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Tick Tock, Time is Running Out! Submit your SpringyCamp Proposal Today
We’re seeking SpringyCamp proposals and there are only two days left to get your submission in!
What is SpringyCamp, you’re probably asking yourself! SpringyCamp is Springshare’s bi-annual virtual conference where you can learn how colleagues from around the world are using Springshare tools. Springshare4Everyone is this year’s conference theme and we’re looking for submissions on how you’re using Springshare products – easy peasy!
Submit your proposal by March 10th.
LibAnswers: SMS, Notes, and Keyword update now Live!
We have a belated Valentine’s Day present heading your way (we didn’t forget, we promise!) in the form of a LibAnswers update! Read on to learn about all the new features.
Notes Makeover
Notes associated with individual questions got an upgrade:
- Multiple Notes - Add multiple notes to questions to track the internal history of a question. Notes are now Rich-Text optimized, so feel free to add links, lists, and even tag questions for later follow-up as a searchable way to retrieve past questions.
- Share Notes outside LibAnswers - Ever felt the need to consult on an answer with someone outside of your LibAnswers system? You can now email new notes to users outside your system – and best of all, replies to your notes are automatically added as a new note on that question.
SMS Threading & Updates
We’re making it easier to keep track of discrete SMS interactions with:
- Better “Previous Messages” Views - We’ve improved the info on the ‘View Previous Messages’ link so you’ll get a more complete picture of the full SMS conversation.
- Edit SMS Transaction & Threads - By default, the system defines an SMS “thread” as all questions & replies from one user in a 24 hour period. If new replies are part of an older original thread, move the new conversation to the old thread.
- SMS Notifications to multiple numbers - We’ve added more notification options to let you know when new questions come in to your system. Head to Admin Stuff > System Settings > SMS Notification Number and add multiple numbers separated with a space.
Secure / HTTPS module
We now offer HTTPS support in LibAnswers – both for full sites, and for widgets and APIs.
- If you’re loading LibAnswers content or embedding LibAnswers widgets into a separate https site (Blackboard / Moodle / Desire2Learn / etc…), our new HTTPS support will avoid those pesky ‘unsecured content’ error messages. Email us at support@springshare.com to set it up!
- New API Security Features - We’re adding new options for security-conscious sites to help keep API data secure. You can:
- Turn off the API entirely
- Add IP restrictions so only certain users can generate API calls
- Force API calls to load over HTTPS
Please note – HTTPS support is currently available for sites on a *.libanswers.com domain. We’re still investigating HTTPS support for sites with custom domains.
Keyword Overhaul
Admins, head to Admin Stuff > Metadata > Keywords Tab to see these new features:
- Keyword Admin Screen - View all the keywords in your system and view questions assigned to a keyword. Need to add/edit keywords? You got it!
- View Questions Without Keywords - View the questions that aren’t assigned any keywords and add them with one click.
Bonus Updates
Blocking Options for Email & SMS - Has your system received a spam email or SMS message? Then SPAM it! You’ll find a new ‘Spam’ icon in your Unanswered Queue. Click to report suspicious spammy emails and we’ll rollout a red-carpet SmackDown!- Improved Notifications in LibChat - We’ve upgraded the LibAnswers notifications on the LibChat screen:
- Replies to existing questions will display
- Preview new questions
- Want to answer the question? Just click it to claim it you’ll go straight to the answering page
- New System Backup API - Grab a full feed of your public knowledge base!
Holiday Breaks Approaching? Let your patrons know!
Winter breaks and holiday closures are just around the corner. Here are some cool tips and tricks from the Springy Elves to help get the word out on holiday changes to your library hours.
LibGuides:
- Change your System Tagline – You’ve got 140 characters to communicate info on holiday closures. Instructions
- Create a custom “Closed” Banner – Sometimes words just aren’t enough – hang up the “closed” sign! Instructions
- Remind Staff via Admin Alert Box – Even elves need the occasional reminder that your site is going on break. Instructions
LibAnswers:
- Set an “Away” Success Message – Questions submitted via the question form can trigger a “hey, we’re away!” alert. Instructions
- Dont forget the SMS Auto-Responders – Make sure to let folks submitting questions via SMS know you’re away. Instructions
- Hide the question submission form – Allow patrons to search for questions, but prevent them from submitting new questions until you’ve returned from break. Here’s how
LibCal:
- We have a slew of suggestions on things to keep an eye on in your LibCal site.
