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LibAnswers/Chat Best Practices

Actions You Can Take on a Ticket

LibAnswers Dashboard with tickets highlighted

When there is an Unclaimed Ticket, there are three three main actions you can take.

1. Claim the Ticket and create a Reply - reply directly to the patron.

2. Send an Internal Note - send a note to someone before or after you respond to the patron. 

  • USE WITH CAUTION! Though Internal notes don't appear in patron's email when replying from LibAnswers system, they DO appear in patron's email when replying from Outlook!  In other words, don't put anything in Internal Notes that you wouldn't want your patron to see.

3. Assign the ticket to a different user (i.e., claim it for them) or Transfer the ticket to another queue.

  • Submit Transfer as New.

Bottom of the Ticket: Adding Ref Analytics

At the end of completing a Ticket, be sure to add it to Ref Analytics by filling out this form.

Scrreenshot of the RefAnalytics form

  • Add to FAQ Group - Do not add to FAQ group
  • Add to Analytics - Leave as General
  • Service Point - RHD Librarians
  • Mode - Choose Chat, Email, In-Person, Phone, Stacks/Roaming, Ticket, Video Chat, Text
  • If Referred, To Whom - Only change this if you referred the question
  • Time Spent - Choose the approximate time
  • READ Scale - Explained here https://readscale.org/
  • Internal Note: If you found out the specific class the question was in relationship to, put it here.  For instance, NURS 302.

Submitting Replies:

  • When sending your reply, you will also be able to update the status of the ticket. This is important, as it indicates which patrons have not yet been contacted, which have been sent a reply, which are awaiting a follow-up, and which require no further follow up

Submitting reply options

  • Closed: this status indicates that no further interaction is expected for this ticket.
    • Note: If I reply to a patron, I Submit as Closed because that way the question does not linger in the Dashboard and if the patron responds it will reopen the question anyway.
  • Open: this status indicates that your follow-up may be required for this ticket. If a patron replies to you, the ticket will automatically be updated to this status.
  • Pending: this status indicates that you are expecting a follow-up from the patron. Compared to the Closed status, this can help you keep an eye on the ticket, as it will be listed along with your other open tickets.
  • New: this status indicates that the patron has submitted their question and is awaiting a reply. This is the status automatically assigned to incoming tickets.

Owning a Ticket

Once you claim a ticket, you are then the owner.  Therefore:

  • After you respond to a patron, we recommend that you submit the ticket as closed.  That way it won't linger in the Dashboard and if the patron responds to you it will get reopened.
  • If a patron responds back to your answer, the ticket will be reopened and will show up in the Dashboard and a notification email will also be sent to your email address.
    • Though you can respond via Outlook, we recommend you return to the LibAnswers Dashboard to answer through that system.
      • Remember any Internal Note that was made in the ticket can be seen if you reply through Outlook.

Ticket for Someone Who Does Not Have LibAnswers

If the ticket should be answered by someone that does not have an account in LIbAnswers, do the following:

  • Claim the Ticket.
  • Copy the question and email it to the person who you think should be answering it. Be sure to include an email address of the patron.
  • Write an Internal Note with who you emailed and when.
  • Once you get a reply back from the person you emailed saying they will take care of the question, you can Submit the Ticket as Closed.

Tickets That Linger

Ideally everyone is in charge of closing their own tickets, but we know stuff happens and that there are sometimes lingering claimed chats sitting in the Dashboard.  If there are, feel free to do the following:

  • Check:
    • Does the transaction look complete?
    • Date, how long has the ticket been lingering?
    • Is there an Internal Note saying someone worked on the ticket?  

  • If the owner is a TAL librarian, the ticket has been there for at least two weeks, and there is no Internal Note, send a polite reminder nudge through Slack.
    • On the ticket be sure to write an Internal Note saying that you Slacked a reminder and the date you did so.
       
  • If the owner is not a TAL librarian, but the ticket has been there for at least two weeks, and there is no Internal Note, then email them to ask them to please go in to the LibAnswers Dashboard and Submit the ticket as Closed if they are done with it.
    • Be sure to write an Internal Note saying that you Slacked a reminder and the date you did so.
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