Updated Pidgin Plugin

<p>We just uploaded an updated version of our plugin for the Windows Pidgin client. You can find it in the <a href="http://code.google.com/p/libraryh3lp/downloads/list">Downloads</a> section of the wiki. This version corrects an issue with the first release of the plugin where Pidgin crashes when the patron sends an empty line before a librarian has responded to a new, incoming the chat. The <a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2008/05/plugin-for-pidgin.html">original plugin features</a> are unchanged at this time, but in a month or so, we'll be releasing some new features in another version of this plugin.<br /><br />This might be a good place to mention one of the design goals we had when providing customized client features. Plugins are relatively easy to install and update on large numbers of computers; systems administrators can do things like push them out using a batch file called during a login script, even if they don't have fancy software deployment tools at their disposal. This is a lot easier than fully installing a complete client across goodness-knows-how-many-computers, each time features are updated. So, one of our goals was to limit customization of locally-installed clients to plugins if at all possible.<br /><br />Eric is working hard on a fully web-based client for librarians. We hope to release that in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!</p>

We just uploaded an updated version of our plugin for the Windows Pidgin client. You can find it in the Downloads section of the wiki. Th...

A Reference Renaissance: panel discussion slides

<p>We were part of a panel with our colleagues Josh Boyer (NCSU), Jean Ferguson (Duke), and Amy VanScoy (NCSU) at <a href="http://www.bcr.org/referencerenaissance/">A Reference Renaissance</a> in Denver earlier this month. The panel was titled "LibraryH3lp: Building a Next Generation VR System," and it was really the first comprehensive overview of LibraryH3lp, describing how a night-time chat and IM collaboration between Duke, NCSU, and UNC-Chapel Hill really drove the development of the system.<br /><br />We had a great time at the conference and really enjoyed meeting some people we had only e-mailed or chatted with previously. Our powerpoint slides are now available in the <a href="http://code.google.com/p/libraryh3lp/downloads/list">Downloads</a> section of the wiki, and <a href="http://libraryh3lp.googlecode.com/files/Ref_Renaissance_presentation_Aug_5_2008.ppt">here is a direct link</a> to the slides (7.2 MB).</p>

We were part of a panel with our colleagues Josh Boyer (NCSU), Jean Ferguson (Duke), and Amy VanScoy (NCSU) at A Reference Renaissance in D...

Reminder: Planned Downtime Sunday August 17th

<p>Between the hours of 8 and 10 AM, EDT. There should be only a brief period of unavailability within that window.</p>

Between the hours of 8 and 10 AM, EDT. There should be only a brief period of unavailability within that window.

New and Improved Call History

<p>If you've been in the admin interface lately, you might have noticed we have a new beta call history area. I think it's very cool. If you have more than one queue, you can look at your queues individually or all together. You can look at all the chats and IMs on your queues for a specific day or a date range; you can see things like how long it took each chat to get answered, the duration of each chat, and the operator that took a chat. You can sort by columns. You can bulk download transcripts. You can delete transcripts and entire call histories. You can save your call history to a csv file so you can play with it in Excel. <br /><br />The system identifies chats that went unanswered; often these are the patron coming back to say "thanks, bye" after the operator has closed their window. But sometimes they are actual missed chats, and it's great to be able to locate these easily to identify problems with a staffing model or little tech glitches. <br /><br />You can also read what those pesky IM system messages say and easily select them for deletion. Another thing Eric added in on my whim because it was fairly easy: you can hover over a guestID and see the detailed transcript rather than having to click into each one to read the transcript.<br /><br />It's all terribly exciting for those of us who have to prepare statistics for reports!<br /><br />If you have transcripts enabled, you'll see a link on your queue pages. You can also go directly to: <a href="https://libraryh3lp.com/calls">https://libraryh3lp.com/calls</a>, login with your admin account, and play with the new toy. <br /><br />Enjoy!</p>

If you've been in the admin interface lately, you might have noticed we have a new beta call history area. I think it's very cool. ...

Help from our friends: new handout

<p>I've loved meeting several wonderful new library colleagues while working on LibraryH3lp. Often, it starts with a quick chat, and this was the case when I first "met" Amanda Clay Powers earlier this week. She was preparing to present a whole bunch of talks at the <a href="http://mlctechfair2008.blogspot.com/">Mississippi Library Commission Tech Fair</a> and also wanted to have a handout about LibraryH3lp to include in a display about new ideas from ALA. Well, creating that kind of thing had never even occurred to me, and amazingly, that same day, she put together a wonderful one-page handout for the display and generously said it was OK to make it available here. <br /><br />So, I just uploaded it into the wiki in the <a href="http://code.google.com/p/libraryh3lp/downloads/list">downloads</a> section, and <a href="http://libraryh3lp.googlecode.com/files/handout-ver1.pdf">here you go</a>. Thanks, Amanda! You rock.<br /><br />While I'm talking about great colleagues, I'd also like to soundly thank all of you that have mentioned LibraryH3lp to other librarians and especially those who have been patiently answering e-mails from other librarians asking about the system (Ellen!). We've always wanted to have a good community support base, and you all are fulfilling that wish in spades.<br /><br />In other news, Eric's been working hard on improving the admin interface, and we hope to release the first upgrade, which offers better call history/transcript manipulation, very soon.</p>

I've loved meeting several wonderful new library colleagues while working on LibraryH3lp. Often, it starts with a quick chat, and this ...

Localization available: customize widgets for other languages

<p><p>We now have the ability to provide the chat widget in the language specified in the patron's web browser. However, we need your help to get the appropriate translations in place. Currently, Czech is available. A partial French localization is also in place, so if you're fluent in French, we still need more help on that one.<br /></p><p>The translations needed are for the short phrases present in the widget. A list and the e-mail address to send them to can be <a href="http://code.google.com/p/libraryh3lp/wiki/Localization_and_Internationalization">found on the wiki</a>.<br /></p><p>HUGE thanks to those who have already provided us with our first translations!</p></p>

We now have the ability to provide the chat widget in the language specified in the patron's web browser. However, we need your help to...

Meebo Me Gateway

<p>Eric's been busy buffing up the gateways lately, and a Meebo Me gateway is the first visible result. This means that you can have multiple librarians monitoring your Meebo Me widget simultaneously. This gateway works just like the other gateways for AIM, Yahoo!, etc...., and Meebo Me chats can be transferred just like any other LibraryH3lp chat.<br /><br />Gateway primer: using your admin login, add the gateway to one of your queues, assign at least one librarian operator to the queue, and you're good to go. Your Meebo Me widget will come online when its queue is online, and your queue will be online when there is at least one operator for the queue online. If more than one operator is online for the queue, they'll all get the patron's first message, but only the first to send a reply will get connected to the patron. The other operators will see who nabbed the chat and will get disconnected from the patron.<br /><br />Note: if a queue was online when you added a gateway, you need to toggle the online/offline status of the queue in order for the new gateway to come online for the first time. The queue must go offline very briefly and then come back online. An easy way to accomplish this from the admin interface is to remove a queue's operators and then add them back.<br /><br />Have fun!</p>

Eric's been busy buffing up the gateways lately, and a Meebo Me gateway is the first visible result. This means that you can have multi...