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AskAway Tips: Student Edition

Fri, 2024-01-26 09:47

By Ishvani Hans, UBC AskAway Student Librarian

I’ve been working as an AskAway student librarian for over a year now. Having engaged with a diverse range of patrons and addressing their queries, I have identified recurring themes of problems. If you’re new to AskAway, you may find these tips helpful.

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UCW Updates for AskAway

Fri, 2024-01-12 10:41

With AskAway starting up in the new term, UCW wanted to share some information about their institution that might be helpful for service providers.

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Welcome back to AskAway!

Tue, 2023-09-05 16:32
Welcome Back!

We hope you enjoyed your summer and are feeling ready for the exciting fall term ahead. In this post, try out the Refresher Quiz to help you stay sharp then check out the rest of the blog post below to learn about updates for the new term and reminders about the supports and resources available to AskAway Service Providers.

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AskAway Newsletter - Summer 2023 Issue of The Chat Box

Tue, 2023-08-15 14:00

July 27, 2023

  • Summer Gratitude
  • Shared-Shift Collaborative Scheduling
  • BC ELN Orientation Series
  • Collaborative AskAway Research
  • Celebrating Retirement
  • Read More
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How to Handle AI Generated References

Tue, 2023-06-13 17:04

In this post, Sydney explores how generative AI tools like ChatGPT have started to impact AskAway. 

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Reflection on the 2023 North American Virtual Reference Online Conference (NAVROC)

Wed, 2023-03-15 13:06

The North American Virtual Reference Online Conference (NAVROC) took place from February 21-23, 2023. For those who were unable to attend or would like to revisit a session, recordings will be available on the conference website soon.  

The keynote presentation and theme for the conference was Wholehearted Libraries: Meeting the Needs of Community, from Dr. Michael Stephens of the School of Information at San Jose State University. This theme translated into the great variety of sessions presented over the three half days. Sessions covered a wide range of topics, some of which are directly applicable to AskAway while others are more relevant in the broader virtual reference environment.  

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Happy Holidays from AskAway

Wed, 2022-12-21 09:52

In case you missed it, catch up on the cozy Holiday 2022 issue of the Chat Box newsletter:

  • Happy holidays!
  • Look back at 2022
  • Blog top three
  • On the horizon
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In Celebration of the New AskAway Chat Tag: Open Education

Tue, 2022-08-16 11:10

The new Open Education tag allows us to track those questions when a service provider explains or provides access to Open Access, Open Education, or Open Textbook resources. This includes questions about no-cost textbook options, for example a student looking for an older version of a textbook from the library. In celebration of this new tag, Elizabeth Padilla (BCIT) shares the B.C. Open Collection and her role in developing the new home for the collection.

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Update: Recommended Citation Guides and Websites

Wed, 2022-08-10 12:34

In this post, find out about recent updates to the Recommended Citation Guides and Websites. Many thanks to Elizabeth Fernandes (Liaison Librarian at University Canada West), Shannon Moist (Head of Reference Services at Douglas College) and Tina Bebbington (Humanities Librarian at the University of Victoria) for their work on this update!

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Next Generation Chat Box for AskAway

Thu, 2022-07-28 14:31

Changes to the AskAway chat box are coming! We will soon upgrade to the next generation chat box, which comes with new features and special attention to visual accessibility. As the next generation chat box is rolling out, there are new features and functions we’d like to bring to your attention!

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Catch Up on AskAway Summer 2022 News

Thu, 2022-07-21 12:01

In case you missed it, catch up on the Summer 2022 issue of the AskAway newsletter.

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Three New AskAway Tags

Mon, 2022-07-04 09:36

There are three new tags that you can now apply to your AskAway chat sessions in LibraryH3lp: Copyright, Course Reserves, and Open Education. These tags were recommended by AskAway participants and will help the service and libraries better understand student needs in these areas. The Interlibrary Loan tag has also been updated to include (ILL) so that it is faster to bring up in the drop-down list by typing ILL.

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OpenAthens at UBC Library

Wed, 2022-04-06 09:09

It has been almost a year since UBC Library implemented OpenAthens for e-resource authentication. Many thanks for all of your help in supporting our users transitioning to the new process. We have heard that accessing UBC’s e-resources via OpenAthens as an AskAway service provider can be tricky. We have updated the wording on the Guest Login page as follows, and we hope it clarifies the issue.

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New and Improved FAQs

Wed, 2022-03-16 13:19

We're pleased to share that FAQs for service providers have been refreshed!

Previously, these FAQs were spread out in two places, with some available on the AskAway website FAQs page and others available on the Service Provider FAQs site. Initially, this was to support the transition to LibraryH3lp but having this information available in two places made it difficult to know where to look for answers and less efficient to maintain.

Now, you can find all of your FAQs in one convenient place: the Service Provider FAQs site, linked from the AskAway website FAQs page and the homepage.

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New Tool for Evening and Weekend Providers

Fri, 2022-03-04 16:09

A new tool is now available to you on your evening and weekend AskAway shifts. If you’re alone or short-staffed on an evening or weekend shift (weekday after 5pm, Saturday, or Sunday), you can now easily send an automated message to the evenings-weekends list and request assistance.

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Responding to Inappropriate and Prank Chats

Tue, 2022-02-01 14:09

AskAway has guidelines in place to help you respond to patrons who are abusing the service with prank calls, inappropriate language, or rude behaviour. They're designed to provide you with the tools you need to communicate clearly with the patron, give them an opportunity to change their behaviour, and if needed, to end the session.

In addition to these guidelines, here are some general tips to respond to inappropriate and prank chats based on feedback and input from service providers.

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AskAway Regular Hours Resume Today

Mon, 2022-01-17 08:43

Regular AskAway hours resume today January 17th. In this post, you'll find information about an update to LibraryH3lp as well as important reminders heading into this term.

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Happy Holidays from AskAway

Wed, 2022-01-05 16:50

In case you missed it, catch up on the December 2021 issue of the AskAway newsletter.

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UNBC Library Renovations

Tue, 2021-11-23 09:46

The UNBC library is undergoing significant renovations for the next few months, including temporarily moving our circ and reference desks from the first to the second floor and slightly modifying our study rooms (including adding two new ones!). Please refer students with questions about this to our blog for the most recent information: https://libguides.unbc.ca/blog.

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Catch up on AskAway Fall News

Tue, 2021-10-19 16:49

In case you missed it, catch up on the Fall 2021 issue of the AskAway newsletter.

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