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Ask the Library

Help for LibAnswers Admins

Useful Links and Instructions 

Reminder - Springshare uses the word "Users" to mean the staff members who monitor the services.

Ask Springshare

Springshare Training - A-Z List of Videos

  • Use the "All Springy Apps" drop down menu to find LibAnswers videos

Ask Springshare - Springboards

  • Springboards combine the best articles into helpful guides on broader topics such as setting up your system, creating content, and customizing the look & feel of public pages.

Get Help with LibAnswers

It is possible to transfer a ticket to someone who does not have a LibAnswers Account. Their email address needs to be added to the LibAnswers Address Book.

  1. Go to Admin > Accounts
  2. Got to the "Manage the Address Book" tab
  3. Click the button "Add Address Book Entry"
  4. Enter the information and Save.

Open the ticket to be transferred.

  1. Go to the Assign/Transfer tab.
  2. In the "Tranfser to" box, select User.
  3. In the "Select the user to own this ticket" box, open the drop down menu.
  4. Scroll down the list to the Address Book to select the person (LibAnswers Accounts are listed first).
  5. Add a message if you wish before clicking Submit.

Email signatures and taglines

Email signatures and taglines

You can create signatures to display at bottom of the:

  • Reply to patron
  • Confirmation email

Reply to Patron

Personal Email Signature

  • Each User can set up a personal signature.
  • Go to LibApps Dashboard
  • Select My Account from top menu. Add signature under Additional Settings. Note: displays as one line. Add HTML code to display with line breaks. <br />

Standard Email Signature

System Admin creates a standard signature for the system and chooses whether to use system signature or use personal signature of the person who answered the question.

  • Go to Admin > Queue, select edit your queue
  • Select Email tab > Email Signatures. Choose option
  • Type text into box
  • If Email Signature of User is the option and User does not have a personal signature, the standard signature will be applied.

Example standard signature: Thank you for using Ask the Library, the email reference service of the University of Delaware Library.

Note: when you are replying to question, the signature only displays if you select Preview.

Confirmation email

The standard signature will also appear at bottom of the Confirmation email sent to patron (when the patron checks the option: "Receive an email confirmation of your submission".)

About Tickets (Questions)

Miscellaneous about Tickets

 

When are Tickets Removed from the System?

How long are questions and answers retained? (privacy issues)

Tickets in the LibAnswers system are retained indefinitely.

If departments require that interactions be modified or removed after a certain period of time, the deletions will have to be done manually. Tickets can be selected by date, but they would need to be deleted one by one. If tickets are deleted, the LibAnswers statistics associated with those tickets will also be removed.

Tickets (Questions) from Widgets

Question forms can be embedded on a webpage or research guide, by using a Springshare Widget.

How to tell Question is from a widget

When a patron submits a question using a widget, Springshare assigns "widget" as the Source.

  1. Chat operator panel: alert box has email icon and box says Source: Widget
  2. Dashboard and answered tickets list: under the question is "Asked via Widget"
  3. Reply page. Not visible. Click on "Asked By" at bottom of patron question. A popup opens that says "Asked via Widget"

How to tell what page the widget was on (Referring page/URL)

In all situations above, hover over or click on the word Widget. That will display the URL or go to referring page.

In LibAnswers, there are two methods to display all source widget tickets:

  • Select Answers, then Tickets. Select tab: Referrer
  • Select Stats, then Tickets. Select tab: Referrer
Tickets from Widgets: RefAnalytics

How to embed a question form was not known at beginning of pilot project.

Each Queue System Admin needs to add "Widget" as a source in the RefAnalytics dataset.

Go to Admin. Select RefAnalytics. Select edit for your dataset.

If you are using the dataset I drafted, look at Field # 2: Question Source? At bottom of values, add Widget as a value.

  • Note: always add new fields or values to the end of the list.
Closing or Deleting Tickets?

When you select the trash can icon, you will see an option to close and an option to delete.

It is unlikely you will need to delete anything other than test questions. If you delete a question and you filled out the RefAnalytics data, contact the System Admin.

Question Form: Can It Be Embedded in Other Pages?

Can the Question Form be embedded in other pages?

Yes, you can choose to embed the form into a page, or have it pop up by clicking a button. This requires creating a widget in LibAnswers. For details and more information on widgets, see Springshare help pages: