LibAnswers +Social.
It's not just Reference Service; It's Customer Service!
A Multi-Channel Communication Platform for Successful Libraries. Answer Users' Questions via LibChat, SMS, Email, Twitter, Facebook... and Provide a Self-service FAQ Portal, too.
Start A Free Trial!Now with backup reference staffing, too!
With the QuestionPoint acquisition, we now offer a backup chat staffing option for LibAnswers.
Contact us about this service.
Ensure your users get the answers they need, whenever and wherever. Embed LibChat and "Ask Us" widgets into any webpage, manage all social media communication, and take control of your institutional knowledge with a powerful ticketing system and FAQ builder. LibAnswers does it all, with detailed statistics to boot!
Social Media Management & Engagement
Social media has changed how customer conversations happen. Your users are tweeting you questions and posting on Facebook and Pinterest. Use LibAnswers to engage with users on social media and create fans & library advocates.
All Social Activity in One Place
Activity from Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest in one place enables you to efficiently monitor and engage all social channels at once.
Respond/Post to Any Social Channel
It's as easy as answering a ticket or a question in LibAnswers - all point-and-click operations.
Filter and Organize Channel Activity
Apply Filters across any social channels to stay on top of all active conversations. Flag posts for followups and deletions. LibAnswers has everything you need for effective monitoring of social channels.
Schedule Social Posts in Advance
Keep your social media followers engaged even when the library is closed. Schedule posts in advance so your users get a steady stream of social activity from the library.
Always Active, Always Engaged
Time your Social Media activity around library events and schedule posts on every channel to promote the library services and to actively engage your community.
In-Depth Statistics Across All Channels
Detailed statistics for each channel in one place give you a clear picture of the library's Social Media activity.
Engagement Analytics
Who are your social media followers, what are their interests, which users do you most engage with... Our engagement analytics help you understand your social media efforts.
Complete the Picture of Library Activity
In today's online world, social media is an essential part of a communication strategy. We help you provide a qualitative picture of the Library's activity on Social Media.
Fully Integrated Communication Workflows
Unify all library communication channels into one platform. Integrate social media with your reference and outreach services and make it part of your communication workflows.
Become Social Media Experts
LibAnswers enables librarians of any skill level to use the social media channels to their full advantage. Our easy-to-use and easy-to-understand social media functionality guides you through everything you need to know to master the social media strategy.
LibChat for Real-Time Conversations
Used by thousands of libraries worldwide - either individually or in a consortial resource sharing setting - LibChat is the ideal chat reference tool. Comprehensive chat functionality, many embedding options, and integrated reference and helpdesk workflows make LibChat an easy choice.
Fully Customizable and Embeddable Widgets
Customize the look and feel of the widgets and embed different widgets on any webpage or inside any web app. Embed them inside Springshare apps with one click!
- In-Page, Pop-out, Slide-button, Bottom Slide-up etc.
- Customizable Skins for Each Widget.
- Optional Initial Question Customization.
- Anonymous or Name Required Option.
Offer Help Proactively via Pop Up Widgets
Promote your chat reference service to your community and prompt users to ask for help at point-of-need. Set your LibChat widget to automatically pop on the screen and offer help if the user has been on a page for longer than X seconds.
- Customizable timers, separate for each Page/Widget
- Various trigger modes (pop up, slide up, etc.)
Ensure Conversation is on the Right Track
Ensure a rock-solid chat experience for your patrons, no matter where they are or who's online. Create fallback widgets to connect users to the help they need. Chats follow users as they navigate from page to page, and chat works beautifully on any and every device.
- "Follow me" - chats follow users as they navigate pages.
- Send and receive files during the chat session.
- Send "We're still working on your question!" messages automatically.
- Fallback rules connect users to different queues based on operator availability.
Transcipts and Ratings for Quality Control & Analysis
After each chat, the patron can provide rating with any optional comments about the chat. All transcripts are saved automatically, but the admin can purge them on demand. The system can also scrub patron-identifying data from saved transcripts.
- Fully-searchable chat transcripts.
- Timestamp for each sent and received message.
- Privacy controls and scrubbing of data.
- Quality control and ratings included.
Operators in full control of the chat experience
With LibChat, your chat operators are in the driver's seat. Our customizable chat interface will have your staff managing large volumes of chats with ease. Collaborate and transfer chats, engage in operator-only chat, etc.
- Save custom login settings for departments and users.
- Transfer chats to other chat operators.
- Chat with other operators to collaborate on answers.
- Turn chats into tickets for later follow up with one click.
Helpdesk Platform with FAQ Builder
The LibAnswers platform provides libraries with complete email ticketing functionality, fully integrated with the rest of the communication channels. Answer emailed tickets from one central dashboard, collaborate with colleagues on ticket answers, use different queues for various library departments, build and maintain a knowledge base and FAQs... it's all here.
Universal Team Inbox
Assign any number of email addresses to LibAnswers, and all questions will flow to the main Dashboard for all to see.
Embed "Ask Us" Widgets on any webpage and customize question fields. All submissions are queued in the LibAnswers dashboard, too.
Collaborate on Answers without stepping on each other's toes. Leave Internal Notes for other librarians, and see who else is looking at the same question.
Ticketing System for Great Customer Service
Send email replies using Rich Text Editor, include links and attachments too! Our Spam control tools ensure email deliverability for outgoing emails while also actively monitoring for any incoming spam. Threaded conversations prevent creation of duplicate tickets. The system also features...
When every question and every answer matters, the LibAnswers Ticketing system ensures that patrons get the highest-quality answers in the shortest amount of time. Customer service FTW!
