You may be surprised at what you can do with an API

<p><div class="p1">We enjoyed meeting many librarians at <a href="http://2016.code4lib.org/index.html" target="_blank">Code4Lib last week</a>! While LibraryH3lp of course has oodles of standard features available through our graphical management interfaces, we wanted to take a moment to open up the hood and illustrate some of the things we can offer to those interested in diving a bit deeper.<br /><span class="s1"><br /></span><span class="s1">The <a href="https://dev.libraryh3lp.com/rest-api.html" target="_blank">LibraryH3lp REST API</a> provides programmatic access to resources (like users, queues, chat box skins, code snippets, FAQs) included with your subscription or trial and makes it</span> easy to write and test custom scripts to manage your account. <br /><br />You can use your browser to access URLs and make use of pretty much any HTTP client in any programming language.  If you happen to dig Python, we have a ready-made <a href="https://github.com/libraryh3lp/libraryh3lp-sdk-python" target="_blank">SDK available under @libraryh3lp on GitHub</a>.<br /><br /></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">But when there’s so much flexibility, sometimes it is hard to know where to start!  Here are some ideas to get you started…</span><br /><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p2"><h3><span class="s1">Account Management</span></h3></div><ul><li class="li3"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1">Create a new user, automatically adding her to queues, conference rooms, canned message pools, and buddying her with colleagues. </span></li><li class="li3"><span class="s3"></span><span class="s1">Perform a search/replace operation across FAQs.</span></li><li class="li3"><span class="s3"></span><span class="s1">Bulk import questions and answers into a FAQ.</span></li><li class="li3"><span class="s1">Edit questions or templates in the console. Because consoles rock.</span></li></ul><div class="p4"><span class="s1"><b></b></span><br /></div><div class="p2"><h3><span class="s1">Chat</span></h3></div><ul><li>Display staff chat status as an in/out board. </li><li>Count the number of active chats and the number of operators currently staffing chat.</li><li>Receive reports when too few operators are staffing.</li><li>See if chat is online and, if not, why not. </li><li>Somebody forgot to log out.  Opt that operator out of staffing so guests don't think you're available.</li><li>Update staffing assignments on a schedule.</li><li>Create a chat bot to answer basic guest questions.</li></ul><div><br /></div><div class="p2"><h3><span class="s1">Metadata/Statistics</span></h3></div><ul><li class="li3"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1"><b> </b>Forward all of yesterday's chats to your inbox.</span></li><li class="li3"><span class="s3"></span><span class="s1"> Get a summary of last week's activity. </span></li><li class="li3"><span class="s3"></span><span class="s1"> Delete last month’s transcripts. </span></li><li class="li3"><span class="s3"></span><span class="s1"> Download chat transcripts for import into Excel.</span></li><li class="li3"><span class="s3"></span><span class="s1"> Download a record of FAQ views and searches.</span></li></ul><div class="p5"><span class="s1"></span><br /></div><div class="p2"><h3><span class="s1">3mail</span></h3></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"> </span></div><ul><li class="li3"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1"><b> </b>Poll 3mail for new messages and send notifications via chat or email.</span></li></ul><div><div class="p1"></div></div></p>

We enjoyed meeting many librarians at Code4Lib last week! While LibraryH3lp of course has oodles of standard features available through our graphical management interfaces, we wanted to take a moment to open up the hood and illustrate some of the thi…

Ask a Librarian Mobile App now in Amazon Appstore

<p>The <a href="http://askalibrarian.ninja/" target="_blank">Ask a Librarian mobile app</a> is now available through the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B2347GG/ref=mas_pm_Ask_a_Librarian" target="_blank">Amazon Appstore for Android</a>, making it available to patrons with Kindle Fire devices and devices running Android 4.0 and up.  As with the Google Play store and iTunes App store, the Ask a Librarian mobile app is completely free -- with no advertising of any sort nor in-app purchases.<br /><br />If you are just hearing about the Ask a Librarian mobile app, let's get you up to date!  The app helps patrons find libraries by location or name.  The app also remembers previously visited or favorite libraries so patrons can quickly pick up where they left off.  Patrons have easy access all available virtual references services like chat, texting, phone, email, and FAQs. <i style="font-weight: bold;">All libraries and library consortia are invited to participate for free!</i>  That's right.  Any library.  No charge.  No fine print.<br /><br /><h3>How can I download the app to my mobile device?</h3><div><br /></div><ul><li><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ask-a-librarian/id1035632488" target="_blank">iTunes App Store (requires iOS 6.0 or later)</a></li><li><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ninja.askalibrarian.AskALibrarian" target="_blank">Google Play App Store (requires Android 4.0 and up)</a></li><li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B2347GG/ref=mas_pm_Ask_a_Librarian">Amazon Appstore for Android (requires Android 4.0 and up)</a></li></ul><br /><h3>My library isn't listed in the app.  How do we get started?</h3><br /><a href="mailto:nubgames@gmail.com">Email us</a> and we'll set you up with a default, unpublished listing.  Each library listing lets you list any available virtual reference services. These services may include real-time chat with librarians, text a librarian, phone a librarian, email a librarian, and frequently asked questions. Libraries can also include a customized avatar, a website link and additional free-form information such as operating hours.<br /><br /></p>

The Ask a Librarian mobile app is now available through the Amazon Appstore for Android, making it available to patrons with Kindle Fire devices and devices running Android 4.0 and up.  As with the Google Play store and iTunes App store, the Ask a Li…