Springshare Products at UCI Libraries

To access the backend of LibAnswers go to
https://uci.libanswers.com/.
Login with your regular LibApps login/password (what you use for LibGuides, Appointments, LibInsight). 

To access the Tickets created by patrons or other librarians:

1. Click on the Answers dropdown menu
2. Select Tickets

When/Why will an LA assign a ticket to a librarian or functional expert?

1. The question needs subject expertise, no matter the status of the patron.
   • In Chat, the librarian helping the patron may have already created a ticket
     • Anna, Irene, and Kimberly (GML LAs) will see these tickets and determine the next best steps
   • The patron submitted a ticket directly (our “Email” service)
     • Anna, Irene, and Kimberly (GML LAs) will see these tickets and determine the next best steps
   • Chat transcript review of transcripts that were not turned into tickets by the librarian who helped the patron
     • Josh and Natalie (Ref LAs) review 24/7 Academic Cooperative answers to UCI chat questions and determine the next best steps
   • Maria (GML LA) reviews UC-answered questions (including UCI chat responses to UCI patrons)
     • Maria will assign any questions of concern to Cynthia, including all faculty questions and all graduate student questions
2. The question is asked by a UCI Faculty Member (self-identified on the question form).
   • All LAs (except Maria) determine the next best steps based on the process described below

Next Best Steps:

1. If the question may need subject expertise, no matter the status of the patron, the LA will:

   • Email the appropriate subject specialist/librarian

   • Ask the following questions

     • Are you available to answer this question?

     • Are you the appropriate person to answer this question?

       • They will usually provide a summary of the question or subject of the question in the email. They may also include the ticket number in the subject line as well as one or two keywords to describe the topic of the question. They may include the URL that links directly to the transcript in LibAnswers

   • If the librarian says “assign it to me, I’m available”

     • The LA will assign the ticket. 

     • The LA will Include in the Internal Note information like “Here is the ticket I emailed you about” 

   • If the librarian says “I’m not the best person to answer this question” and they provide another librarian/specialist, the LA will go back to the beginning of the process. 

   • If the LA is not sure who should respond, they will consult with Cynthia (if Cynthia is not available, they may consult with Antoinette or Becky Imamoto or another subject specialist)

2. If the question is from a UCI faculty member and it doesn’t need a specialist for follow-up  (example: VPN, do we own X and we do own it, account information, etc) the LA will:

   • Answer the question

   • Close the transcript

   • Send an internal note to the appropriate librarian, for example:

     • My internal note text is "This is an FYI that a faculty member in X Department used LibAnswers"

     • “Just a heads up that a faculty member in the X Department used our Ask a Librarian service."

1. LAs will assign tickets to subject and functional experts when they cannot answer the question.
   1. The LAs will confirm via email, phone or chat that the subject/functional expert is available to answer the ticket. 
   2. They will let the patron know that they are sending the question to a subject/functional expert.
2.  LibAnswers sends an email to the subject/functional expert with a link to the ticket.
   1. Once you hear from an LA that they are assigning a ticket to you, wait for the email!
   2. Subject/functional experts with LibApp accounts (for example: LibGuides) will have no problem accessing LibAnswers. 
   3. Anyone without an account: we will either send the question to an email address or set the person up with a LibApp account. 
3. Answer the ticket from within LibAnswers 
   1. Remember that we say on our web site that “A response is guaranteed within 24 hours Monday through Friday (excluding holidays and the Winter Administrative Recess)” 
   2. “I received your question and am investigating…” is a perfect response!

Do NOT enter these Tickets in the Reference Statistics database. We will use the LibAnswers statistics to determine Reference Statistics.

1. You can make notes in the transaction if you want to go back and look at something, or to use this information for a factual resume.

If you would like to create a personalized Macro for information you often include in responses to patrons (for example, you contact information), here are the instructions: https://ask.springshare.com/libanswers/faq/1587#section0

Why would a librarian be copied on a ticket, or receive an internal note about a ticket, when the LA has already provided an answer? To give librarians opportunities to reach out to faculty who are asking questions about the Libraries and our services/collections through Chat and Email.

• LAs will continue to send replies to questions from faculty when it is appropriate for the LA to answer (circulation information, do we own a specific title?, VPN, etc.).
• After sending the answer, the LA will send an internal note to the librarian with a message, such as "FYI, this is a faculty member from X Department." 
• Unless the LA expects the patron to respond to the question, they will SUBMIT and CLOSE the ticket.
• Librarians receive an email from the LibAnswers system that will have the internal message clearly at the top:

• The email will contain the transcript and LA's answer to the patron's question.
• There is no expectation that librarians respond to these questions. It is up to the librarian to use this information as an opportunity to reach out to faculty and introduce themselves, etc.
  • If a librarian reaches out to the faculty member, please do so from your email account, not through LibAnswers.

Contact Cynthia if you have questions about the process or about the original answer provided by the LA.

Follow the instructions on the Libraries' wiki page to deal with any ticket spam or errors.