Create FAQs for Self Service Help
Create a community knowledge base portal with FAQ entries containing videos, rich media, documents, and any info necessary for your users to find the answers they need.
When LibChat operators are offline, users can search FAQ entries inside any LibAnswers' chat or support/ask us widget. This ensures that patrons can get help 24/7.
FAQ entries are directly searchable in LibGuides search results, and you can use widgets to embed LibAnswers FAQ content on any other page or site.
A Library Market First: Facebook Messenger Integration
Facebook Messenger is the most popular social messaging and communication platform. With LibAnswers, you can establish a direct presence on Facebook Messenger and answer your users' questions directly from there.
Be within easy reach
Once the user has their library available on FB Messenger, it becomes really easy - and effective - to create personal connections with the user and help them with any research or library-related questions. Patrons use Messenger to communicate, and this places the library in this important communications channel.
Be where your users Are
Facebook is currently the most important social & communication network in the world. LibAnswers helps you establish a solid presence on both Facebook and Messenger app so that you can effectively and efficiently communicate with your users.
Search Query Analyzer for Improved FAQ Accuracy
Improve the quality and accuracy of your FAQ Knowledge Base with LibAnswers' Query Analyzer search analysis tool. Query Analyzer analyzes all search queries in the system and reports whether the search resulted in a successful "hit", i.e. whether the user landed on an FAQ entry which answered their question.
Review the search queries on your site and even create new FAQ entries directly from Query Analyzer with just a few clicks. Query Analyzer is a unique and incredibly useful tool for fine-tuning your Knowledge Base and ensuring accurate matches to patrons' Frequently-Asked Questions.
Systems & Services Management
The Systems & Services Management module of LibAnswers helps you manage status updates and convey important information about your library systems such as your online catalog, discovery service, subscription databases, library website... and any other system or service at your library.
Systems Help Widgets
Create product-specific help widgets for all your systems and embed them anywhere. If patrons are in your catalog, they get catalog-specific help at point-of-need. One-click live help is available with LibChat integration, or patrons can submit tickets into your LibAnswers queues.
Feedback & Ideas Manager
Solicit patron feedback on the library products they use and open up the conversation by enabling users to submit product enhancement ideas. Manage all feedback and ideas seamlessly, on the back end.
Systems Status Dashboard
Create a real-time dashboard showing the status of each library system, with additional information available for any problem reports or outages. Embed the status widgets anywhere so users can always be up-to-date on the library's IT infrastructure.
In the past we had virtual reference services scattered through different systems. LibAnswers makes it easy by putting them all one place. Even better, it allows us to collect and analyze data on all our reference services to inform decision-making.
In-Depth Statistics & Reference Analytics
LibAnswers provides detailed statistics helping you provide tangible data about your library's communications and reference activity. Check out some of the statistical report options in LibAnswers:
Real-Time Activity Reports
View real-time usage on everything in the system. Measure FAQ growth over time, hits on FAQs, total tickets for all your reference channels, LibChat and SMS stats, and even total number of search queries.
Detailed Chat Statistics
See how your chat service is used. Discover busy periods and view the daily, weekly, monthly distributions. Report on user browser/OS info, including mobile analysis.
Reference Analytics Included
Record all reference transactions (online or in person) in LibAnswers and produce detailed reference reports - handy when preparing year-end library use reports.
Integrated READ Scale
With permission from the READ scale creator, Dr. Bella Karr Gerlich, the READ scale is fully integrated into Reference Analytics. Record the READ score for every reference transaction and run READ score statistics.
Social Media Activity Statistics
Demonstrably measure & report on your social media activity in all channels. Run aggregate statistics or drill down to individual channel engagement statistics.
FAQ Access Statistics
View detailed statistics on FAQ pages, including users' comments and votes. Query Analyzer reports expose gaps in your content and help identify areas where new FAQs can be created or adjusted.
Combine With Other Springshare Tools For The Ultimate User Experience
Tight integration with other Springshare tools creates a winning platform, which helps libraries meet the needs of the community and ensure that users have an amazing library experience - always.
LibGuides / CMS
Curate and showcase library resources. Create guides, build websites, A-Z lists, or staff intranet. Embed library resources in courseware. And that's just a start! More >>
LibAnswers +Social
Communication and Social Media for Libraries. Answer questions via Chat, Email, SMS, or Social media. Build a knowledge base & FAQs. Get detailed reference stats.
LibCal
Manage Library Hours, Online Event Signups, Room & Equipment Bookings, Research Consultations, etc. Integrations with Calendars, Outlook, gCal, iCal... More >>
LibInsight
An affordable platform to gather, and analyze all library statistics. SUSHI harvesting, COUNTER compliance, cross-dataset analytics, custom dashboard builders... oh my! More >>
LibCRM
CRM platform tailored for needs of libraries. Your users are your most important asset and LibCRM helps build and cultivate relationships with your user community. More >>
LibStaffer
Move away from paper and excel sheets. LibStaffer manage staff schedules, service point staffing, student-worker and volunteers hours with powerful reporting capabilities to boot. More >>
LibWizard
Create web forms, conduct online surveys & solicit feedback from users. Build interactive tutorials, and test patrons' research skills with quizzes & online assessments modules. More >>
E-Reserves
A cost-effective solution for e-reserves and reading lists. Integrates with LibGuides, and with courseware via our LTI module. Copyright tracking, and user authentication. More >>
Create a #librarianfirst, service-oriented platform customized for the needs of your library. See How it All Fits Together >>