LibAnswers is a database of frequently asked questions and answers about the library. It's searchable and visible to the public on the web. These appear on your LibAnswers dashboard. At the beginning of your shift, claim any new LibAnswers questions that have come in, and answer any that arrive during your shift.
Patrons can submit questions to LibAnswers even when chat service is closed. Patrons can also text questions to 404-419-7368.
If a new LibAnswers question arrives during your chat shift, you'll see a notification:
Any librarian or staff member can add new questions and answers to LibAnswers.
Click Answers/Create from your LibAnswers dashboard menu, and select FAQ.
Here's a new question (or "ticket"). You can see it's marked New and there's no owner listed. You'd just click the title to claim it.
If someone has claimed the question, you'll see a name under Owner. There's no need to do anything with a question that has an owner; someone else is working on it.
If you need to relinquish ownership of a question (if you claimed it accidentally, for example), click the "Unclaim" button.
At the bottom of the page, before you submit your answer, make sure you fill in the contact mode (LibAnswers), status (usually Answered, but there are other options if you need them), and the effort/knowledge required (see READ scale).
You'll almost always submit a question as Closed, but if you need to, you can leave it set to Open/Pending -- for example, if you're asking the patron for more information.
You will probably never need to change any of the other settings.
If you need to transfer a question to another librarian, click Assign/Transfer and select the recipient.
Submit the question as New, Open, or Pending (it doesn't matter).
The recipient will get an email notification and will become the new owner of the question.
