Launching Chat Service During the Pandemic: Inaugurating a New Public Service Under Emergency Conditions

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dc.contributor.authorDecker, Emy Nelson
dc.contributor.authorChapman, Karen
dc.date.accessioned2023-07-28T16:13:12Z
dc.date.available2023-07-28T16:13:12Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.description.abstractPurpose: This article details the implementation of a live online chat service which was suddenly necessitated by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. The approaches used to train chat operators during this time inform both current and future training initiatives toward continuous improvement in this academic library setting.Design/Methodology/Approach: Chat transcripts from the period of March 2020 – April 2021 serve as the dataset for this study.Findings: In bringing a live chat service online during a global pandemic, chat transcripts from this period reveal 19.3% of all chat interactions related directly to COVID-19. The transcripts also reveal the types of questions, whether reference or directional, and these, combined with staffing patterns, indicate that staff were addressing reference questions more often than librarians. In addition, 25.2% of all transactions, whether by staff or librarians, resulted in tickets or referrals to hand off the question to a subject or functional specialist. These findings help to inform targeted face-to-face refresher training for chat operators.Originality: While bringing a live chat service online is certainly not novel, the impetus behind the quick setup was. This unusual circumstance allowed for an in-depth look at the nature of chat and its training requirements and limitations due to campus stay-at-home orders. It also provided a new understanding that influenced subsequent face-to-face trainings.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.doi10.1108/RSR-08-2021-0051
dc.identifier.orcid0000-0002-4552-7274
dc.identifier.urihttps://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/10275
dc.languageEnglish
dc.subjectChat
dc.subjectReference
dc.subjectStaffing
dc.subjectLibrarians
dc.subjectCOVID-19
dc.titleLaunching Chat Service During the Pandemic: Inaugurating a New Public Service Under Emergency Conditionsen_US
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