Zawinski's Law: LibraryH3lp, now with 100% more email

<p>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski#Zawinski.27s_law_of_software_envelopment">See</a>.)<br /><br />I think Pam and Amy are all blogged-out, so it falls on me to tell you about our new email integration features.  No, we have not written yet another email reference tool, and let's hope it doesn't come to that.  Instead, we've made it easier to combine LibraryH3lp with your existing email service.<br /><br />First up, a quick note that these new features are on top of our existing email integration, <i>Tag for Followup</i>.  Tag for Followup is in the webchat client and lets operators send a transcript and explanatory note easily, without specifying a particular email address.  It transparently emails the operator involved in the chat, the owner of the queue, and the top-level admin, so that the referral can get handled.  [Edit: <a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2013/01/new-tag-for-followup-email-behavior.html"><i>Tag for Followup</i> has been improved</a> since this post was published.]  If the operator wants to target a specific email address, that's what <i>email transcript</i> is for. <br /><br />Over the years we've noticed that occasionally patrons will email questions to queues.  This is understandable given that XMPP Jabber IDs look like email addresses, and services like Google and Facebook encourage users to conflate the two.  We want these questions to get to you.  By default, queues are <i>opted out</i> of email forwarding.  To opt in, you need only define a forwarding email address for your queue in the admin site.  Then anything sent to the queue will be sent on to you.<br /><br />We've also noticed that patrons will all too often mistype their email address when sending themselves a transcript of their chat session.  Apparently "edu" is about as hard to type correctly as "the" ("edg" is a popular variation).  Who would have thought?  We want you to be able to catch these errors and fix them, without us storing any patron-identifying information.  Even though today's students prefer chat for communication, email still plays an important role in archival storage.<br /><br />To catch bounces, transcripts are now sent from the queue, using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_envelope_return_path">VERP</a>.  This way, bounces will go back to the queue and on to your forwarding address, with the patron's alleged email address clearly visible in the "from" line.  (The point of VERP is that there is no standard for bounces, and the patron may be using their own email forwarding service, so this is the only reliable way to determine where the message was intended to go.)  Oh, and emails will respect the "profile" argument, so bounces and replies can be directed to the most appropriate specialist.<br /><br />As a bonus, patrons can now directly reply to emailed transcripts in order to continue the conversation... which I guess means we'll be joining with Google and Facebook in encouraging users to confuse JIDs and email addresses.  This falls under the category of "if you can't beat 'em..."<br /><br />Because this is email, a few words about spam are in order.  Yes, patrons sometimes send email to queues.  Spammers <i>frequently</i> send email to queues, because they scrape the Jabber IDs out of your web pages.  If you use our new-style code, as produced by the service designer, this will not be an issue.  Either way, our server does spam and virus filtering on all email before forwarding it to you.  (But if the filtering is not sufficient, you can always opt back out of email forwarding.)<br /><br />Also, as desirable as it would be to email transcripts "from" your email address rather than "queue@chat.libraryh3lp.com", that's a recipe for getting flagged as spam and would cause problems with getting transcripts to patrons.  The flip side of that is bounces (failed attempts to deliver to patrons) may well get delivered to your spam folder, depending on the particulars of your email server.  (This is because sending fake bounce messages is a known spam technique, and that's what these emails look like, but safety and convenience have been at war with each other since networking was invented.)  In this case, we're choosing the patron's convenience over yours.<br /><br />Anyway, there you have it: LibraryH3lp, now with 100% more email.<br /><br /></p>

(See.)I think Pam and Amy are all blogged-out, so it falls on me to tell you about our new email integration features.  No, we have not written yet another email reference tool, and let's hope it doesn't come to that.  Instead, we've made it easier t…

