Hello!

 

I just heard from a fellow librarian at my school who staffed the Academic desk for HCC’s shift yesterday, from 3-4pm. She was swamped for the whole hour and was alone answering questions. She asked what she can do in future when this happens.

 

I suggested the following to my colleague:

·         Email Kelly, the AAL help desk, and me.

o   If I’m available, I can either jump on or send an S.O.S. to the list.

§  We HCC faculty librarians are all peers. I don’t feel like I should nag everyone to subscribe to this list and have to deal with all the extra email flowing in.

 

But this kind of thing is a problem. It’s bad for the morale of the librarian who has to endure the problem, and of course it is bad for the patrons who aren’t getting the best service. So, I wanted to report are right now as we respond to an S.O.S. for next Tuesday.

 

General suggestions:

·         The obvious one is that we need to be mindful of our shifts and ask for help if we’ll be unable to cover.

·         A disclaimer (on the patron dashboard and/or the page where the patron enters the question) indicating that AAL is a statewide service and a Florida librarian will answer.

o   What I really would like them to know is that, contrary to what they (understandably) expect, they are not necessarily dealing with a librarian at their institution even though the widget is on their institution’s website!

§  There are subtle messages here and there in the AAL web presence that indicate a “Florida librarian” will answer. I think that’s too subtle.

·         A further disclaimer that the service is staffed by volunteers.

o   What I’m getting at here is that patrons expect an experience similar to chatting with corporations, online stores, etc. We are not that!

·         If such disclaimers are not possible or correct to display within the AAL web presence, then…

o   …suggest canned scripts that communicate these points.

 

Thanks,

-Alicia

 

Alicia Ellison

Librarian Professor
Dale Mabry Campus

Hillsborough Community College
4001 W Tampa Bay Blvd, Tampa, FL 33614
office 813.253.7380 |  fax 813.253.7400
aellison@hccfl.edu  |  hccfl.edu