Throttling Incoming Traffic

Submitted by support on

The bulk of the May 9 SparkRef forum revolved around limiting ("throttling") questions from a class visit like Oregon's virtual reference service does.  From that discussion we decided to take a look at possibly implementing throttling for our service.  We quickly realized that there were several issues that we needed to think about. How many questions represent too many? What about types of questions? Should we let fewer complex questions through? What is a complex question? What is a simple one?

Relentless Reference

Submitted by dboozer on

In taking another look at the transcripts done by Michael and Ozzie and other successfully handled pranks, I see a common theme. As Michael implied, treating potential pranks as legitimate questions let's one not play into the hands of pranksters. The prankster wants to get a shocked reaction from the librarian. The prankster wants to show how "edgy" they are. The prankster wants to have fun. My contention is that librarians can turn that around and have some fun with the pranksters.

Another Prank Deftly Handled

Submitted by dboozer on

In the tradition of Ozzie's wonderful example of dealing with a prankster, I wanted to share the following transcript by Michael Johnson of Shawnee State University. He recently im'd me to thank me for the training that he attended in February and to let me know he tried treating a prank like a real question and had the patron get bored and leave.

WARNING: There are several profanities in the session transcript!

Here is the transcript in question:

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