Use the standards, Luke

<p>As part of our ALA 2012 series, we last discussed how <a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2012/06/you-dont-have-to-pay-more-for-more.html">the ability to create unlimited numbers of operator accounts in LibraryH3lp maximizes flexibility in a virtual reference service</a>. In this post, we're talking flexibility again, but in a different way. This time we're talking staffing <b>software </b>flexibility. That is, how you chat with patrons.<br /><br /><h3> Options = Flexibility</h3>The earliest prototype of LibraryH3lp (circa 2007) was a specialized version of the open source Pidgin client. Eric (our chief architect) wrote it to <a href="http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/107" target="_blank">overcome the technical problems inherent in offering a collaborative Meebo Me widget and IM chat service between UNC, Duke, and NCSU</a>. We learned pretty quickly that providing a single staffing interface was incredibly limiting. Then Eric made a pivotal technical decision that translated into ultimate staffing flexibility; Eric decided to use XMPP (a.k.a. Jabber) for LibraryH3lp.<br /><br />If you've ever used Meebo, imo, GTalk or Facebook chat, then you've already used XMPP. XMPP is an open protocol for instant messaging, not something that we made up ourselves. So there are <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/suitable-jabber-clients.html">lots of chat clients</a> out there that support it, providing you with many options for staffing your virtual reference service. You can use our software or someone else's. The choice is always yours.<br /><br /><b>Staff from your browser</b>. We have a nice, simple web-based chat client that tightly integrates with core LibraryH3lp features such as tag for follow-up, transfer, and blocking.  You can use most any browser (except Opera) with this chat client. Every computer comes with a web browser, so you are good to go. Nothing for you to download or install. Firefox and Chrome users can opt to get desktop notifications, which provides a visual cue, in addition to the audible cue available in all browsers, of incoming patron messages. <br /><br />If you already use another browser-based chat client like imo, Zoho chat, or Trillian web (RIP Meebo Messenger), you can opt to integrate your LibraryH3lp account there and skip our native web client.<br /><br /><b>Staff from your desktop or laptop</b>. Prefer to use a desktop IM client? You can staff LibraryH3lp from any chat client that supports XMPP. This includes Pidgin, Adium, Trillian, iChat, and many others. Staffing LibraryH3lp this way is pretty handy if you want to aggregate your LibraryH3lp account with your personal IM accounts. And desktop clients are super customizable and configurable.<br /><br />And, as we described in yesterday's post, having lots of your staff signed in with LibraryH3lp accounts means they can be available for transfers or direct IM even if they don't staff any public-facing chat widgets.  Aggregating your LibraryH3lp account into your existing IM client is a very easy way to achieve that.<br /><br /><b>Staff from your mobile device</b>. Got a smartphone or tablet? Put it to work for virtual reference! Roving librarians outfitted with something like in iPad or smart phone can staff LibraryH3lp with chat apps that support XMPP, like IM+ and OneTeam.<br /><br />Both IM+ and OneTeam offer robust and reliable push notifications so that you won't miss patron messages, even if you're in another app or have your device locked.<br /><br />Also, remember that you have internal IM available with LibraryH3lp, so if you're not actually staffing any public chat services from your mobile device, your colleagues can IM you when you're out and about.  It's a really handy way to stay in touch when you're away from the library.<br /><br /><b>A chat platform.</b>  When you combine LibraryH3lp's unlimited operator accounts with standards-based staffing options, you can start to see why we proudly call LibraryH3lp a platform. We provide all the bits and pieces, and you can use them to design a crazy-good virtual reference tuned to your library's needs.<br /><br /><b>The XMPP standard is powerful.  </b>Our special LibraryH3lp features like transfer, blocking, tag for followup, profile pages, etc, are all achievable through the XMPP standard and commands. Client support for extended features varies and will improve over time.  Our web client provides the simplest access to our fanciest features currently, placing them right in the conversation window. But most are also available through external clients.<br /><br /><b>But that's not the end of the story.</b>  There's even more goodness with XMPP above and beyond staffing flexibility. Since it is an open protocol, it is ready-made for integration into other things. That's a big part of the reason we're able to have gateways for other IM networks like AIM, Yahoo!, and MSN. And, this can go beyond just IM. But that's a story for another day.<br /><br />We invite you to <a href="http://libraryh3lp.com/">learn more about LibraryH3lp</a> and to give us a try with a <a href="https://libraryh3lp.com/registration/register">90-day no-risk free trial</a>. Trials have no feature limitations so you can put your trial into use on your live site with real patrons before making any decisions about payment.<br /><br />More to come in our ALA 2012 series! Get automatic updates of new blog posts via <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/libraryh3lp">RSS</a> and <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=libraryh3lp&loc=en_US">e-mail</a>.</p>

As part of our ALA 2012 series, we last discussed how the ability to create unlimited numbers of operator accounts in LibraryH3lp maximizes flexibility in a virtual reference service. In this post, we're talking flexibility again, but in a different …

