Free webinar on QuestionPoint's lightweight chat tool

I haven't had a chance to check this out yet myself, but there's a webinar now available from QuestionPoint that features their Chat 2 patron interface, which is designed to be more accessible to users who use screen reading software on their machines.

via QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services

Firefox extensions I can't live without

Using the Extension List Dumper addon, I just created this list of all the things I've installed in my Firefox browser at work:

• Book Burro - Remixing the bookstore 0.36
  
  http://www.bookburro.org
  
  Find the cheapest books
  


• CustomizeGoogle 0.63
  
  http://www.customizegoogle.com/
  
  Enhance Google search results and remove ads and spam.
  


• CuteMenus - Crystal SVG 1.9.1
  
  http://www.cutemenuproject.com/
  
  Adds icons to all menus.
  


• del.icio.us 1.2.1
  
  http://del.icio.us/
  
  Keep, share and discover all your favorite things.
  


• del.icio.us Complete 1.3
  
  http://delicious.mozdev.org/
  
  del.icio.us is a social bookmarks manager. It allows you to easily add sites you like to your personal collection of links, to categorize those sites with keywords, and to share your collection not only between your own browsers and machines, but also with others.
  


• EverNote Web Clipper 1.0.0.88
  
  (Disabled)
  
  http://www.evernote.com/
  
  Provides a button and context menus to easily add a selection or an entire page to EverNote as a saved note
  


• Extension List Dumper 1.8.0
  
  http://sogame.awardspace.com/
  
  Dumps a list of the installed extensions.
  


• Firefox Showcase 0.9.3.3
  
  http://showcase.uworks.net/
  
  Easily locate any tab you've opened in Firefox.
  


• Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer 1.0.1
  
  http://www.foxmarks.com/
  
  Synchronizes your bookmarks across machines.
  


• FoxyTunes 2.9.5.31
  
  http://www.foxytunes.com/
  
  Control any media player from Firefox and more...
  


• Gmail Space 0.5.6
  
  http://www.getgspace.com/
  
  Use your Gmail account space for file storage. Enables uploading/downloading of folders.
  


• Greasemonkey 0.7.20070607.0
  
  http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/
  
  A User Script Manager for Firefox
  


• Java Console 6.0.02
  


• Java Console 6.0.01
  


• Link Evaluator 0.9.9.5
  
  http://evaluator.oclc.org
  
  Customizable pre-evaluation of web links and linked content
  


• LinkChecker 0.6.1
  
  http://www.kevinfreitas.net/extensions/linkchecker/
  
  Check the validity of links on any webpage.
  


• MeasureIt 0.3.6
  
  http://www.kevinfreitas.net/pro/extensions/
  
  Draw out a ruler to get the pixel width and height of any elements on a webpage.
  


• Menu Editor 1.2.3.3
  
  http://menueditor.mozdev.org/
  
  Customize application menus
  


• Mina Rees Library CUNY Graduate Center 1.2.9
  
  http://www.libx.org/editions/69/E0/69E01436/libx.html
  
  Toolbar for CUNY Graduate Center Library Users
  


• Morning Coffee 1.26
  
  http://shaneliesegang.com/projects/coffee.php
  
  Keeps track of daily routine websites and opens them in tabs.
  


• newmanlibrary Toolbar 1.5.18.0
  
  http://www.conduit.com
  
  More than just a toolbar.
  


• OpenURL Referrer 2.3.6
  
  http://openly.oclc.org/openurlref
  
  Converts bibliographic citations to URLs.
  


• Operator 0.8
  
  http://www.kaply.com/weblog/
  
  The Semantic Web in Action
  


• Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic 1.5
  
  http://pearlcrescent.com/products/pagesaver/
  
  Save an image of a web page to a file.
  


• Searchbar Autosizer 1.3.7
  
  http://searchbarautosizer.mozdev.org
  
  Expand the searchbox as you type
  


• Snapper 1.3
  
  Allows you to create a snapshot of a designated area in a web page.
  


• Sxipper 0.9.30.20660
  
  http://www.sxipper.com
  
  Pre-fills web forms, manages passwords, and supports OpenID logins.
  


• Tab Mix Plus 0.3.6
  
  http://tmp.garyr.net
  
  Tab browsing with an added boost.
  


• Tab Preview 0.3
  
  http://ted.mielczarek.org/code/mozilla/tabpreview/
  
  Preview tab contents on mouseover
  


• Talkback 2.0.0.6
  
  http://talkback.mozilla.org/
  
  Sends information about program crashes to Mozilla.
  


• TwittyTunes 0.5.3.1
  
  http://www.foxytunes.com/twittytunes/
  
  Post your tunes to Twitter using FoxyTunes, and more...
  


• Web Developer 1.1.4
  
  http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/
  
  Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.
  


• Zotero 1.0.0rc3
  
  http://www.zotero.org
  
  The Next-Generation Research Tool
  

Taking it straight to the kids

This is so cool! QandANJ, the statewide virtual reference service, ran a commercial (locally, not nationally, I assume) during last night's Video Music Awards on MTV.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocLdyeAqUmg

Librarians as chat patrons

Rachel Singer Gordon over at the Liminal Librarian wrote up her experience asking a question from the Illinois statewide chat reference service. The post features a comment by Karen Schneider, who also expresses frustration she's had, too, when acting as user in chat reference services.

As someone who's managed a chat service at an academic library for six and a half years (three of which have been part of a cooperative service among college libraries nationwide) and read every single transcript that's come over our transom, I can say that the issue of quality is indeed an ongoing challenge for such service. I've seen great reference librarians who shine at the desk stumble in the online environment. Unless you do chat a lot, keeping your skills sharp is hard (and by skills, I don't just mean a facility with the software but also with how to communicate effectively online and do reference interviews in a cramped medium).

For what it's worth, QuestionPoint (to which our library has been a subscriber for over three years) has some good tips sheets on netiquette and effective online communication. I've linked to a number of these QuestionPoint documents on the QP at CUNY wiki I set up for the librarians here in CUNY that share a QuestionPoint subscription. (I should also mention here that I serve as a member of the QuestionPoint 24/7 Advisory Board.)

User write up of Library of Congress' Ask a Librarian service

On the AppScout blog, Alan Henry writes about his experience using the e-mail portion of the Ask a Librarian service at the Library of Congress.

via Library Stuff

Innovative way to pitch chat reference service

The Cameron Library at the University of Alberta (one of many campus libraries at that school) has been offering chat reference for many years, but recently they added a new angle to the way the service is marketed. The web page for the ask a librarian service now says:

In Cameron? Need Help? We're Here!

Sign in. Chat. We can come to you.

The library's news blog further explains the service this way, "Cameron Library Help is a new service that lets you stay at your workstation in Cameron Library while you contact library staff for assistance. Let us come to you!" What a great idea!

via Librarian in Black