DPL’s Reference Services department launched a new “ASK US!” chat reference service in 2013 after having participated in a state-wide chat cooperative for several years. In recent years, DPL librarians accounted for the majority of the daytime staffing of the public library chat cooperative, but Denver customer participation was relatively low and Denver customers sometimes had to wait for assistance and frequently did not reach a DPL librarian. As part of the transition, DPL was challenged with creating a seamless transition from one service to another overnight, and accomplishing that, addressing how to meet customers online where and when they needed us; additionally, the chat software lacked the functionality of uploading and sharing locally stored documents with customers in real-time during a chat session.

In partnership with DPL’s web and design teams, an ASK US! chat bubble icon was developed that aligned with DPL’s brand identity. The chat bubble was strategically placed on DPL’s Research, Kids, and Teens pages – spots where customers previously logged on to the statewide cooperative. Around midnight on July 1st, DPL’s web team placed the icon and link to the new chat service and ASK US! was officially launched. Soon after, the chat bubble was embedded in the online catalog’s “No titles found” page, and customers quickly began taking advantage of chatting with a librarian to get help searching the catalog, placing holds, and learning about Interlibrary Loan. With assistance from OCLC’s QuestionPoint staff and various subscription database IT staff, the ASK US! chat bubble and chat widget (called Qwidget) were also embedded in databases on the search and/or search results pages. DPL also worked with Denver Public Schools to provide a link to ASK US! from their LION (library catalog) site. To tackle the challenge of not being able to upload and share locally stored documents with customers during chat sessions, the Reference staff investigated how DPL’s recent transition to Google Apps might include a solution. Google Drive’s sharing capabilities provided a solution by giving librarians the option to quickly save, upload, and generate a link to share with the customer during the chat session.

DPL’s transition to its new ASK US! chat service is still ongoing, but the innovations described here have begun and should continue to have the desired impact. Wait times for customers have been reduced from frequently five minutes or more to an average of under 47 seconds. Because we can reach busy adults more quickly, Denver customer participation has increased by 47%. Denver customers are connecting with a DPL librarian 73% of the time, up from 44% of the time previously. Customer satisfaction with ASK US! is very positive – 91% say they would use the service again. While many companies and organizations struggle to gather customer feedback, DPL’s chat customers routinely provide qualitative data along with the quantitative data.

Examples of customer feedback include:

• Wonderful! Convenient! 6 am from my cellphone. How cool is that?! Love Denver Public Library!!
• Definitely use this again. I don't know what I don't know. There are journal references I find all the time I can't use because I don't know where to look. Good service.
• She saved me so many hours. This is a wonderful service.
• Helped me with my homework so much! I will recommend this service to all of my teachers, classmates and friends.