You don't have to pay more for more operators

<p><br />Hi everyone!  Lots of people have asked us if we're going to be at ALA 2012. Alas, no.<br /><br />However, we thought that the next best thing would be to have a virtual ALA 2012 presence. And, since we are in the business of virtual (reference, that is), we thought a virtual presence would be particularly fitting. This post is one of a series we'll post during ALA 2012. Please check back daily for more. Or to simply your life, get updates via <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/libraryh3lp">RSS</a> or <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=libraryh3lp&loc=en_US">e-mail</a>.<br /><br />In this post, we'd like to talk a little bit about one of the biggest features that differentiates LibraryH3lp from the available free options as well as the paid alternatives for virtual reference.<br /><br /><h3> Unlimited concurrent operators</h3><div><br /></div>All of our subscriptions come with <i>unlimited</i> concurrent operators. This is a fairly unusual feature with virtual reference and chat, especially at our <a href="https://libraryh3lp.com/pricing">price point</a>. <br /><br />No question about it. For reasons of <a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2012/06/welcome-to-our-new-trials-and-big-thank.html">load and scaling</a>, an unlimited service is a much tougher technical nut to crack than a limited service. From the beginning though, our primary objective has been to provide a flexible chat platform at an affordable price. This is something in which we strongly believe, and we'd like to share with you why we think the concept of 'unlimited' is so crucial to virtual reference.<br /><br />When I (this is Pam) was at UNC during the very early (pre-Meebo) virtual reference years, we used a few different chat systems. All of them had per-operator pricing. Sometimes, this wound up slowing the growth and expansion potential of our service because it meant we could not always quickly change things around the way we wanted. Our staffing model was stuck based on the operator limitation. <br /><br />What if another campus library wanted to come on board? Or what if we needed to add on a few more operators during a suddenly-busy time of the year? Or what if we wanted to start staffing out of librarian offices instead of centrally from shared computers? If we wanted to add more operators, it would cost extra. That meant we had to get in touch with both our budget people and our vendor. And that took both time and funds. Often, our staffing changes couldn’t happen until much later, mostly because of things like fiscal year issues.<br /><br />A fair bit of tweaking can be required to develop a suitable staffing model for a virtual reference service, given the schedules and duties of everyone involved. Every library is different.  Inflexible staffing can lead to limited service hours, which can lead to low usage. Low service usage makes it harder to prove the value proposition.<br /><br />So, when we started building LibraryH3lp, we sought to design a chat platform, or infrastructure. We didn't want to impose any particular usage model but instead sought to provide a system that would give libraries the most flexibility possible for growth and experimentation.  This meant that the library should be able to create any number of operator accounts any time they wished, and that any or all of those operator accounts could be in use simultaneously.<br /><br /><h3> Chat is just another communication tool</h3><div><br /></div>Chat is a virtual visit from your patron. To make the most of this virtual visit, both you and your patron need a platform that makes communication as easy and reliable as possible.<br /><br />When you add unlimited operators into the mix, you open the door to interesting possibilities. For example, you can have staff who don't need a public-facing chat presence help out with your service. Maybe staff in your ILL, document delivery, or IT department would like to be available to take transfers of difficult or specialized questions. They can function as a sort of "tier 2" support level and only get questions that require their specific expertise as transfers, after the public service staff have done what they can to assist the patron.<br /><br />Often, a patron's entire question can be handled right there through chat even if it has to get passed to another department. No need to switch to phone or e-mail unless one of those will work better for the situation at hand. Keeping the entire experience in chat makes the library transparent and the patron experience seamless. When the patron started their chat with the library, they probably weren't concerned with which specific department they needed help from. Since recipients of transfers can see the prior conversation, they also won't have to re-explain their situation to multiple staff members. If it turns out that their question will require more time, it's easy to email their transcript to the right person for follow-up.<br /><br />And why just think of a chat as being between librarian and patron? In the course of a day, librarians talk with each other continuously to carry out the work of the library. With LibraryH3lp, you also gain a powerful enterprise IM system for internal communications because librarians can IM each other directly.<br /><br /><h3> More posts to come</h3><div><br /></div>We plan to regularly blog during ALA 2012 and we'll also be following the #ala12 discussions on Twitter via <a href="http://twitter.com/libraryh3lp" style="background-color: white;">@libraryh3lp</a>. In the meantime, we invite you to learn more about <a href="http://libraryh3lp.com/">LibraryH3lp</a> and to give us a try through our <a href="http://libraryh3lp.com/registration/register">90-day risk-free trial</a>. Trials have no feature limitations so you can put your trial into use on your live site with real patrons before making any decisions about payment.</p>

Hi everyone!  Lots of people have asked us if we're going to be at ALA 2012. Alas, no.However, we thought that the next best thing would be to have a virtual ALA 2012 presence. And, since we are in the business of virtual (reference, that is), we tho…

Welcome to our new trials! And a big 'thank you' to our existing customers.

