An Update on the Virtual Library

Still reading? Great, clickbait headline successful. For those of you interested in what's going on in the Virtual Library (VL), I wanted to share an update. The VL opened its virtual doors on Monday, Sept. 11 and has been operating 70 hours per week, mirroring the hours of most of our physical libraries. The VL is staffed by McKinzey Manes, Craig Wolf, Jessica Moad, and myself.

What do we do now? 
In addition to answering the published phone number for Downtown and for Capitol Hill (the latter of which we picked up on Monday, Sept. 25), we're replying to members via email, social media, metrolibrary.org, and text (SMS). We respond to questions you'd expect (account management, directory assistance) but what you might not know is that the VL provides tech support to our members and to staff for all of our digital collections (OverDrive, hoopla, EBSCO eBooks, Speakaboos, RBdigital, Biblioboard, etc.). We do this by way of the How-To Guides, the FAQ (the green button at the top of all metrolibrary.org pages), and through phone calls and emails we receive from you and the public. If you have a digital collection question, we're here to help.

How much do we do now?
Through the first 7 weeks of operation, on average:

• We're being contacted 60 times/day
• We're answering 58 questions/day
• Tuesday is our busiest day of the week, both in terms of questions (76) and contacts (82)
• We transfer/forward 10 calls/emails per day (shelf checks, room bookings, job application follow up, etc.)

What's next?

• Starting today (Friday, Nov. 3), we will begin answering the phones for Beyond The Walls on nights and weekends
• We will begin answering the phones for Ralph Ellison when they close for HVAC maintenance (currently scheduled for Monday, Nov. 13)
• The IT Department is currently installing hardware and software that should allow us to more easily track incoming call stats for all libraries and see the queue of VL callers
• We plan to roll out text (SMS) and chat (IM) reference on our website and in the catalog later this fiscal year

I hope you've found this post helpful and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have in the comments below.