• Reference Services
• Dec 06- Jan 07
• Issue: 208

Enhancements and Fixes, December 3, 2006

Changes for All QuestionPoint Users

1. Surveys displayed in language of original web form
Currently, non-English users must select the language they want when responding to a survey. With the install, surveys are presented in the same language as the original web form the patron filled out to chat or send their question.

2. Policy Pages search for state now in drop-down instead of free text
Since state and province names can be entered into QuestionPoint profiles in free-text, there has been no standard way to search policy pages by state. With this install, all variations of a state or province are mapped to a single standard, which is listed in a drop-down menu for easy selection. See Illustration 1.

3. All tab lists all questions less than 90 days old
All questions not yet rolled to the Service History or deleted can now be viewed in one list, All. This is the final option in the set of links that appears under the Questions tab or My Questions tab. See Illustration 10.

4. Dates appear in question lists with seconds
All question lists now display time in hours, minutes, and seconds, e.g., 11:45:57.

Changes for Users of Flash-Based

1. New name for home-page link: Search Policy Pages
The left column of the My QuestionPoint home page includes the new link name Search Policy Pages. This link takes the user to the search page for finding institution policy pages.

2. Better response time
Developers have made several adjustments to refresh rates to improve the librarian experience. Chat librarians will notice a significant improvement in response time.

3. Queue selection simplified
Selecting queues is easier and more straight-forward than ever. You return to begin monitoring immediately after confirming your selection.

4. Queue monitoring and IM statuses visible on monitor interface
Before you select a queue, red type notes that you are not monitoring any queues. After selecting queues, the red note changes to a black, indicating that you are monitoring live queues. At the top of your monitor, the number of queues you are monitoring is displayed. If you are in any IM sessions, the number of those sessions is also noted at the top. See Illustration 2.

5. Sent messages display without delay
After the librarian sends a message, it appears in the transcript area without delay, addressing the problem of a perceived time lag.

6. New preview mouse-over window under "My Active" tab
When needing to switch between patrons or back and forth between patrons and IM with another librarian, the librarian can mouse over the patron name to see the last message. This can reorient the librarian to where the exchange left off before reactivating the session. See Illustration 3.

7. Indicators show connection status
Visual connection-status indicators show when a patron is connected (green square), when the system has received no response from the patron for an extended time (yellow diamond), and when the connection between patron and system is broken (red circle). See Illustration 4.

8. Focus goes to end of transcript
Each time the librarian switches to a different patron, the focus automatically goes to the end of the transcripts, rather than the beginning. This allows the librarian to immediately see the most recent messages in context.

9. New message alerts librarian to a transfer
A new alert pop-up notifies a librarian when a chat session has been transferred to her and is waiting in her Active Sessions.

10. Duplicate login message
If another librarian logs in using the same authorization as yours, you receive notification of this, with instruction to end your current sessions and close your browser window. See Illustration 5.

11. Warning message when QuestionPoint session is closed
A pop-up window will alert the librarian if the QuestionPoint session was inadvertently exited. Instructions in the window tell the librarian to close the monitor browser, restart the QuestionPoint session, and launch another chat browser. See Illustration 6.

12. Interface enhancements for better international support
Buttons and informational text areas have been resized to better accommodate non-English languages. This will facilitate translations and improve readability.

Changes that Affect Administrators

1. New patron account setting test button
If you have chosen to not send patron account information in e-mails (see Administration/Setting/CustomMessages), test buttons for the New Accounts and New Account from Chat options can be used to assure the feature is turned off.

2. Limit reports to those with surveys
A new limit option is available for the General reports in the Ask module. Placed just under By Session Type, the new option allows the administrator to see only transcripts with completed surveys. See Illustration 7.

3. Form Field reports limit to e-mail or just chat
Administrators can report on patron-supplied data (Ask/Reports/FormFields) for Question Form transactions (e-mail), for Chat Sessions, or for both. The drop-down menu where you make this selection is just below the institution name and before the date field. See Illustration 8.

4. Resolution Codes now in Ask/Reports
Administrators of libraries offering chat via the Flash-based service can get a report by resolution code. These statistics represent how the administrator's librarians coded chat sessions at the conclusion of each. For libraries in the 24/7 Cooperative, this number is not concerned with the home library of the patron; only with how their librarians coded the session. See Illustration 9.

Fixes

1. All languages are searchable from the Knowledge Base Basic Search screen.
After an earlier install this year, non-English language searches containing diacritics had to be carried out from the Advanced Search screen, with the language limiter set. All searches, regardless of language, can now be searched from the Basic Search screen; diacritics no longer affect how you search a term.

2. Answer text is saved during knowledge base search.
If you now search the knowledge base after entering text in the Answer box and then cancel out of the search, you lose all the text you entered. With the install, that text is saved and still in the box when you return to the Answer page.

3. Form Fields report response time is greatly improved.
The Form Fields report, available from the Ask/Reports, has been tweaked such that the response time is greatly improved. The report page should display immediately after you click on the Form Fields link.

4. Patron-account URL no longer on Acknowledgement page.
If you have set your account to not send logon information to a patron, the patron-account URL no longer displays on the acknowledgement screen after the patron submits their question.

5. Live chat sessions no longer accessible outside chat monitor.
Librarians will see live chat sessions in their Answered questions list that are not hot linked - that is, they cannot open them to the Full Question view while the chat session is in progress. Live sessions are in black typeface and are preceded by [Session in progress]. Abandoned sessions (sessions never picked up by a librarian and sessions never properly ended) will remain in the question list for two-three hours before being "released" for further activity. See Illustration 10.

6. Administrators: The chat monitor All tab restricted to primary queue.
The All tab in the chat monitor will allow you to look in on only librarians in your primary queue, rather than on any session in the queues your library is monitoring.

OCLC QuestionPoint Contact Information
Jane Neale (nealej@nylink.org) and Donna Dixon (dixond@nylink.org) can be reached via email or phone (800-342-3353/ 518-443-5444).