<p>Welcome to LibraryH3lp, Meebo users!  And thanks, so much, to our current users for the wonderful recommendations.  We sincerely appreciate your enthusiastic support!<br /><br />We've had a huge influx of new trials since Meebo's announcement.  We're very excited to have the opportunity to show all our new users everything that LibraryH3lp has to offer!<br /><br />It's a very busy time for everyone involved with virtual reference.  A few people have asked us if our system is capable of handling a big influx of users. The answer is a resounding, "Yes!" <br /><br />LibraryH3lp has a history of fast growth, more than doubling in each of the last four years.  We are in great shape to handle increased load in a variety of different ways.  We've been building and scaling our system since we began. We currently provide the platform for the busy state-wide NCknows service.  And we're ready for a rapid period of growth.<br /><br />So, what sorts of loads do you find on any virtual reference system?<br /><br /><b>Operator logins.</b>  Our core Jabber/XMPP server is under light load currently.  We're confident enough in this that we continue to offer <i>unlimited</i> numbers of concurrent operator accounts to everyone.  You never have to pay extra for more operators.  Just create however many you need and build your service and staffing models the way you want to.<br /><br /><b>Presence.</b>  This is a big one for any chat service that dynamically shows your online/offline state.  Presence load can be significant once users begin placing chat in high-traffic areas, such as inside every page of a catalog at a busy library.  We're in good shape here, too.  And, our widget shows real-time presence in most browsers. We also offer a <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/presence-api.html">Presence API</a> that lets you do some very fancy things with chat on your website.<br /><br />In the last 24 hours, we processed about 33 million presence requests from over 300,000 unique IP addresses; a presence request happens each time someone loads a web page with a LibraryH3lp widget or presence badge.  Since it's summer right now, it's a safe bet that presence load was higher than this a couple of months ago when the Spring academic term was in full swing.<br /><br /><b>Widget loads.</b>  You can have as many widgets as you'd like across your website or websites. We use Amazon's CloudFront to distribute our widget and compressed JavaScript files; these components have been optimized over the years to get them as small and fast-loading as possible. <br /><br /><b>Chatting.</b>  Chatting is nice and snappy, with accurate typing notification on both ends of the conversation.  We offer <i>unlimited</i> chats on servers in the US, Canada, Europe, and Singapore to give our international community of users the best possible performance.  In the month of April, there were 63,483 chats answered on the US server alone.  That's a lot of patrons getting help!<br /><br />So <a href="https://libraryh3lp.com/registration/register">come on in</a>. The water is fine.  :)<br /><br />P.S.: Don't miss the resources in <a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2012/06/libraryh3lp-demo-and-overview-for-meebo.html">our last blog post</a>: our quick drop-in Meebo replacement guide and our overview video!</p>

Welcome to LibraryH3lp, Meebo users!  And thanks, so much, to our current users for the wonderful recommendations.  We sincerely appreciate your enthusiastic support!We've had a huge influx of new trials since Meebo's announcement.  We're very excite…

