Hi Everyone,

I wanted to send out a quick note to address some questions that have come up in regards to virtual reference shifts. 

1. What should I do if no one shows up for the VR shift after mine?

o We would ask everyone to try and arrive a few minutes early for their shift to ensure a smooth transition. However, everyone forgets sometimes. If no one shows up by the end of your shift and you know who is coming on after you try to contact them. If you can’t get a hold of the next scheduled person or don’t know who is scheduled you can either continue to provide virtual reference until someone else comes on, find someone to cover, or contact Gail Matheson. If you cannot continue to stay on virtual reference after your shift and you have contacted Gail you can log off.

2. What should I do if it is really busy during my shift and I can’t keep up with the questions?

o If you ever can’t keep up with the questions you can either ask someone who also provides virtual reference to help or contact Gail Matheson and she will try to find someone to help out.

3. What should I do if I can’t make my VR shift?

o We would ask you or the library assigned to that timeslot to find someone to cover the shift. If it is impossible to find someone to cover please contact Gail Matheson as soon as possible.

4. Who should be logged in on Saturdays?

o Saturday shifts are to be covered by reference staff in Science, Dafoe & NJM.  All three libraries should be logged in and when not busy with in person patrons be available to answer questions.  With three libraries on at once we anticipate it will be easier to answer VR questions when they come in.

5. I’m logged into Pidgin but the online chat widget on the webpage says unavailable what’s happening?

o The default preferences for Pidgin are to go idle after 5 minutes. Change your preferences in Pidgin by going to Tools, Preferences, Status/Idle, and change either “Minutes before becoming idle” to 90 or change “change to this status when idle” to Available to ensure you can go your whole shift without going offline.

o

**I would ask everyone to check their idle status, I think this might be the reason why chat reference looks offline sometimes**

If you have any other questions or concerns about virtual reference feel free to contact me. 

Gail

Gail Matheson

Liaison Librarian

Mathematics, Computer Science

Sciences and Technology Library, University of Manitoba

(204) 474-7064 | Gail_Matheson@umanitoba.ca

Gail Matheson

Liaison Librarian

Mathematics, Computer Science

Sciences and Technology Library, University of Manitoba

(204) 474-7064 | Gail_Matheson@umanitoba.ca