UC Pilot Digital Reference Project
Service Guidelines

Spring Quarter Extension:
Hours: Sunday – Thursday, 6-9p.m.
Begins: Sunday, April 3rd, 2005
Ends: Thursday, June 9th, 2005

1. Day	Campus
   Sunday	UCM/UCSD
   Sunday	UCSD
   Monday	UCLA
   Tuesday	UCSB
   Wednesday	UCI
   Thursday	UCR

UC Chat Pilot distribution list alias: ucchatpilot@lib.uci.edu

Service Guidelines

1. The librarian on duty between 6-9 p.m. will answer chat reference questions for all of the campuses involved in the pilot.

2. Types of questions to answer

   1. There are no restrictions on the type of question we will attempt to answer.

3. However,

   1. We will not fax photocopies to patrons.
   2. We will not leave the workstation to retrieve a print source. Rather, librarians should lead the patron to the library catalog and refer them to the appropriate source. It is also acceptable to call the reference desk and ask a colleague to look up the information.
   3. We will discontinue the session if a caller uses obscenities or otherwise behaves inappropriately. The librarian should use the "inappropriate" template response: "Expressions of violence or obscenities are considered inappropriate on this reference service. I will have to end this session."

4. Types of question to refer.
   

   The judgment as to when it’s appropriate to refer questions back to the home campus will be made by the librarian on duty. When the librarian on duty needs to refer the question to a local expert, s/he should:
   1. Tell the patron that the question is being referred to a librarian on the patron's campus.
   2. Close the transaction and use the forwarding pop-up box to forward the transcript onto the unique email address for the home campus:
      

      UCI	ask@lib.uci.edu
      UCLA	college-ref@library.ucla.edu
      UCM	library@ucmerced.edu
      UCR	rivref@ucr.edu (Humanities/Social Sciences); sciref@ucr.edu (Science)
      UCSB	ask@library.ucsb.edu
      UCSD	reference@ucsd.edu

      These referral addresses are included in the online manual for each UC campus involved in the pilot service.
   3. Include a brief message in the Comments section.
   4. Sign the message with your full name and contact information (phone and email.)

5. Databases we may co-browse.
   

   The pilot librarians will need to understand that they will be able to escort into databases to which UCI subscribes because they will be using the UCI software and servers. As long as the librarian uses the campus Web page that corresponds to the patron’s home campus (which should be the default web page that opens when the user logs in), he/she will only use the resources available to that campus.

6. Who may ask a question? Will we serve different user populations differently?
   
   We may refer medical & veterinary questions to the UC Davis Health Sciences Library (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/hsl/). The "Ask Now" service is staffed 10-5 Monday through Friday.
   
   
   We will develop a template answer to refer non-affiliated users who have in depth reference questions to a local public library or to the Asknow.org public libraries’ chat reference service.
   
   
   We will answer questions from non-affiliated users that concern campus resources and services. The CIG will continue to define and revise guidelines on a ongoing basis.

7. If incorrect campus information is given to a user (e.g., collection location, procedures) a local librarian will:
   
   1. contact the user with the correct information;
   2. send that information to the UC Chat Pilot distribution list and include a reminder that the user was notified.