LibraryH3lp Demo and Overview for Meebo Users

<p>Since Meebo announced that it is <a href="http://www.meebo.com/support/article/175/">retiring numerous services</a>, including Meebo Messenger and Meebo Me widgets, as of July 11, we've received many inquiries about LibraryH3lp. To help introduce Meebo users to <a href="http://libraryh3lp.com/">LibraryH3lp</a>, we've put together a couple of things.<br /><br /><h4> Meebo Drop-In Replacement Doc</h4>For the time-pressed librarian, we have a new doc: <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/meebo-drop-in-replacement.html">Meebo Drop-In Replacement</a>.  No time to consider what you might do with your <b>unlimited </b>operator accounts or other new features right now?  This is the guide for you!<br /><br /><h4> Overview Video</h4>We also created the following 13 minute demo and overview to give those already familiar with Meebo a good idea of how many of LibraryH3lp's features work.<br /><br />Once you press play, you'll be able to view it full screen using the monitor icon at the bottom right-hand side of the video window. <span style="text-align: center;">Can't see the video below? </span><a href="http://www.screencast.com/t/zWivbejs2" style="text-align: center;">Click here instead</a><span style="text-align: center;">.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> <object data="http://content.screencast.com/users/psessoms/folders/LibraryH3lp%20Screencasts/media/23e135aa-f273-4729-993f-803b0ff1cd80/scplayer.swf" height="350" id="scPlayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450"><param name="movie" value="http://content.screencast.com/users/psessoms/folders/LibraryH3lp%20Screencasts/media/23e135aa-f273-4729-993f-803b0ff1cd80/scplayer.swf" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="flashVars" value="thumb=http://content.screencast.com/users/psessoms/folders/LibraryH3lp%20Screencasts/media/23e135aa-f273-4729-993f-803b0ff1cd80/FirstFrame.jpg&containerwidth=450&containerheight=350&autohide=true&autostart=false&loop=false&showendscreen=true&showsearch=false&showstartscreen=true&tocdoc=left&xmp=sc.xmp&content=http://content.screencast.com/users/psessoms/folders/LibraryH3lp%20Screencasts/media/23e135aa-f273-4729-993f-803b0ff1cd80/Meebo%20to%20Libraryh3lp%20Migration.mp4&blurover=false" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="scale" value="showall" /> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /> <param name="base" value="http://content.screencast.com/users/psessoms/folders/LibraryH3lp%20Screencasts/media/23e135aa-f273-4729-993f-803b0ff1cd80/" /> <iframe type="text/html" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="overflow:hidden;" src="http://www.screencast.com/users/psessoms/folders/LibraryH3lp%20Screencasts/media/23e135aa-f273-4729-993f-803b0ff1cd80/embed" height="350" width="450"></iframe></object></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Also, we've condensed the <a href="http://libraryh3lp.com/overview">key features of LibraryH3lp a one page PDF</a> that you can download.<br /><br />For those seeking a free replacement for Meebo, we have suggested <a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2012/06/meebo-migrations-alternatives-for.html">alternative options</a> as well.<br /><br />And, just another mention of our sister product, <a href="http://mycustomercloud.com/">My Customer Cloud</a>. It runs the same software as LibraryH3lp, with all the same features: unlimited operators, queues, widgets, and widget views. But instead of a flat-rate subscription, it has per-chat pricing and comes with a $20 free trial (100 free chats). This means it can be dirt cheap for libraries with low chat volume. The other difference is that with My Customer Cloud, your library pays with a credit card directly online. With LibraryH3lp, we can also send you invoices, take checks, and work with purchase orders. </div></p>

Since Meebo announced that it is retiring numerous services, including Meebo Messenger and Meebo Me widgets, as of July 11, we've received many inquiries about LibraryH3lp. To help introduce Meebo users to LibraryH3lp, we've put together a couple of …

