Library Student Supervisors Guide: LibChat

There are two ways to sign into LibChat:

1. Follow this direct link to the main dashboard: https://wpi.libanswers.com/admin/dashboard
2. Go to LibApps Home and navigate the top menu to LibAnswers > LibChat (top bar) > Connect

When a user starts a chat, you'll receive a sound notification and a desktop pop-up. To start chatting with the user, you must first click "claim chat". 

If the chat has already been claimed, this button will not appear. Instead, you'll see the name of the staff member chatting with that patron.

1. Enter your reply in the text box. Always remember to start with a greeting (like Hello!). 
2. When done composing your reply click the "Send Message" button or press Enter to send the reply. 

Canned Messages

Canned messages are pre-written responses or chunks of text that you can insert into your chat responses to save you time when answering frequently asked questions. To add a canned message: 

1. Press the Canned Message button located above the response box. 
2. Enter keywords to search the bank of canned messages. 
3. Select the canned message that best fits your needs. Clicking on the message will enter the text into your reply box. The text can then be edited as needed. 

If you did not find a canned response that fits your needs and you think the topic should be added to our response banks, please include this in your supervisor report. 

FAQs

For commonly asked questions, you may be able to quickly pull an answer from our exiting FAQs. To search our FAQ database within LibChat: 

1. Click the FAQs tab
2. In the Search FAQs window, enter your keywords in the Search Terms(s) field. Relevant results will display in real time as you add your terms.
3. Click on an FAQ to view it in the box below
4. You can copy text or the direct link to the FAQ and insert it into the chat response.
    

If you need to transfer a chat to another person (staff or supervisor) you can do so by: 

1. Clicking on the people icon in the top right corner. 
2. Click on the operator whom you ant to transfer the chat. 
   • The operator or department will be notified of the transfer.
   • The chat window will indicate once the transfer has been accepted.

At that point, you can remain in the chat if you'd like to have a group chat with the user. Or, you can leave the chat (this will not end the chat, since you are no longer the owner).

If you need help with a chat and staff are not available to talk in-person, you can send an internal message by clicking on the persons name in the operators menu on the left. 

1. To end a chat from the dashboard, click on the End Chat button at the top of the chat pane.
2. Record the chat data by clicking "Add to Reference Analytics."
3. The question and answer will auto-populate. Complete the 3 questions and click "Save."
   1. Length (How long did it take?)
   2. Question Type (What was asked?)
   3. Was the Question Referred to Another Department?
4. Click "Close Chat" in the top right.