Oh yes, it is that time of year when well-meaning teachers set their students loose on AAL once their finals are over.

Here are the instructions from the AAL Policy and Procedures:

Inappropriate Use of Ask a Librarian
If you feel that a user is using Ask a Librarian inappropriately - either the original question crosses the line of acceptable or follow-up questions become personal/invasive or otherwise inappropriate - please do one of the following.

If you believe the question and underlying user behavior are legitimate but the chat is not going well, ask another librarian staffing Ask a Librarian if you may transfer the user to him/her. Briefly inform him/her of the situation so that he/she is prepared when entering the chat.

When you are not certain that the inappropriateness is intentional, send the Inappropriate - No Question/Purpose Customer canned message to helps to ensure that the problem is not due to miscommunication.

If you choose to end the session, send the Inappropriate - Bad Customer canned message. You can modify the script as needed to suit the situation.
If the patron is threatening or overtly vulgar, send the Inappropriate - Bad Customer canned message, end the session, and notify Ask a Librarian staff.

Notify Ask a Librarian staff immediately if a user threatens physical harm of any kind, including self-inflicted harm.

After closing an inappropriate session, briefly inform your coworkers in the queue, citing the username, IP address, and user agent string. Note that it's easy to change a username, and even an IP address can be spoofed, but the user agent string provides information about operating system and browser can't be changed.

From:  https://info.askalibrarian.org/toolbox/faq/policy-and-procedures/ (password may be required)

Tomiko Kutyna
Librarian Supervisor
Millhoppper Branch Library
Alachua County Library District

-----Original Message-----
From: list-manager@askref.simplelists.com [mailto:list-manager@askref.simplelists.com] On Behalf Of Kelli Herm
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2016 12:36 PM
To: <askref@askref.simplelists.com> <askref@askref.simplelists.com>
Subject: [askref] Reporting rude/obscene patrons on AaL

Does anyone know how to (or if we need to) report patrons using obscene language on Ask a Librarian?

Thank you,

Kelli Herm
Tallahassee Community College
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