We hope these suggestions and ideas help make it that much easier for you to relax this holiday season. Happy holidays from all of us at Springshare!
LibAnswers and LibChat Updates Now Live!
Good Morning Springyland – we’ve rolled out a LibAnswers and LibChat update! This time around we’re focusing on some of your most requested features – here’s the highlights reel:
LibChat Updates
- File Transfers - Patrons and Librarians can now share files via chat, all with the click of a button.*
- Operator-to-Operator Chat - We’ve made it easy to chat with other online LibChat operators. Just click on another operator’s name, and you’ll initiate a private, back-end chat.
- Transcript Download and Email - It’s here! Head to the Transcripts management area, and you’ll be able to download transcripts. We’ve also added an easy email option for individual transcripts, making it easy to share interesting chat logs with your colleagues.
LibAnswers Updates
Was this Helpful? Voting – We’ve added a super simple way to generate patron feedback on the helpfulness of answers in your public knowledgebase. - User File Uploads - Patrons can now submit files along with the questions they submit; uploads are fully supported in the question form as well as via emailed submissions.*
- New API Options: We’ve added a host of new APIs, making it even easier to embed your LibAnswers content in other sources. Head to the widgets and API area to find these new options:
- Full Question API – use this to grab the full question and answer content for any public question.
- Search API – Send a search query to your LibAnswers system and get a list of results back – great for building your own search box and displaying results in the same page!
- Query Spy Updates: we’ve added some excellent features to the fount of knowledge that is Query Spy:
- One-click IP lookups – you’ll find IP addresses listed in your Query Spy results – click them for a quick view on patron’s location info.
- Internal/External IP reporting – Admins: head to System Settings and define your internal IP range, so Query Spy reports can reflect searches coming from inside / outside your IP range.
- New Filters available to narrow in on query source and questions users selected.
Query Re-run – want to see the search results your users saw? Hit the spyglass to view their search results.- Most Popular Queries – find the most popular search terms used to search your system! Head to Query Spy > View Statistics and scroll down to view the new “Popular Words” report.
- Question Form Updates: We’ve added a host of new options to your system’s question form. Admins, head to Admin Stuff > Question Form to enable these options.
- Receive Response via SMS – Patrons in a hurry can now submit a question with the system question form, but choose to receive an answer via SMS.
- A Third Free-Text Field is now available for more in-depth data collection.
- Character Limit for Question/Details has been upped to 64,000 characters, making it easier to capture all the information a patron might submit.
- New Queues: We’ve added new queues to help you keep track of bounced emails (ie emails not received by patrons) and spam messages (questions submitted to your system marked as spam).
As always, we’re sending out a million thanks to our user community for sharing these fantastic feature ideas – you guys are the best!
* Note: File upload and transfers are limited to 5MB; files are stored for 1 week, then deleted due to privacy concerns.
LibAnswers Update: Timezone and SMS Improvements
Hey there, Springy Nation – we’re rolling out a LibAnswers code update! It includes changes to the way we handle timezones, as well as new features and improvements for the SMS functionality – read on for the rundown.
Timezone Management
We’re thrilled that people around the world (literally!) use LibAnswers. Up to now, we’ve relied on a timezone offset method, where each site defined their local time in relation to our server time. We figured this could use some improvement, so we’ve optimized the setting to make use of real timezones, instead of the old offsets – this should make it simpler to keep your LibAnswers time in line with your local time. 
Admins – please check your timezone; head to Admin Stuff > System Settings > Your Local Time
SMS Updates
We’ve updated our SMS functionality and added a couple of requested features:
- Send Direct SMS Messages to multiple recipients – add multiple numbers separated by semi-colons
- Auto-Responders and Discontinuous times - if your “available” service hours aren’t one continuous block (ex you’re open after midnight, or you’d like to block out time for lunch), you can now add discontinuous times to your off-hours auto-responder. Head to Admin Stuff > SMS Settings
Back to School Checklist
The telltale signs are starting to show. Campus orientation tours are rolling past office windows. Freshmen are enrolling in classes. The energy on campus is starting to build. These are all signs that school is about to start! It’s time to spruce up those guides, ready the study room sign-up, update the FAQ, and give a lift to the digital branch. We’ve put together a quick check-list to help you get organized.
