Chat is casual and informal
Be friendly and approachable
Examples:
Too formal. Hello, I am the reference librarian on duty this morning. How may I assist you?
Too informal: LOL 'sup?
Better: Hi, give me a moment to read your question and I'll be right with you!
Try these friendly and approachable suggestions!
- adding their name to the canned "welcome" messages
- using positive feedback, like "Great question!" or "That's an interesting issue!"
- ending the chat with an invitation to chat again using the canned "bye" message
Respond Quickly
- Use the canned "welcome" messages to let the person know you are there.
- Let the person know it may a few minutes to answer their questions. It may take me 5 minutes to find an answer, but don't want to leave them hanging. Every now and then, pop back into the chat to let them know you are still working on the their question.
- Try to keep your responses as brief as possible. Wordy and chat don't go well together. If you have a lengthy response, it's probably best to break it up into chunks rather than spend time crafting a paragraph and then sending it all at once.
Avoid Missed Chats
- If others are also monitoring chat
- Let other chat operators know you need to step away
- Set yourself to away
- If you are the only one monitoring -
What about lengthy Chats?
- Chats are not intended to be 20 minutes of solid typing.
- Feel free to use your judgment and transition a chat to a more appropriate mode of communication when necessary. If you can tell up front that a question is too complex or if a patron peppers you with questions, suggest they call or offer to reply to them via email.
