Library H3lp: Building a Next Generation VR System

Reference RenaissanceTuesday, August 5

Pam SessomsUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Eric SessomsNub Games

Josh BoyerNorth Carolina State University

Amy VanScoyNorth Carolina State University

Jean FergusonDuke University

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill27,000 students

North Carolina State University30,000 students

Duke University12,000

How we collaborate

UNC-Chapel Hill Web Chat and IM Traffic

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2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Year

Web chat

IM

Total

Widget Effect

Tools for collaboration

• Commercial Virtual Reference software • Call Center software• IM• Meebo• Library H3lp

What is LibraryH3lp

• Jabber server with IM gateways• Provides flexible routing to multiple librarians• Integrates IM with web chat for easier staffing

– Can route Meebo Me traffic too

• Has its own widget developed for libraries• Provides transfers• Allows IM between librarians• Platform for flexibility and experimentation

LibraryH3lpJabber Server with IM Gateways

AIMLibraryH3lp

Widgets Yahoo! MSN MeeboMe

Circ

Science

LiteratureRef

RefWorks

HealthSci

EndnoteLaw

Night Owl

Duke

AIMPatron

MSNPatron

Yahoo!Patron

Operator

WidgetPatron

NCSU UNC

Widget

• Links clickable

• Works with screen readers

• Javascript, Flash not required– Alert noise for patron optional, Flash sound used

• Patron controls

• Can run embedded– Patron has “pop out” option

• Can easily be made to pop-up

Pidgin (librarian client)

Anatomy of an Incoming Chat (or IM)Patron’s initial message

Patron’s queue

Chat management : transfer, e-mail transcript, send file…

FeaturesURLs are links, not just text

Features

Useful system messages sent to staff

FeaturesUseful system messages sent to staff

Features

Useful system messages sent to staff

Typing notification

Features

Transfers!

This should blow your mind!

Features

Transfer examples

At NC State:• Ref• Natural Resources Library• Veterinary Medicine Library (soon)• Circ-reserves (soon)•  ILL (soon)

Why Transfer Chats

• Patron’s Perception • Librarians’ Perception

LibraryRef Circ

Systems Tech Serv

Transfers in practice

• UNC’s Davis Reference and Circulation– Reference transfers 10-15% to Circ

• Davis Reference general “ask a” service– Transfers to experts when off-desk (in office)

• Several campus libraries transferring now or will begin soon.– Health Sciences Library– Undergraduate Library– Davis Library– More to come…

• Search TRLN Union Catalog– Transfers coming soon in LibraryH3lp.– This summer, Davis Reference transferred to Duke and NCSU as

needed using predecessor system.

Why transfer?

Incoming transfer (with Pidgin plugin)

Patrons’ view of transferred chat

Intro to LibraryH3lp: Admin Account

Introduction to LibraryH3lp: Operators

• Librarian Operators– Answer chats and IMs with Jabber client– Can belong to zero, one, or more queues

• Zero queues? Can still receive transers.

– First to respond to patron will “win” chat.– Others are notified of who took the chat.

Introduction to LibraryH3lp: Queues

• Queues– URLs for incoming patrons– Widget: Customized for a purpose– Gateways for IM patrons

Introduction to LibraryH3lp: Gateways

UNC-CH RefWorks Queue

UNC-CH RefWorks Queue

Presence (online/offline)

Presence Using Popup

Presence: Service Rollover

Admin Interface: Reports and Transcripts

Admin Interface: Transcript Management

Widget Configurator: Save and Share Skins

Servinator: Design Service Levels

Technical overview

Single LibraryH3lp Server

Moving forward: the cloud

Open Source Components

Open source contributions• Widget

• Port of ErlyComet to ErlyWeb

• Plugin

• Patches to Ejabberd

• Patches to Yaws

• Patches to pyTransports

• Significant work on j2j

• Libpurple multi-protocol gateway

• Scheme-interface

http://libraryh3lp.com