the discussion, because I suspect there is a lot to be said in that regard
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:48:39 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Those are more indirect to your topic, yeah. But maybe you could tie them in? For example, talk about how satirical television is expanding on the one-person satire of stand up
Patron:
20:48:54 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'm a little surprised there has not been more research done on the topic. I guess it flies a little below the radar
Patron:
20:49:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yes that's what I'm thinking
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:50:25 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) It may also be a terminology issue. As I look through the humor abstracts I'm seeing satirical, satirist, parody, and alot of other word-variants I didn't get with my initial search for satire
Patron:
20:50:44 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Perhaps another approach would be to discuss (and this assumes there is sociological research on this topic) the ways that societies make judgments about themselves and/or the lenses through which a society can view itself
Patron:
20:51:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) and from there tie in the role of tv sponsored satire
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:51:21 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) That sounds like a good framework for it, yeah.
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:53:26 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Outside of sociology, I find, "The Language of Laughter: A Quantitative/Qualitative Fusion Examining Television Narrative and Humor." from the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:53:47 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) and "Political Satire and Postmodern Irony in the Age of Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart." from the Journal of Popular Culture,
Patron:
20:53:48 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) that sounds very interesting
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:54:11 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) and ""I Am Not Down with That": King of the Hill and Sitcom Satire." from the Journal of Film & Video,
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:54:20 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) but those are all getting away from the sociology angle
Patron:
20:54:48 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yes. And I know I need to be careful about being to argumentative
Patron:
20:54:59 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Sometimes I have trouble with that. =)
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:55:22 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) lol :) It's hard to write in a neutral tone when doing research papers though
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:55:38 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Do you want any or all of those three articles?
Patron:
20:56:03 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yes, please send them along. Even if they aren't exactly what I need they might help direct my thoughts
Patron:
20:56:55 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Well, do you think we can find some material along the second line of attack? Regarding the mechanisms of societal self-reflection
Patron:
20:57:50 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) It may be that I have to abandon this topic, but I'd hate to do that. I think it's very interesting, and I imagine my professor will find it interesting as well. Seems pertinent.
Patron:
20:58:07 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Thanks again for your assistance Nina!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:58:19 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I think your professor would find it interesting to look at. There's alot out there; it jsut needs a LOT of synthesis to pull it together
Patron:
20:58:58 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) haha...that's a fair point. unfortunately I'm not in a position to bite off more than I can chew right now
Patron:
20:59:06 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) =)
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
20:59:24 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) The biggest issue with TV as a mechanism for self-reflection is, I think it's too broad for articles. It's really the kind of topic that's more in the book literature
Patron:
20:59:49 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) hmm
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:00:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) That's a topic that's likely to have someone constructing a comoplicated model to try to explain the why and how of societal self reflection. They usually get really expansive on that stuff
Patron:
21:00:27 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) You may be right, at least as regards sociology. Which, by the way, is no strong point of mine! =)
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:01:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) So while I think it's a good framework, it might not be practical right now. Sociologists tend to build models to describe things when they get into a broader topic like that
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:01:26 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) How long is your paper?
Patron:
21:01:31 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Well maybe I should just shelve this topic for now and think of something with more accessible research. Gender roles, anyone? lol
Patron:
21:01:42 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Uh, 10-15 pages
Patron:
21:02:27 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) And sadly I have no guidance on the topic, just whatever interests me and is represented in sociological research/essays
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:02:53 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Not due tomorrow I hope?
Patron:
21:03:34 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) No - due last semester. =) I have a couple of weeks to finish the incomplete, but I'd like to get it out of the way sooner than later
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:04:00 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Good plan!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:04:37 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) What you might do is, check with your professor about whether media studies journals are acceptable. If they are then there's alot more to pull from.
Patron:
21:05:22 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) No, I just looked over the requirements again. It needs to be specifically sociological
Patron:
21:05:44 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Well, given your knowledge of whats available, do you have a recommendation for a topic I can look into? I honestly don't care that much, I mostly just want to get it off my back
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:06:17 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Some people could media anthropology as a form of sociology though. It might be worth jsut sending the journal names to see if htey're OK?
Patron:
21:06:33 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) OK, I can do that.
