Thursday, December 06, 2007

Chatbox Libraries of the University of Groningen

The Libraries of the University of Groningen offer as trial a Chatbox on their webpage: http://www.rug.nl/bibliotheek/vragen/chatten Use of this chatbox is not limited from only this page, because a simple Cut-andPaste action can get you the Chatbox everywhere you want:
  • even you own personal Netvibes startpage...
  • or add it as a floating window to your Toolbar
  • paste it into a Nestor (Blackboard) page
  • add debibliothecaris@rug.nl to your MSN contacts list, and see immediately when the Librarian is online
The big difference with just putting static links to the library-webpages all over is that, in the case of the meebo-chatbox, the reference librarian in charge can see immediately when a user opens a page with the chatbox. And in theory the librarian COULD actually pro-active START the chat.....
Vraag het de Bibliothecaris ... Ask your Librarian!
<div> <h2>Vraag het de Bibliothecaris ... <em>Ask your Librarian! </em> </h2> <hr> <p>De Bibliothecaris is elke werkdag online van 14.00 - 16.00 uur.<br> <em>Your Librarian is online on work days from 2 - 4 pm. </em> </p> <p>NB: als de Bibliothecaris niet reageert, stuur dan een offline bericht in het chatvenster of stuur een email naar: bibliotheek@rug.nl - Vermeld daarbij s.v.p. je <strong>naam en lenerspas nummer</strong>.<br> <em>Please note: if your Librarian is not responding, leave a message in the chatbox or mail </em> <em>to:  </em> <em>bibliotheek@rug.nl </em> <em> - Please include your <strong>name and Library Card number</strong> in your message. </em> </p> </div>

Vraag het de Bibliothecaris ... Ask your Librarian!


De Bibliothecaris is elke werkdag online van 14.00 - 16.00 uur. Your Librarian is online on work days from 2 - 4 pm.

NB: als de Bibliothecaris niet reageert, stuur dan een offline bericht in het chatvenster of stuur een email naar: bibliotheek@rug.nl - Vermeld daarbij s.v.p. je naam en lenerspas nummer. Please note: if your Librarian is not responding, leave a message in the chatbox or mail to: bibliotheek@rug.nl - Please include your name and Library Card number in your message.

2 comments:

Rob Coers said...

Hey Guus, I bet you've seen David Lee King's post on the use of Meebo in your web opac. I think this is one of the coolest applications of MeeboMe:
http://www.davidleeking.com/2007/11/30/fun-with-our-meebo-widget-and-the-library-catalog/

Something for you to work on?

digicmb said...

No Rob, I did not. To connect extra communication options directly to specific user behaviour is a powerfull channel,but it should be developed with care. Not everybody likes those pop-ups. You should offer an on/off option. It should not be available only as a pop-up, but also in other formats, maybe a suggestion sidebar, like Mahalo.
Unfortunately, not all browsers ánd websites allow implementation of these tools...