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Lesson 9

IM, Transferring, and Co-browse

Here are a few advanced features that can come in handy, should the opportunity arise. The QuestionPoint service offers:

• Instant Messaging (IM)
  You can communicate privately with other librarians that are online during your shift. There are different reasons you may need to IM another librarian.  If you have been chatting with a patron and are unable to finish the chat because you have an appointment to go to, you could IM another librarian and ask if they are willing to finish the chat for you.  Another possibility is that you have picked up a patron from another library, and the patron has a question that could best be answered by a librarian from their local library.  If one of their local librarians is online, you could IM the librarian and ask if they are able to help the patron.
• Transferring
  Allows you to take a current patron and refer that patron to another librarian online. This can be useful when a librarian from the patron's library comes online and you feel they can better serve the patron. Others times, you may have to log off the service before you are done with a question, and you may need to transfer the chat to another available librarian.  Be sure to IM the other librarian BEFORE you transfer a patron to make sure the librarian is willing to take the patron.
• Co-Browse
  This is a very useful, but temperamental feature in the QuestionPoint service. It gives you the ability to share the content of your browser with the patron. It also allows both the librarian and patron to interact with the resources displayed in the shared browser. Unfortunately there are many variables that prevent this feature from working properly on both the librarian and patron's side. Make sure that the patron's profile shows "Co-Browse: Yes" before attempting to use this feature. Note: This feature only works when both sides are using the Internet Explorer browser.

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