Tuesday, February 16, 2010
GAAS Manual
There will be a number of students looking for the GAAS Manual (it's a gaas??). Anyway, it is at the Reference Desk for now.
Chat report
I did a 24/7 shift yesterday, and had some unusual experiences. First Chris transferred a chat to me, but the student disappeared. Guess they found the article they were looking for.
Then I had a question where we were doing some database searching, but just as I was about to give the patron some search terms that were working for me we got disconnected. The challenge was that the session did not close, so despite logging off and on I could not get back to her. So finally I sent an email to her and the library contact person with my follow-up suggestions. I learned later from Jaclyn that when this happens the session will eventually disconnect -- after 2 hrs. of inactivity.
Then I had a question where we were doing some database searching, but just as I was about to give the patron some search terms that were working for me we got disconnected. The challenge was that the session did not close, so despite logging off and on I could not get back to her. So finally I sent an email to her and the library contact person with my follow-up suggestions. I learned later from Jaclyn that when this happens the session will eventually disconnect -- after 2 hrs. of inactivity.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Two Sessions
Yesterday my main question was about getting ivy out of your lawn. Can't say that I did a good job with this one, but I did find some "garden expert" websites and forums that I sent along to the patron. Then Chris forwarded a chat in progress from Bryant & Stratton -- worked like a charm.
Today I had a few questions about finding journal articles and someone in Czech. who wanted to interview an African American about the 40s-60s. I referred him to the African American studies department of the university through which he was asking the question, although it was not his univ.
What I learned... I learned today that I think it is better to TELL someone you are referring their question than to ASK them if that's what they would like. I had someone looking for online copies of paper journal articles, that she thought were in the library. I found no online journal by the right title, and her course was not in reserves. I was out of ideas, but I thought the local library could help her. When asked, she did not want me to refer her question, but probably because she "didn't want to bother them". Next time I will say, "I'm going to send this to your library so they can let you know if they have any information about this .... "
Today I had a few questions about finding journal articles and someone in Czech. who wanted to interview an African American about the 40s-60s. I referred him to the African American studies department of the university through which he was asking the question, although it was not his univ.
What I learned... I learned today that I think it is better to TELL someone you are referring their question than to ASK them if that's what they would like. I had someone looking for online copies of paper journal articles, that she thought were in the library. I found no online journal by the right title, and her course was not in reserves. I was out of ideas, but I thought the local library could help her. When asked, she did not want me to refer her question, but probably because she "didn't want to bother them". Next time I will say, "I'm going to send this to your library so they can let you know if they have any information about this .... "
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