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:07:08 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) A good topic? Maybe something a little vaguer i nthe same area. "How does television reflect the viewing society?" maybe
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:07:22 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Or "What is the role of humor in a society?"
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:07:53 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) They're maybe less interesting, but you could use the same examples you've alreayd been thinking of, but not run out of things to say about it as soon ;)
Patron:
21:08:31 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) OK, well how do you recommend I find articles in those areas? IE, what search strings do you recommend?
Patron:
21:08:51 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I really am more inept in research than I should be after 4 years...=(
Patron:
21:09:16 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) probably doesn't bode well for grad school eg
Patron:
21:09:19 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) *eh
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:09:22 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Not inept at all! Computers are deceptively good at messing with research as well as helping with it
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:10:03 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'd suggest picking 2-3 key words and connecting them with the word AND. And if you don't like the results with one set of words, switch up rather than going through all of them
Patron:
21:10:45 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) OK
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:10:46 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) So, try "satire AND society" and if that doesn't work try "satirists AND society"
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:11:09 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Even though those words are similar to our brains, the comptuer treats them like totally different words. So it can really mess us up as researchers
Patron:
21:12:08 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Yeah, I didn't know that. I guess the trick is to try try again sometimes!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:12:33 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Computers are VERY stupid
Patron:
21:12:48 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) lol
Patron:
21:12:55 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Part of me hopes they stay that way =)
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:13:17 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I always have to tell my students things like "If you don't get something for "college" you try changing to "university". Stuff like that. It's very literal, so the terms you put in have to be changed up in lots of different ways
Patron:
21:13:46 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Thank you for the advice. I honestly didn't realize that
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:13:57 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I've probably gone through thirty different search strings to pull the results I sent you, jsut changing terms a little each time I didn't liek what I saw
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:14:06 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Hopefully that will help :)
Patron:
21:14:50 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) really? so it can be somewhat time consuming
Patron:
21:14:54 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'll keep that in mind
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:16:16 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) To keep it un-time-consuming, just skim the titles. If a title doesn't look interesting, it probably won't be interesting. Don't give it a change jsut in case.
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:16:25 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) And if you get through a few pages and the results don't look good, change terms. Don't keep digging on a search string that's not giving you anything you like.
Patron:
21:16:29 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) It certainly has been a great help to me, and I really appreciate your time. There is nothing quite like being helped by someone - it's always very encouraging. Thanks so much for helping me out!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:16:47 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) If you don't like what's in those articles, feel free to come back for some different choices!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:16:56 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I'm glad I could help. It was an interesting question!
Patron:
21:17:41 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) I will! I feel like I've got some good direction now, so hopefully I can start to bang this thing out and get on with my life! Hehe. I hope you have a wonderful evening!
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:17:45 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Have a good evening (ANONYMOUS). Good luck with your paper! Thanks for using the NCknows virtual reference desk
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:17:49 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Librarian ended chat session.
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:17:51 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Note: Set Resolution: Answered
Librarian At NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE U (NC Knows A):
21:17:58 2010/01/12 (GMT-5) Note: Set Description: Research
Monday, January 11, 2010
CPCC goes live with Libraryh3lp
Steve Osler from Central Piedmont Community College has just told me that CPCC has gone live with their Libraryh3lp widget! You can see it here. Yay!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
2009: The numbers
NCknows Academic Chats (2008-2009)
NCknows Public Chats (2008-2009)
These two charts detail the volume of chat traffic for the last two years by month. Traffic in 2009, with 10,264 questions, edged out 2008’s traffic, with 9419 questions. The increase in questions, however, was not a consistent climb during the entire year. Academics did rise slowly and consistently above their 2008 performance. All but two months outperformed last year (and one of those months was two chats away from a tie). Publics, however, had a more erratic year. They started off in the spring semester with less traffic than in 2008. In the fall, this trend reversed sharply. The traffic statistics on a library by library basis show that the largest shift occurred with the default queue for the NCknows.org page. Looking at the URLs where patrons found that link, almost half were from NClive.org pages (58% in December, 54% in Nov). Although NC LIVE has begun to feature NCknows more prominently on their pages in the last two months, this was not the case during the busy September and October months. Right before the fall semester, an online meeting encouraging marketing was held, which may have helped increase traffic. Also, student familiarity with this service in general may be increased. It would be instructive to see if these trends happened nationally as well.
