Safety Guidelines for Chat Reference Service
Chat sessions may be stopped immediately and the user may be blocked for any of the following reasons:
- inappropriate or rude language
- harassment of any kind
- threats of any kind
- repeated questions that are off-topic and/or beyond the scope of our chat reference services
Should you find it necessary to terminate a chat and block a user, please follow the following process:
1. Provided the patron has not issued a threat:
- Attempt to reframe the conversation:
- Can I help you with a research or library-related question?
- If that is unsuccessful, respond to the patron's inappropriate chat as follows:
- This is not an appropriate use of our chat service. I am ending this chat.
- End the chat
- Should the patron respond again, you can block them for 24 hours. To block a patron:
- Click on the button to the far right - it looks like this:
- Go to the chat history and open the offensive chat. Click on the email icon and email the chat to amather@luc.edu and copy cud-ref@luc.edu:
2. If the patron has issued a threat:
- Immediately contact a librarian in the Research and Learning Services office. That librarian will:
- Contact Campus Security at 773-508-7233
- Email lib-admin@groups.luc.edu and copy lib-PSHeads@groups.luc.edu with the transcript of the threat and the time that Campus Security was contacted as well as any relevant details of the conversation (which officer you spoke to, any follow-up instructions that officer provided, etc.)
General Best Practices
The Loyola University Libraries' chat reference service offers assistance for academic research questions including:
- How to find and use the Libraries' online catalog
- How to find and use the Libraries' subscription databases
- General information about the Loyola University Libraries and our collections, policies, and services.
Since the Loyola University research community is our priority audience, we also offer the following services:
- Assistance with locating information on other campus locations, programs, and services
- Referrals to other Loyola libraries, including the Loyola University Health Sciences Library, Loyola University Law Library, and Rome Center Library
- Referrals to the University Archives and Special Collections and the Women and Leadership Archives
- Referrals to other Loyola services, including Digital Media Services, Information Technology Services, the Tutoring Center, the Wellness Center, the Writing Center, etc.
The main goals for the Ask a Librarian chat are reliability, responsiveness, empathy, and tangibles.
- Guidelines for chat speak:
- Casual is okay! We want to come across as human. Feel free to use contractions, shorter sentences, exclamation points etc. but still use good grammar and spelling.
- Be friendly and helpful. Multiple studies done on reference services have shown patrons come away from an interaction thinking it is a successful one if the librarian is friendly and patient, even if they don't get the right answer or the answer they want.
- Explain any abbreviations, like "interlibrary loan (ILL)."
- Try not to answer in the negative - instead of "we don't have that book" you could say "I couldn't find that book available in our catalog, but I can show you how to request it through interlibrary loan."
- Break up information into separate messages.
- Try and respond to user's time restraints (in that moment and for research deadlines) and offer follow-ups or referrals if it is a lengthy question.
- Remember that the chat service is provided to support academic research support in disciplines supported by the Loyola University Libraries' collections. We prioritize questions from the Loyola research community, then questions related to Loyola University Libraries' collections and services, then general information inquiries.
- Should you receive requests for research assistance from researchers who are not part of the Loyola University community, on topics that are not related our our collections and services, you are welcome to direct researchers to other library services, including Chicago Public Library's remote reference service.
- If someone is making you uncomfortable, you can inform the user that the behavior is inappropriate and terminate the chat if the behavior continues. Please let a librarian know if you have an uncomfortable experience with a patron on chat. See the Safety Guidelines on this page for additional information on inappropriate chats and blocking users.
Beginning the Interaction
The most important aspect of the chat is to be human. Stay positive and friendly from the start. Here are some possible starters:
- Hello! Thank you for using the Ask a Librarian chat service.
- Hi there! Thank you for your question.
- Hello! My name is X, and I would be happy to help you today.
It's important to provide updates on the steps you're taking and not to keep the user waiting for too long. If you cannot give them an answer right away, you can thank them and tell them the answer is going to take a little time or someone will be able to answer their question shortly.
During the Interaction
Getting clarification is an important part of the reference interview and can make the user feel heard. It can also help you with your search. You should rephrase or summarize their question rather than asking them to. Example:
- Just to clarify, you're looking for X, not Y or Z?
When researching, find out what they have already tried and encourage them to contribute their own ideas and suggestions.
It can also be helpful to narrate what you are doing so that next time, they will be able to do the process themselves. Check their progress throughout when you do so and make sure all the links are working for them. Example:
- I'm searching in X database for Y article.
- Tell me when you're there.
If a researcher has a complex question or a question that it would take more than 5-10 minutes to answer, refer them to a subject specialist or to our email reference service. See this page for more information on referrals.
Ending the Interaction
Avoid abrupt goodbyes.
Always give the user the opportunity to ask more questions.
Thank them for using the chat, extend an invitation to use the service again and tell them to have a good day/night. Example:
- Thank you for using the chat reference service! Feel free to chat again if you need more help. Have a good day!