Wednesday, April 21, 2010, 10:30 a.m.

Attendance: Don Boozer, Wendy Ensor, Michelle Makkos, Cheryl Lubow, Katie Blocksidge

This Email of the Month posting examines an interesting interaction that took place entirely by email. The patron obviously had a difficult time connecting to a librarian on the live service (for any number of possible reasons not spelled out in their initial question). The question was asked at 10:52 AM on a Saturday. Later that day, one of our Kent State University School of Library and Information Science (KSU SLIS) interns responded with an authoritative answer along with citation information! The patron asked a follow-up question that Sunday morning to which a reply was sent by another of our interns later that same day. A couple days later, the patron had yet another follow-up to which Emma at Rocky River Public Library emailed an encyclopedia article to answer the question. The ability of various librarians to seamlessly respond to patron questions via email is demonstrated beautifully with this series of interactions in March.

Congratulations this month go to Librarian04 (Cleveland Public Library, Social Sciences), and ad.rhiannon (AfterDark).

Both librarians provided authoritative resources, communicated easily with the patrons, and received glowing comments from the patrons in the follow-up surveys.  Both librarians also made sure their patrons were satisfied before closing the conversations.  Librarian04, especially, waited for the patron to say "bye" first before logging off.

In keeping with the QuACK goal of sharing exemplary work from the KnowItNow24x7 librarians, the following is an email transaction answered by the leave-a-message answering librarians. This month we recognize one of KIN24x7’s interns from Kent State University, Kris.

Kris has done a great job of circumventing the patron’s request for an opinion (“Do you think…”) and providing historical documents and a magazine article that directly address the question posed.

-- Original Question Entered by Guest --

Congratulations this month go to Librarian46 of the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County and MaryC of Shawnee State University.

Librarian46 recommended excellent sources and kept the conversation going while s/he did additional searching and allowed the patron to examine the sites already sent. This patron hit the jackpot with a librarian who brought subject expertise and personal enthusiasm to the transaction.

In keeping with the QuACK goal of sharing exemplary work from the KnowItNow24x7 librarians, the following is an email transaction answered by the leave-a-message answering librarians. This month we recognize Kathy Fisher at Ursuline College.

Congratulations for this month go to ad.alex2 (AfterDark) and Librarian79 (Cleveland Public Library, General Reference). Fellow providers, if you haven’t looked at the client comments which are posted on the KnowItNow24x7 Provider Site, spend a few minutes there and pat yourself on the back.

Ad.Alex2 did a great job of finding resources for a patron looking for industry statistics on solar power. In addition to providing several web resources for the patron, Alex also recommended the Business Department at the Cleveland Public Library, and resources at local colleges. This was a great way to inform the patron of potential print information.

Librarian79 was amazingly persistent in helping a patron locate an electronic version of the third book in the Twilight series. Librarian79 worked with the patron for over an hour to locate the item, and walk the patron through the process of downloading the book.

Second Look transcripts will be an opportunity to post suggestions for different ways of handling situations, using these as learning opportunities and a way of sharing Best Practice Tips for the library community. KIN24x7 librarians are also welcomed to comment with other suggestions for resources or tips.

The Session
17:32:50 Guest I need the Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species of the eastern gray squirrel
17:33:11 Librarian I'll see what I can find

In keeping with the QuACK goal of sharing exemplary work from the KnowItNow24x7 librarians, the following is an email transaction answered by the leave-a-message answering librarians. This month we recognize the staff at Portsmouth Public Library.

Congratulations this month go to Librarian30 (Columbus Metropolitan Library) and ad.ian (AfterDark librarian). Fellow providers, if you haven't looked at the patron survey comments which are posted on the KnowItNow24x7 Provider Site, spend a few minutes there and then pat yourself on the back.