Meebo Migrations: Alternatives for Libraries

<p><div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, 'ms pgothic', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">As librarians around the world are aware, Meebo has been acquired by Google and is <a href="http://www.meebo.com/support/article/175/">retiring numerous services</a>, including Meebo Messenger and Meebo Me widgets, as of July 11, 2012.  This is a huge moment for libraries; Meebo revolutionized virtual reference by doing away with an entry form altogether.  Many libraries saw their chat statistics go through the roof when they deployed Meebo Me widgets and began advertising buddy names on IM networks like AIM, MSN, and Google Talk.  Our hats are off to them!</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, 'ms pgothic', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px;">But sadly, many libraries now find themselves in a virtual reference vacuum. We've devoted the last several years to building -- and scaling -- LibraryH3lp to provide an unlimited, affordable chat platform for libraries.  </span><span style="margin: 0px;">While we certainly hope you'll consider trying out LibraryH3lp or its sister product My Customer Cloud as an alternative to Meebo Me widgets, there are many possible paths forward depending on your specific situation.</span></div><h4 style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px 7px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> I need something free, as close to Meebo as possible</h4><div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, 'ms pgothic', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">Free alternatives are still possible, especially if you do not need multiple staff accounts. If you have been using Meebo Me for widgets, Meebo Messenger for staffing your service, and have advertised screen names on other IM networks like AIM and Google Talk, take a look at <a href="https://imo.im/" style="background-color: transparent;">imo</a> or <a href="http://www.trillian.im/" style="background-color: transparent;">Trillian</a> web.  [Update: <a href="https://chat.zoho.com/" target="_blank">Zoho chat</a> is shaping up to be a really nice free alternative and includes its own embeddable widget.]</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, 'ms pgothic', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">With both imo and Trillian, you aggregate multiple public IM screen names into one librarian-side login in a web messenger client. If you add on something like a Wimzi widget (AIM), you'll have something very close to what you had with Meebo, with IM screen names on a variety of networks, and widgets to put on your web pages.  Both also have messenger clients for staffing from other platforms.  Test any mobile apps you want to use very carefully for push notification functionality, which can be very finicky.<br /><br />If you don't need your messenger client to be web-based, you can also certainly use multi-protocol desktop clients like Pidgin (PC, Linux) or Adium (Mac) to bring together accounts across IM networks. <br /><br />Just be aware that having more than one person bring these accounts online simultaneously may cause confusion, or disconnects, depending on the specific IM protocol.</div><h4 style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px 7px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> I'd prefer software that supports multiple operators</h4><div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, 'ms pgothic', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">There are lots and lots of other options out there nowadays if you need an alternative system that routes chats to multiple librarians. However, m</span><span style="font-size: 13px;">ost products with true multi-operator chat routing won't be free.  </span><span style="font-size: 13px;">We've compiled three time-saving tips that you can use when you compare multi-operator systems.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, 'ms pgothic', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="margin: 0px;">Look for a robust routing model</b>. A multi-operator system should be robust enough to handle scenarios like this one:</div><ol style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, 'ms pgothic', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 10px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 20px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Persons A and B are staffing the service.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Person A accepts an incoming chat.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The patron falls idle for a minute or two.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Person A logs out.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The patron sends a new message.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Person B should get the patron's chat. If not, that is a serious routing problem because this scenario <b style="margin: 0px;">will </b>occur with some frequency.</li></ol><div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, 'ms pgothic', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="margin: 0px;">Pretend you are a patron</b>. See what happens when patrons internally navigate your site and when they follow links <b style="margin: 0px;">off of </b>your site (say, from your library page into an Ebsco database). Embedded-style widgets have issues with patrons clicking links on the larger web page. So it is nice if embedded widgets have a way for the patron to detach the chat from the rest of the page.  With floating-style widgets, it is also important to see what happens if you try to lead your patron away from your own domain. Librarians in particular will often be leading our patrons off of our own sites because of the nature of our work.</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, 'ms pgothic', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="margin: 0px;">Know how many simultaneous widget views you are allowed.</b> Some systems only allow a finite number of patrons to <b style="margin: 0px;">view</b> your widget simultaneously; this is in addition to limits on number of active simultaneous chats or librarian logins. Most libraries have lots of simultaneous viewers on their sites, and it's important to know if your widget will show up for all of them or if there is a cap.<br /><br />In sum, please be sure to test your chosen solution thoroughly.  Providing robust, multi-operator chat at web scale isn't a trivial problem.  Nearly all systems will provide a free trial of varying length, and you should take full advantage of that.  And, if you decide to go with another free solution at this time, that is still a good decision.  In the happy event that your traffic causes your service to outgrow that system in the future, there are certainly affordable migration paths available for you.</div><h4 style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px 7px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> Please consider LibraryH3lp</h4><div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, 'ms pgothic', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 15px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://libraryh3lp.com/">LibraryH3lp</a> offers an</span><span style="font-size: 13px;"> </span>affordable flat fee<span style="font-size: 13px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13px;">for unlimited chats, operators, and widgets, and widget views</span>. You also get integrated IM networks and SMS, lengthy free trials, quality assurance and reporting capabilities, downloadable transcripts, and more.<br /><br />In order to guide you through the process of switching from Meebo, we've compiled a <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/meebo-migration.html">detailed Meebo Migration Guide</a>.<span style="font-size: 13px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13px;">With LibraryH3lp, this guide will help ensure a smooth transition for your staff and patrons.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Edit 2015-08-12: Removed reference to My Customer Cloud.</span></div></p>

As librarians around the world are aware, Meebo has been acquired by Google and is retiring numerous services, including Meebo Messenger and Meebo Me widgets, as of July 11, 2012.  This is a huge moment for libraries; Meebo revolutionized virtual ref…