Chat Problems

When we log into Chat we aren't able to choose the queue to monitor. The chat window on our homepage says we are unavailable even when we're logged in. It has been reported so hopefully it will be fixed soon.

IM Service Working Again

From Mark Mabbett - As far as I can tell IM is serviceable again--please staff it as you normally would. They're still working on some issues so it isn't perfect yet but basic functionality is back. Right now transferring, IP addresses, and emailing yourself transcripts isn't working. But that should be back at some point. There is also a character count for all messages, just like you were answering a text message. It will count down from 140 but you can ignore that and make it go to negative numbers. Also, the guest IDs are really long now, something like 25 digits. Most importantly, the default status is set to Away when you log in so you'll need to change that to Available as soon as you log in. They are working on setting that default back to Available. Be patient and let the IM TF know if something is wrong and we'll see what we can do.

IM service down

From Mark Mabbett - This is just a quick note on behalf of the IM Task Force. Our IM service, Libraryh3lp, is currently updating their service so the system is not working. Since we don't really know much about when it will be up we're not going to monitor IM until further notice--hopefully today but that is really unknown. The system may not be stable for a couple of days so rather than let our users have a bad experience with an unstable system we're saying no IM until further notice. The public facing windows shouldn't be accessible since they require someone to login and monitor them to display. If you get any questions please send them my way and I'll send an update to the list when we're back to normal

IM - Business Team Rooms

If students want to know how to reserve a team room on chat, send them this link rather than sending the IM video link -
https://leeds-trs.colorado.edu/

IM Video Website & Webchat Tricks

from Matt's e-mail -

Here is the link for the IM videos I showed at the staff meeting yesterday.
http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/research/subjectguides/codelibrary/videos.html


Webchat tricks from Mark Mabbett

a. If when you log in you don't see people in Buddies (and you're sure
someone should be there) you can switch your status from Available to Unavailable back to Available and it should pick up the status of other people. You may have to do this a couple of times and Libraryh3lp is currently working on this so that soon we don't even have to toggle our status. I think people have been doing this by logging in and out.

b. There are also times when the browser resizes and you lose the top
edge of the chat or the Buddy List which makes it so that you can't transfer a chat or move the window around because you can't grab the top of the window. To fix this hit F11 and your web address bar will disappear. Hit
F11 again and it will come back with the chat windows and Buddy list in the correct place.

c. The chat window shows the referring URL and IP address. The URL is
clickable so you can see exactly where a patron is coming from-the exact search in Chinook or exact research guide. Also the IP address will tell you whether someone needs to log into the VPN or if they are already on campus. Any IP that starts with 128.138.XXX.XXX is on campus and any IP that starts 198.11.XXX.XXX is logged into the VPN. I just like this information to know whether or not I need to send Alison H's Jing video about the VPN.

WebChat

The username and password for WebChat is:
username: ucbbus
password: Bluesky1

Remember that a new chat message opens in the same window as the Buddies list so white space to the left of the list needs to be visible. Since we now have sound on the computer, we don't have to stare at the screen looking for a message to pop up.

You can change your status from Available to Away, etc., by clicking on the down arrow next to "Available" and selecting one of the other choices.

Pidgin Instant Messaging - Testing

Taken from Matt's email message:
Pidgin was installed on the reference computer Friday. For the most part, it works just like Meebo. Here is how you can get started experimenting with it.

Double click on the Pidgin icon on the desktop.
Click the ADD button on the window that appears.
The following screen will ask you for some information.
The first thing you need to change is the protocol.
Click the arrow next to the AIM icon, and then choose XMPP
The username is wmwbuslib
The domain is libraryh3lp.com
Leave the Resource as Home
Finally, the password is Bluesky1(don't forget the capital B)

You should see a new screen that shows you are available.
You may click close on the window with the close and add buttons.
Now that you are available you can ask yourself a question. Fun Fun.
Here is the link to the box to ask yourself a question.
http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/business/askbus1.html
There is also an icon below the Pidgin icon on the desktop that you can use to get to this website.
Hope you have fun IMing yourself. Just click the red X at the top when you are done.
BTW, you'll still want to log in to meebo during your reference desk shifts.
We are just testing pidgin right now.