New Staff Training

New Staff Training (NST) is mandatory for all Maryland Library staff who want to provide the Maryland AskUsNow! service. Project Liaisons may also attend at any time.

NST has been redesigned and split into three parts. A checklist guides participants through the series from start to finish. After registering for a class, we start participants with Part One which consists of a series of online self-paced tutorials and quizes. After Part One is completed, participants attend their registered face to face half-day class (Part Two) where we give participants hands-on time with the software focus on the behaviors of chat reference. Part Three consists of shadowing and practice sessions overseen by the participant's liaison before they are able to monitor chat fully.

Through demonstration and hands-on experience participants of NST will become familiar with AskUsNow!, the 24/7 Cooperative, and the features of the QuestionPoint Chat follow-up systems. Participants will also learn to recognize the proper communication and reference behaviors to apply in the live chat reference transaction. At the conclusion of the training, participants will be able to:

• Navigate the service's staff support web site, the Maryland AskUsNow! Inner Harbor.
• Log in, select queues to monitor, and retrieve a customer using OCLC QuestionPoint's Chat interface.
• Use the Chat interface to interact with a customer and successfully complete a transaction.
• Identify at least 10 model behaviors for providing chat reference on Maryland AskUsNow!

Upcoming trainings:

Already registered for training? Get started on the pre-work:

Part 1: Tutorials & Quizzes Part 2: Face to Face Training Part 3: Follow-up & Practice

A Note on Weather-Related Cancellations

All training sessions are scheduled to take place unless the location hosting the training is closed or the trainer cancels the session. You may contact Julie if you have any questions regarding weather-related cancellations.