by the numbers

• Maryland customers asked 1894 questions via chat in July

• Maryland librarians handled 1525 questions via chat from customers around Maryland and the nation.

customer comments

• Way to go!!!  What a pleasant surprise and I am absolutely delighted.

• It help a search when you can have a constructive and productive conversation. Thanks, Rodwell

• I tried to reach my local library branch several times today but could not navigate my way through the phone system to reach a live person.  It was very frustrating.  It is terrific to be able to ask the question now and know I will hear back.  I can tell my son he can expect an answer after the holiday which will please him tremendously!!

• appreciated the quick and professional assistance.

• You don't know how much I appreciate the help.  I have been searching for months and months and could not find any info.  This is a wonderful website and I have visited many, many websites and none of them as easy to use as this one.  Thanks!

• Michael was very knowledgeable and tracked down an insurance company that appeared to have gone out of business. He was a tremendous resource. Thank you for the service. I will definitely use it again. Paul Couch

• I am glad that I found this and will most likely come back if I have another question.  The librarian that I talked with was extremely helpful and nice.

• This is a great resource and I am very glad I stumbled on to it

• I'm a high school media specialist. I'm glad that the state has this service.  I recommend it to my students and staff.

• even tho the librarian answered all my questions nicely& smart, I still miss the old hardback catalogs listing all the books in the Maryland public libraries by author & title & the library branch where they can be found.

• This was a very helpful service, especially for us in rural areas. thank you.

• This was very helpful and made me feel like someone was actually helping. Thank you again Karen

• Awesome service.  Saved me having to drive to the library.

• MD HCPL Librarian Edie was great.

• This is a great resource, especially when the library is closed.  :)

• This is a very impressive resource! Thank you for supporting it!

• Cynthia Dennis is great=she has helped me several times

• I have used this service over the past four years, both for work questions and personal interest questions and it is simply outstanding.  I recommend it to everyone I know.  The librarians are consistently helpful, polite, and provide answers I would never have thought of on my own.  I'm very comfortable doing internet searching and I only turn to this service when I feel that I am at a dead end -- and the librarians always come through with great suggestions.

• Remarkable resource.  Thank you.  I am a life member UMd alumni association so I am an "other" on question 2

• i use this service for almost all my questions and i will DEFINATLEY use it again!

• I know with the recession going on, there have been many cuts.  Please please don't cut anymore of the library budgets.  The library is great place, especially for a single parent with a low income like myself.  My 5 year old son loves going and looking through many books.  I am looking forward to going to the many activities that will be happening in the next few weeks.  I urge you to please keep our libraries open.  Thanks and have a great day.

• I have done this once before and once again, I am helped to my satisfaction. I really enjoy using this service because everyone is so nice and I know I can count on the librarians.

• She was so helpful without Lori's help I probably have a fine! THANK YOU SO MUCH! :)

• This "CHAT" service allows your local library to be accessed from anywhere, in this case, from San Mateo California. Your investment in the resources for this service, people and technology, allows your library system to be better utilized.  This is great at a time when here in California so many services are being cut.

• had a Librarian today....... 7/19/2010 her name was maggie she was very helpful she recomended alot of books to me on witch craft..... thank you all very much....

• I was satisfied with the manner in which my question was answered, but since my question was about reduced book orders and reduced hours, I was not satisfied with the reality that had to be reported to me -- i.e., that reduced hours are probably permanent and that it may be an extended time before there are any new books ordered.  Library patrons obviously need to let elected officials know of our dissatisfactions, rather than librarians, since you are on the same short end of the stick that we are!

• I really love how this wedsite work. It helps a lot.

• Excellent service -- faster than calling my local library and waiting to reach a live person!

• The Librarian on the other end was very helpful, not condencending to what might have been a very easy question.

• I LOVED IT!!!

• Great experience.  The time expired before I had a chance to respond to the very polite Librarian.  The information that the Librarian rovided was helpful and fast. Dave

• As a librarian, I am very impressed with the quality of the response I received to my question.  The care that was taken to answer my question thoroughly and accurately should be a model for all libraries.  Thank you.

• Librarians rule or at least they should!

• Jen did a great job.  She found resources that had great ideas and that I'm sure will prove to be extremely helpful.  She couldn't have done a better job!

• The librarian was very helpful and helped me figure out how to do the search I wanted, so I could find a specific type of book.  And it took her no time at all to figure it out, even though she's in a completely different library system.

• The chat was very good but didn't quite answer my question however another librarian email with further information that was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much for not only being available online but also following-up after our online chat was complete.

• I am so impressed.  So easy.  Happy I read about this service.  THANK YOU VERY MUCH

• The answer were speedy and very helpful, especially to a 65 year old not really copmuter literate woman. It was great.

• The people at the Crofton library are tops!!!!!!!!!!

• my mom was a children's librarian at New Carrollton public library, Md, 40 years ago ( Frances Harrell Schumacher) & she always said to go to the library & ask them if you need a question answered.

• This is such a great tool!!!  I'm so glad to have the access to it.  The librarian answering my questions was very helpful and was able to steer me in the right direction.  My question was answered and I was VERY pleased with the results.  Thanks.

• Thank you. Merci. Gracia. Service is Excellent.

• The lady I spoke to was extremely helpful. She called another librarian from the Enoch Pratt State Library just to help me get some sheet music. This is a great service and I will continue to use it!!!
   

month in review

• An event at BCPL on July 15th marked 300,000 questions answered! Yay us! Read more.

• the Usability Testing group for the /staff site continues. we're currently looking for UX testers!

• An AskUsNow! magnet was designed and 100,000 ordered. a small number of additional highlighters were ordered as well.

• we continue to streamline as many processes as possible to help multiply the staff and resources we have

• Julie continued her LIstening Tour with visits to Prince George's County Memorial Library System, Prince George's County Community College and the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped this month. Read the notes. Sign up for your own Listening Tour Stop!

• Julie's participation in access to justice continues with additional planning for a training series on law for librarians

• Julie was honored to attend the Maryland Library Leadership Insitute 2010 Graduate luncheon in Port Deposit as a member of the MLLI planning committee. AskUsNow! librarians represented almost 40% of the entire 2010 graduating class. Congratulations to:

  • Jessica Ambrose, Harford Community College

  • Amy Swackhamer, Frederick County

  • Bill Taylor, Washington County

  • Jessica Nhem, Caroline County

  • Carol Dean, Anne Arundel County

  • Becky Hass, Pratt/SLRC

  • Robyn Truslow, Calvert County

  • Kate Crider, Baltimore County

  • Julie Nanavati, previous provider at UMCP

Top 10 librarians: most chat sessions accepted

"Chat Sessions Accepted" is QuestionPoint lingo for how many chats a librarian had. here's the list of the busiest in July.

1. Mallika Pichumani, MCPL - 64 chats
2. Mandy Hackley, Salisbury University - 62 chats
3. Mimi Bolotin, MCPL- 56 chats
4. Nedelina Tchangalova, UMCP - 46 chats
5. Tina Rawhouser, MCPL - 40 chats
6. Maggie Murphy, Pratt - 35 chats
7. Jim Miller, UMCP - 32 chats
8. Norman Hudson-Taylor, PGCMLS and Patrick Jones, Pratt -  tied with 28 chats
9. Jessica Nhem, Caroline County, 27 chats
10. Anne Cohn, MCPL - 25 chats

Note: We do not value quantity over quality but wanted to acknowledge those who took the most chats this month. Opportunity for handling this number of chat sessions is based on how many times a month you are scheduled to monitor.