Meeting Students Where They Are to Boost Your Stats!: Proactive Slide-out Chat for Point of Need Service

Abstract

The University Library at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) has offered chat reference for patrons since the Spring of 2001 and has used Springshare’s LibChat tool since the Summer of 2019. For most of this time patrons needed to visit a special page on the library’s website to access the chat. In Summer 2022, the University Library introduced a slide-out chat widget to appear on every page of the library website. In addition to making the chat service more widely available across our online ecosystem, the chat widget prompts patrons to ask a question after they spend 20 seconds on any webpage. This allows us to meet patrons where they are, for a point of need service. Before launching the slide-out reference chat, IUPUI University Library averaged 32 chats per month. Since launching the new chat widget, we have averaged 74 chats per month, an increase of 230%. This presentation will focus on the University Library’s experience in implementing this type of chat widget, how it compares to our previous methods of soliciting patron questions, and the challenges that an increase in chat reference questions has brought. We will also share our future plans for the service, including taking greater advantage of the tools that Springshare provides for chat reference.