- First things first: guide cleanup time!
- Summer’s come to a close; time to unpublish LibGuides about summer programs and readings.
- Update your student employee/volunteer LibGuide with this year’s shifts and policies. LibGuides CMS users: remind students and volunteers to sign up for email alerts, then send out alerts any time you update the guide.
- It’s time to kick that E-Reserves program into high gear!
- Remind teachers and faculty to send in their E-Reserves with our handy E-Reserves Request Form.
- Get those E-Reserve items and courses loaded; check out our help guide for tips!
- It’s a great time to freshen up LibAnswers, too!
- Review any policy-related LibAnswers, to make sure they’re up-to-date.
- It’s a great time to advertise your LibAnswers service! Post an ad in the student newspaper, create promotional materials, check out our session on Advertising LibAnswers, and grab more tips on Advertising your SMS service.
- Get those dates and schedules in order with LibCal!
- If you’re using the Room Booking tool, now’s a great time to post fresh QR codes outside available study spaces – they make booking with mobile devices super easy!
- Make sure your personal scheduler is up to date & publicized - make it easy to consult the experts!
- Create a calendar for special events, & publicize it – share the iCal subscription link, and anyone who subscribes will see newly added events automatically!
- Make sure your LibAnalytics data collection is ready to go! Check out our Dataset Ideas for suggestions on what types of data to capture.
What are you doing to get ready for school? Share your suggestions and strategies in the comments!
LibChat: New Widget Updates
Hey there, LibChat users – we’ve got several exciting updates to our existing chat widgets to share!
Encourage users to add a name to the chat: Instead of auto-filling the “Guest” name in the initial chat form, we’ve added a new checkbox option. Users can still chat anonymously, but we think the switch will encourage users to share their real name.
Ask Users a Custom Question: Prompt your users to answer a single question right in your chat widget. Ask anything, whether it’s “What’s your initial question?”, to “Is this for a class? If so, what’s your course number?”. Their intial answer will show up in the operator panel – here’s what it looks like:
Comments/Feedback at the end of the chat: We’ve added a new comment box to help collect feedback from your users on your chat service. It displays underneath the star rating when a chat concludes.
New Color Customization Options:We’ve added support to change the widget colors directly in the embed settings, instead of via a custom CSS file. Three colors control the look:
- color_backg: “#E7F3EF” (Background color)
- color_border: “#AFB6B4″ (Text input borders and main border color)
- color_heading: “#3278E0″ (Heading/Title & Chat button color)
- And here’s what those settings will create –>
As usual, we’re super excited about these changes to the chat widgets! For our next act, we’ll be updating the embed code pages to generate the color customizations automatically – keep an eye out for it in the coming weeks. If you need more instructions on customizing your chat widget, these customizations (and a lot more!) are covered in our help documentation.
If you’re not chatting with LibChat yet – why not?! Check out the features and view a 3-minute video of the new functionality – and when you’re ready to jump in, email us at sales@springshare.com to get chatting!
LibAnswers Update is Live; Important Info for Email Settings
In the words of Dr. Frankenstein, “It’s Aliiive!” – the LibAnswers update, that is. In case you missed our preview post last week, remember: you can check out a full list of the new features available at http://help.springshare.com/laupdate-June2012. We’re super excited to tell you about the new Email features. You can now choose to funnel emails sent to a specific email address – like ask@yourlibrary.edu – straight into your LibAnswers system.
Instructions for setting up the new Email features can be found below. We highly recommend that admins take a look at the new Email Settings page (found under Admin Stuff -> System Settings) to confirm settings.
If your Libanswers system is on the libanswers.com domain:
We’ve set you up with a generic email address already – ask@*.libanswers.com (where * is the lead part of your domain). Change this to whatever you’d like – head to Admin Stuff -> System Settings -> Email Settings.
If your LibAnswers system is on your own domain (ex: school.edu):
We’ll work with you (and your IT folks) on set up – email us at support@springshare.com to get things rolling. There are two primary options:
- Ask your IT folks to redirect a whole domain (like @ask.yourlibrary.edu) to LibAnswers. Similar to setting up Custom Domain Mapping, this requires your IT to set up a DNS record. Contact us for specific instructions. This is the most reliable way to receive and send mail with a non-libanswers.com address. [Please note - this will apply to the entire domain - it won't work for one address in the domain, like reference@yourlibrary.edu. We recommend using a dedicated domain, like @ask.yourlibrary.edu, for this reason.]
