Scope: LTS staff who interact with patrons should record information about these transactions.  In 2019, the e-resources troubleshooting staff moved to using the integrated statistics counting feature in LibAnswers, and no longer uses Count-It to record transactions; the following procedure has been updated accordingly.  LTS Procedure #141 refers to troubleshooting of library resources on the behalf of patrons. Note: If you are involved in any presentations for academic departments or students,  please refer to the information about reporting presentations.

Contact:  Liisa Mobley

Unit: E-Resources

Date last updated:  01/02/2024

Date of next review: January 2025

About LibAnswers

Information to record when closing up the ticket

Hashtags and Internal Notes



A.  About LibAnswers:

  1. URL for LibAnswers:  http://cornell.libanswers.com/  and you can log in by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.  You can also log into: https://cornell.libapps.com/libapps/login.php, which includes all SpringShare products - you will have to chose LibAnswers after logging in.
  2. LibAnswers help: https://ask.springshare.com/libanswers
  3.  Email list if you have questions: e-resources-l@cornell.edu
  4. Reference staff may submit questions directly to our queue in LibAnswers, and emails from patrons can also be forwarded to the email, Cornell E-Resources Team <incoming@cornell.libanswers.com>, which will then load the question into LibAnswers.
  5.  Record all transactions and approximate time spent with patrons.  Make it quick - you don't need to add a lot of detail.
  6. The initial report will pull in netid of the patron in the report, but this will be anonymized in a matter of days. 


B.  Information to record when closing up the ticket:

Once you have completed your troubleshooting work, and you are ready to close the ticket, fill in the following fields at the bottom of the ticket.  NOTE: If you try to enter some of the information while you are still working on the issue, the reference transaction will be entered twice!!  You will then have to delete the duplicate transaction. So, please wait until you are closing up the ticket to record this information.

Fields at the bottom of the ticket:

  1. "Add to Analytics" - when you are ready to close the ticket, then change this to "Reference Transaction"
  2. "Add to FAQ Group" -  leave as "Do not add to FAQ Group"
  3. "Add to Analytics" - leave as "Reference Transaction"
  4. "Unit" - LTS
  5. "Location" - usually, this will be "library office" unless you are working remotely, then it would be "off-campus."
  6. "Duration" -  Duration refers to the amount of time spent interacting with the patron, and some of the prep work done to fulfill this interaction.  NOTE: LibAnswers will record the total time that the ticket is open, but we want to keep track of the time you actually spent working on it, so please make sure to fill out this field.
  7. "# Patrons" - This will usually be just one patron.
  8. "Patron type" -  If you know patron type, record it.  Otherwise use "unknown."
  9. "Mode" - Should be "email"
  10. "Content/type" -  "information" or "software/systems"
  11. "Prep/follow-up" - If additional time is spent after communication is over with the patron, record the time here.
  12. "Staff type" - "Other staff"
  13. "Internal Note" - Record the appropriate hashtags; the list is below.  Also please record any notes you would like to add (title of resource or further explanation.  Don't spend too much time!)





D.  Hashtags and Internal Notes

  1. "Internal Notes":  Keep it brief.  Maybe just the title of the resource, and a very short description.
  2. Hashtags to use in the Internal Notes field.  We use the hashtags to survey which types of problems arise frequently.  What we are using:
    1. #ER_activation - resource needs to be activated, or re-activated; replacement access needs purchased
    2. #ER_blocked_netid - patron netid blocked, probably due to a compromised netid, and/or an excessive downloading event
    3. #ER_browser - issue related to the browser; ex. cache and cookies, browser extensions, specific browser issues
    4. #ER_closed_by_merge - duplicate entries are merged into one ticket
    5. #ER_excessive_download - publisher notification of an excessive downloading event
    6. #ER_ezproxy - resource needed to be added to ezproxy, or needed an ezproxy tweak
    7. #ER_false_alarm - problem resolves prior to us looking at it
    8. #ER_festering - referring to issues which seem to take forever to resolve
    9. #ER_holdings - the holdings information was incorrectly represented in our catalogs
    10. #ER_IP- IP list incorrect at vendor's end
    11. #ER_metadata_error - may be a cataloging error (either Cornell's or vendor-supplied), or a Summon, 360 Link, or other system metadata error
    12. #ER_migration - issues related to migration of content to new publisher platforms; also include migration issues when one journal sold to another publisher
    13. #ER_missing_content - content is missing; may be a corrupt file, or a pdf which is not there, author does not allow access to article
    14. #ER_multiple_platform_error - content is posted on more than one platform, but we might not have full access on all platforms; patron generally wants access on the platform that does not give full access
    15. #ER_openurl - issues related to openURLs, such as the problem reports we get from ProQuest
    16. #ER_passkey - passkey is not working correctly
    17. #ER_payment - we have not paid the publisher, either through our fault or theirs
    18. #ER_permit - permits associated with the patron netid don't allow access to CUL resources
    19. #ER_platform - major or minor issues with the publisher or provider platform
    20. #ER_project_haggis - problems identified by Peter McCracken for his 360 review project
    21. #ER_subscription - ex. desired holdings not included in our subscription, or we missed a journal moving to another publisher
    22. #ER_technical - some kind of technical issue. For things like: VPN not working right- patron has a problem but we can't recreate it.
    23. #ER_url - issues related to the url, such as link no longer working
    24. #ER_user_limit - patron runs into problems with access due to user limits
    25. #ER_vendor_records - ex.  records pulled for unknown reason, or record not pulled out in time (Safari)
    26. #ER_walkthrough - spent time with the patron on the phone, or through email, explaining each step of the process to get access
    27. #ER_withdrawal - content has been pulled; may refer to e-book, e-journal, database, or other content




 



2 Comments

  1. Rebecca M. Utz

    We need a category #technical for things like: VPN not working right- patron has a problem but we can't recreate it.

  2. Liisa S. Mobley

    adding this as a placeholder:

    How to clean up RefAnalytics records for the annual data collection (date needed by:  July 15, 2019)

    For those missing a unit:

    • Each person inputting transactions should do this review.
    • Go to:  cornell.libanswers.com and login.
    • In the top bar, click on the “Ref. Analytics” down arrow and select “View/Edit Transactions.”
    • In the second gray block, click on “Entered by,” start typing your name, and select it. 
    • Click on the “Unit” down arrow and click on “No value set.”
    • Set the date to start on January 1, 2019 (defaults to a month only).
    • Then click on “Filter” to show the records that meet those criteria.  The records are listed in reverse chronological order.
    • On the very left, you see a record ID, followed by a ticket ID if there is one.  If there is a ticket, you can click on the ticket ID to see ticket, and can note when the transaction started.  This can clue you into how far back you may need to check for other reference transactions associated with the interaction.  Be aware that some tickets might still be open.
    • You can also search on the ticket ID to see all of the other associated transactions.
    • You can also use the title, user, etc. to search, or just scroll on down through.  Title (Question) probably won’t change.
    • Determine which records are duplicates if any.
    • For duplicate records, click on trash can symbol under the ID.
    • For records you want to update, click on the edit symbol (notepad and pencil) under the ID.   Then make sure to select the appropriate value for each required measure: date, unit, location, duration, mode and “content type” if directional.