What does all this mean? I suspect that traffic will continue to remain at this level and perhaps climb further due to NC LIVE’s 2010 redesign which features NCknows more prominently. The other variable affecting traffic is the use of “widgets” by NCknows libraries. Widgets are webchat applications (see http://libraryh3lp.com/docs/what-do-you-mean-by-widget.html) that we currently offer through Libraryh3lp. Patrons helped through Libraryh3lp widgets are currently not funneled into the normal “NCknows” queues and are therefore not answered by the NCknows librarians. If a library offers a widget, this should theoretically lead to less questions answered through their NCknows link. However, in the two libraries who piloted Libraryh3lp this year, this was not the case. PLCMC, which did offer the widget (and answered 3952 questions through it in 2009) also narrowly beat out their 2008 Questionpoint traffic (1091 questions in 2009 compared to 1076 in 2008.) And UNC Wilmington, who answered 1998 questions through their Libraryh3lp widget, beat out their 2008 Questionpoint traffic handily (207 to 130).
As the experiment with UNCW and PLCMC demonstrates, although Questionpoint traffic increased slightly in 2009, the real potential for helping as many patrons as possible is with widget-based software, like Libraryh3lp. The success of widgets we saw in NC has been duplicated in many other states and libraries. If NC shifted to Libraryh3lp in 2010, we would hope to at least double the number of patrons we could help. Of course this has lots of "side-effects" and could affect aspects of the service such as our hours and the level of participant library involvement.
NCknows Public Chats (2008-2009)
These two charts detail the volume of chat traffic for the last two years by month. Traffic in 2009, with 10,264 questions, edged out 2008’s traffic, with 9419 questions. The increase in questions, however, was not a consistent climb during the entire year. Academics did rise slowly and consistently above their 2008 performance. All but two months outperformed last year (and one of those months was two chats away from a tie). Publics, however, had a more erratic year. They started off in the spring semester with less traffic than in 2008. In the fall, this trend reversed sharply. The traffic statistics on a library by library basis show that the largest shift occurred with the default queue for the NCknows.org page. Looking at the URLs where patrons found that link, almost half were from NClive.org pages (58% in December, 54% in Nov). Although NC LIVE has begun to feature NCknows more prominently on their pages in the last two months, this was not the case during the busy September and October months. Right before the fall semester, an online meeting encouraging marketing was held, which may have helped increase traffic. Also, student familiarity with this service in general may be increased. It would be instructive to see if these trends happened nationally as well.
What does all this mean? I suspect that traffic will continue to remain at this level and perhaps climb further due to NC LIVE’s 2010 redesign which features NCknows more prominently. The other variable affecting traffic is the use of “widgets” by NCknows libraries. Widgets are webchat applications (see http://libraryh3lp.com/docs/what-do-you-mean-by-widget.html) that we currently offer through Libraryh3lp. Patrons helped through Libraryh3lp widgets are currently not funneled into the normal “NCknows” queues and are therefore not answered by the NCknows librarians. If a library offers a widget, this should theoretically lead to less questions answered through their NCknows link. However, in the two libraries who piloted Libraryh3lp this year, this was not the case. PLCMC, which did offer the widget (and answered 3952 questions through it in 2009) also narrowly beat out their 2008 Questionpoint traffic (1091 questions in 2009 compared to 1076 in 2008.) And UNC Wilmington, who answered 1998 questions through their Libraryh3lp widget, beat out their 2008 Questionpoint traffic handily (207 to 130).
As the experiment with UNCW and PLCMC demonstrates, although Questionpoint traffic increased slightly in 2009, the real potential for helping as many patrons as possible is with widget-based software, like Libraryh3lp. The success of widgets we saw in NC has been duplicated in many other states and libraries. If NC shifted to Libraryh3lp in 2010, we would hope to at least double the number of patrons we could help. Of course this has lots of "side-effects" and could affect aspects of the service such as our hours and the level of participant library involvement.
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