- If your IT folks aren’t keen on setting up a custom domain, you can forward specific email accounts to an Incoming Email Address. Patrons can still email reference@yourlibrary.edu, but the message will forward to something@something.libanswers.com for ingestion into LibAnswers. Contact us and let us know what you’d like something@something.libanswers.com to be (ex: reference@yourlibrary.libanswers.com).
Plus, LibChat is here!
Check out the features and view a 3-minute video of the new functionality. When you’re ready to jump in, email us at sales@springshare.com to get chatting!
LibAnswers Update: June 27th
We’ve been working on some awesome new LibAnswers features that are going to be rolled out Wednesday, June 27, 2012. There will be no system downtime during this code update.
What’s so fabulously awesome about this update?
- Answer Page Redesign: The Answer page has been redesigned & more closely mimics the answering workflow. You’ll *love* the new interface.
- Replies for Public Answers: You asked for it & we heard ya! You can now reply to public answers.
- Email Templates: You’ve wanted to customize the emails that come from your system – now you can!
- Reference Email Management: LibAnswers has a fabulous new email management tool! Set up your email address(es) & the system will pull in any emails sent to those addresses. Patrons ask via email, librarians answer via LibAnswers, and patrons can reply via email.
Emails saved & searchable in your system. One place. All questions. *swoon*Ensure your patrons receive emails from your LibAnswers system by asking your IT department to whitelist 184.173.105.143. Note: This IP changed with this update.
- Improved Dashboard Notifications: See how many unanswered questions await you in your queue right from the Dashboard, queues, or “Add a Transaction” pages.
We created a LibAnswers Update guide so you can get some sneak peeks at everything listed above & check out the list of other enhancements!
Also, did you know that LibChat fully integrates with LibAnswers? Check it out: http://springshare.com/libanswers/
Bet you can’t wait for June 27th now… We can’t either. 
Meebo going away, LibChat coming your way…see it at ALA!
By now you’ve probably heard that Meebo is discontinuing its chat service on July 11, 2012. The good news is that LibChat will be ready before then. The even better news is that is it so super awesome that even if Meebo wasn’t cancelling their chat, you’d still switch to LibChat in a heartbeat!
We know what you’re thinking: “So Springy friends, 1) what can it do and 2) when can we get our hands on it?!”
Well, LibChat’s awesomesauce is made of:
Say hello to LibChat!
- full integration into the LibAnswers reference workflow (including new question / SMS notifications right in the LibChat window!);
- 1-click integration into LibGuides / CampusGuides (embed chat on every public page; embed individual chat in your profile);
- simple integration into any webpage – put your chat at point of need;
- several widget types – easy to use & not Flash based, so they work on non-Flash supported devices (we’re lookin’ at you, Apple);
- multiple queues – create as many as you need (individual & department based);
- chat transfer: transfer in-process chats from one librarian to another (making referrals easy peasy!);
- customizable canned messages;
- transcripts: all chat transcripts are saved & can be analyzed; patrons can also email the transcript to themselves with one click;
- full statistics, including patron ratings;
- …and more!
Of course, one of the prime ingredients in Springshare’s awesomesauce is our outstanding support. Anyone caught by the Meebo chat shut-down can certainly appreciate the full value of having a library-focused company develop & support a library-centric reference solution.
True, it’s not free like Meebo was, but remember that you get what you pay for with free. With real-time reference being an important piece of the library’s mission, we feel it is very important to offer not only a great product, but also incredible service & support and continued product development.
This is where Springshare excels, and we are proud of the fact that we have built a sterling reputation for support & service in the library market. LibChat is no exception, and our clients – new and old – can expect the same awesome service / product / developments from us. We will never abandon you or let you down.
Excited yet? Want to see it in action? Alrighty then – let’s do it!
- Are you going to ALA? Stop by booth 712 and chat with us! Check out all of the awesome features and get your library signed up.
- Not going to ALA? No problem! Email sales@springshare.com and ask for a demo for your library.
LibChat will launch in early July – before Meebo shuts down. Chat with you soon!
