1.a.   Email Contacts

1.b. Chat/Text Contacts

2.        LIMITATIONS:

2.a.      Staff will answer ready reference questions, do shelf checks for specific titles, take interlibrary loan requests, and take reserves for titles in circulation. 

2.b.      The library imposes a limit of three e-mailed/chat/text reference inquiries per patron per day.

3.         CHECKING EMAIL:

3.a.      The Reference Department email box should be checked hourly by staff on duty; the Local History Department email box should be checked daily.

3.b.      The Reference Department mailbox may be accessed from any Department computer:

  3.c.      The Local History Department mailbox may be accessed from any Department computer with internet access:

   
 4. CHECKING FOR CHAT/TEXT MESSAGES:

4.a. The Reference Department workstations, NPI13 & NPI15, have Meebo Notifier installed and set to log in automatically at start-up. This application logs into all necessary accounts & displays a pop-up window when messages are received. Additionally, messages should be checked hourly by staff on duty, in case the initial notification was not received.

4.b. The Reference Departmetn Meebo account may be accessed from any Department computer, via the Notifier application or on the web:

5. ACTIONS:

5.a. Delete all junk. If you’re not sure if something is junk, ask. Email and chat services can be targets of spam.

5.b. Respond to all email/chat/text messages with the following:

5.b.1. For email messages, meaningful identifying subject line (i.e.: “Sara Deming Obituary”).
5.b.2. For chat/text messages, Service Identification (i.e. "Hi, this is the Berkshire Athenaeum's Reference Department.")
5.b.3. Courtesy thank you (e.g. “Thank you for your inquiry”).
5.b.4. Response to the inquiry: the information or action requested, a referral to another resource, library department; etc.
5.b.5. For email messages, closing that includes your name. This is a critical timesaver for both the patron and library coworkers who may need to follow up.  Employees who prefer to not give their full name may use first initial and surname (H. Ballard) or first name and surname initial (Harlan B.) as they choose.

6.         REFERRALS: Inquiries that require referral to another department for satisfaction should be acknowledged with a response message to the patron that you are making the referral. By copying this same response message to the destination department, the inquiry is both acknowledged and forwarded in one step (i.e.: “Mr. Wendell, our Local History Department has custody of our Melville Collection and you will notice I have copied them this message.”).

7.         DEPARTMENTAL ADDRESSES:

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Updated March 2012