Highighting LibChat/LibAnswers support for student success

[tcassidy]

SpringShare would like to highlight VCCS on their blog in early November. Do you have any thoughts on the role of VCCS LibChat/LibAnswers in support of student success? Here are a few prompts, just in case they are useful:
 

1. How does the 24/7 Chat Cooperative support your college / the VCCS shared cooperative?
   
2. Are you noticing any trends in student questions and traffic numbers so far this fall?
   
3. How have the local VCCS and 24/7 chat cooperatives added value to your existing chat services? Any surprising benefits?
   
4. What do you think is the VCCS and 24/7 cooperative’s role in student success? How does it fit into your  library services strategy?
   

Please share your comments with me by 5 PM on Tuesday 10/27. Thank you,
Tara

[jwalz]

We LOVE the chat options and LibAnswers and are SO grateful to have it by participating in the VCCS instance.  We promote it as much as possible, and have put our chat widgets up in several places.  
   However, the trend seems to be that everyone is just completely gobsmacked and shell-shocked with this whole move to everything online.  We have had only 1 or 2 chat sessions with anyone this whole time (to OUR campus only).    Very disappointing.  
 It relates to student success in that we offer multiple channels for students to gain assistance with library services and resources - which ever channel is most appropriate or comfortable to them.  By placing ourselves (the library) where the students are, they have immediate access to professional assistance and quality service.  

I look forward to hearing others' experiences!  

Jennifer

[scomer]

The great thing about LibChat/LibAnswers is it not only provides online support for students, but every engagement is an opportunity to glow up on your reference skills.

[Tamara]

I'm passing this on from my wonderful LibAnswers Librarian, Monica McLean - not a real title.

Questions 1 & 2 - The 24/7 Chat Cooperative is a great benefit to our students because many of them have jobs or classes during the day and don’t always have time to ask for help during our open hours. Providing 24/7 access ensures students can get real-time support during our off hours and over the weekend.
Question 4 - It gives them the flexibility to get help when it is most convenient for them. Providing 24/7 live assistance gives students peace of mind during an already difficult time due to COVID and the switch to online learning. It has been inconvenient for many students to not be able to physically come to the library , so at least this way they have easy access to help, which aids them in their virtual learning experience.

She says "The questions we get most frequently are about laptop rentals, how long physical items can be checked out, textbook and digital book access, and how to find peer-reviewed articles. We get the most questions on weekends, or Sunday through Tuesday depending on the month, with the highest activity between the hours of 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM."

IMHO - This has been a real help to us!  Going online during the pandemic has made us more aware of what students need from us to be successful.  The chat can at least give students the sense that there really is someone else out there who cares and wants them to be successful.

[bewright]

We now have more online students than ever before, and libchat makes it easier to reach them. The 24/7 chat cooperative means that even as we've had to shorter library hours, our students can still get help at any time.  I think the ability to screenshare with libchat patrons is especially helpful for tricky reference and technology questions.

[ksnawder]

When NOVA went remote, we moved all our reference desks online, meaning that we cover the chat as if it is our reference desk.  Because of this, there is always a NOVA librarian or staff member available on chat during our regular business hours.  During remote learning our chat numbers have increases drastically.  We love that we can help so many of our students and are grateful for the assistance we get from the VCCS and 24/7 co-ops in answering so many questions.

I also appreciate how easy it is to submit a ticket for a for chat in LibChat.  I feel like we are getting more tickets with LibChat than we did with QP and I really appreciate that this feature is seeing increased usage as tickets allow me to offer students additional assistance.

One of the feature that I know everyone loves is screensharing.  We use this feature a lot and find that it really helps when there are language barrier issues or when a visual demonstration will be more effect than a typed description.

[tcassidy]

The SpringShare blog post is up! Visit https://blog.springshare.com/2020/11/05/...at-co-ops/. Thanks again for sharing your comments,

Tara