Issues with QuestionPoint

[edeangelo]

A couple of notes, after practicing with QP a few times:

-I've noticed that there's a lot of lag time between send & display when it comes to chatting. Text sent between librarian and patron doesn't pop up as quickly as it did in tutor.com, whether I'm working with someone on my own campus or at another college.

-Some web pages and databases don't display properly in QP cobrowse. Opposing Viewpoints, for example. All the features and content are still there, but the design is way off.

-When entering a database while in cobrowse, I'm always prompted to enter my VCCS username and password, even when I'm on campus. Why is this? Since the student sees the same screen, who should log in- the student or the librarian?

Beth
NVCC-Medical Education Campus

[jdessino]

Thanks, Beth. These are great points.

--I hadn't noticed a chat lag but, so far, I've not had any 'patron' who wasn't right there with me (or was me!). Can others chime in as to whether or not they see a delay?

--Not all databases (or all web resources, for that matter) will co-browse properly. With the licensed databases we need to compile a list of the 'idiosyncracies' of each database. Since databases could seldom, if ever, be cobrowsed in tutor.com, we haven't had to deal with these idiosyncracies. Please post comments on which databases co-browse well and which not so well (and which not at all-anybody tried Factiva yet?) and I'll create a list of our licensed databases and how they work with QP.

--I don't know why you are prompted to log in each time, but I think it might be useful for the student since they can see what will happen when they access a database from off campus. As for who should log in, I don't think it matters as far as the ability to cobrowse is concerned (maybe someone can try it both ways and report if there is any difference in co-browsing), but I think it would be better to have the student log in. That way, you can verify that they know their userid and password and, if they are from a different college than you, they will have access to college specific resources. For the librarian to log in to college specific resources, you'd have to use the guest login that is in the policy page.

[bewright]

Cobrowsing in Academic search complete works until you try and view an article. I was the patron yesterday and neither I nor the librarian could get anything to open.

When the patron is in cobrowsing mode the chat window doesn't wrap the text. If the librarian typed anything longer than a few words I had to scroll sideways to read it.

[jdessino]

Thanks Bethany:

---I have found out from OCLC that what we all experienced with the EBSCO databases is correct. They will co-browse to the results list but will not open the article (or abstract either, in my case). They are supposed to be working with EBSCO to resolve this problem but, if they are able to resolve it, there is no timeline. Strangely, when I was the librarian and Suzanne Sherry at JTCC was the patron, she clicked on a picture and it displayed for both of us, even though the article would not.

---I did not have any trouble with the chat when I was the patron, but I'm not sure if my librarian sent me any messages that would need to wrap, so I will have to test that some more to see if it happens all the time or is an intermittant glitch. Did anyone else notice this problem?

Thanks for posting. jacque

[edeangelo]

Jacque-

Is there any way to tell from the patron profile info whether or not co-browse will work? I know it depends upon which browser the patron is using, and their settings, etc., but is there a quick & easy way to determine if I should even attempt co-browse?

I'm probably behind due to being out on maternity leave for most of the fall semester... apologies in advance if this was covered elsewhere.

Thanks,
Beth

[jdessino]

Beth:

The software tells you in the Info Section if the patron SHOULD be able to cobrowse. It still won't work, however, unless you workstation is set up correctly for cobrowse, including not having the latest JAVA (see previous message). j



Question: [4404770] Chat Transcript: I just tried to login into the libray for the second time and it says session ended is there a certain number of times i can access the online library?
IP Address: 173.79.84.201
Referer: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.nvcc.edu/library/ask.htm">http://www.nvcc.edu/library/ask.htm</a><!-- m -->
Browser/OS: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; GTB5; FunWebProducts; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; Seekmo 10.0.431.0)
Cobrowse: Yes
Category: VCCS
phone: 5712587367
College: Northern Virginia Community College
connection: Hi-speed
firewall: Yes