AskAway Best Practices Call 5/19/11

1. Tripping Over Reference
The importance of link placement
(and other stuff)
Bill Pardue (bpardue@ahml.info)
PR for Virtual Reference—updated 5/19/2011

2. Placement is promotion!
 Press releases, handouts, ads, etc. tend to
create brief “spikes” in usage.
 Proper placement assures that people will find
the link to VR when and where they need it!
 (This doesn’t mean not to do handouts, ads,
etc.!)
Source: Elaina Norlin, “Creating a Purple Cow, VRD 2005.

3. Not just a “QuestionPoint thing”
 Promote multiple avenues for reference:
 Chat
 IM
 VOIP
 Twitter/FB
 Phone & in-person
 But today, we’re talking about AskAway/QP!

4. Looking at the statistics
 Looked at referrer page info from QP
 Three months: 458 Sessions
 139 sessions from home page & catalog
 319 came from everywhere else!
 70% of sessions originated from places other
than home page & catalog

5. December 2006 Stats (more detail)
 136 Total chat sessions
 Home Page: 48 referrals
 Websites/DBs page: 17
 Kids World: 17
 Catalog: 9
 Contact Us: 7
 38 sessions from other locations!

6. Placement tips
 Get your link:
 As part of the basic page template
 “Above the fold” (test it at 800x600)
 Use graphic and brief text
 AskAway branding essential, but make sure
patron understands what it is! E.G., “Ask a
Question Live Online” or “Get Live Online Help”

7. Current practices (a quick look)
 Looked at 20 libraries
 Home page link: 19 (why not 20?)
 Part of site “template”: 8
 Link via catalog: 0
 Placement (homepage):
 Low: 5 lower left; 1 lower right; 2 lower center
 High: 4 upper left; 5 upper right; 2 upper center
 1 Dead center

8. Think about your vendors
 Your catalog
 Your subscription databases
 FirstSearch, Gale, Ebsco, Proquest, Wilson, etc.
 Many support “branded” links, which can include
VR service. Contact your vendor for details.
 We’ve had relatively few sessions from these,
but why not catch what you can?

9. FirstSearch admin module
 Interface Display > Your Library Settings > Your Library

10. How it shows up:

11. Gale Group admin module
 Locations/Select your location (like GRC)/Customer Links

12. WorldCat Registry

13. WorldCat Registry (cont’d)

14. WorldCat Registry (cont’d)

15. How it shows up:

16. Do you maintain any other sites?
 E.G., Community information directories

17. Market it as local information
 “Ask a question about Arlington Heights” or “Live Help 24/7”
 Don’t necessarily play up the librarian angle as the main point!

18. Links on other community sites?
 Town/village site
 Chamber of Commerce
 Social service agencies
 Be ready to answer questions relevant to
these sites or to arrange referrals!
 There’s a political element to this.

19. Look for social sites/blogs!
 Not just your own blog
 Look for other sites where people might post
comments/questions—post answers and give
your URL!
 Follow tweets about your town to see if it’s
worth sending a link as a reply.
 “Local” version of “Slam the Boards?”

20. Think of anywhere else!
 E.G., In the signature of outgoing e-mails to patrons
 QR Codes: on business cards, posted around the library, book
inserts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZJFUVXcKIw
(Also, generate bit.ly address for your qwidget/chat form and then
go to that address followed by “qrcode. E.G.:
http://bit.ly/jTgK8E.qrcode)
 AHML: http://bit.ly/askahml
 Your library’s tweets and FB posts

21. We’re after the “long tail!”
 Most of these won’t contribute large numbers
 You’re doing this to increase referrals
incrementally.
 1 or 2 per month from multiple sources
begins to add up!

22. Checking your referrals:
Start at the My QuestionPoint page, click on
View Service History

23. Checking referrals, cont’d:
 Then Review Transcripts>Form Fields. Select month
and uncheck everything but “referrer”. Select “View
Excel file,” then “Submit.”

24. QP: Best Practices in Link Placement
 http://bit.ly/qplinks