Staff Suggestions

Many of you know that FCPL launched a live chat program earlier this week. During the hours that the library would normally be open, patrons can click a button on our website to ask for help from our Information staff. Several staff members suggested a couple of webinars that they’ve watched recently to polish their reference skills.

Online Reference Basics from WebJunction

A staff member said, “The webinar provided some helpful tips for offering successful email and chat online reference services. It recommended soliciting feedback at the end of a chat session, such as through a short survey, in order to determine the success of the service and to gain ideas of how to improve the service. It also provided sample survey questions. It also discussed the importance of having a written email/chat reference policy (taking the existing reference policy and building on it). I found the webinar useful as we implement our Unique Chat service.”

The other webinar, The Reference Interview, is from the Idaho Commission for Libraries but can also be found on WebJunction’s website. Several staff members found it especially relevant right now.

If you are not involved in our new chat service, you may still find this webinar from the Southeast Collaborative Online Conference helpful. It’s called The Mending Library: Serving Vulnerable and Traumatized Patrons and the presenter is Patrick Lloyd, a social worker at a library in Texas. A number of staff members have watched this webinar and found it useful.