Inappropriate Use of Ask a Librarian

If you feel that a patron is using Ask a Librarian inappropriately – either the original question crosses the line of acceptable behavior or follow-up questions become personal/invasive or otherwise inappropriate – please do one of the following:

• If you believe the question and underlying user behavior are legitimate but the chat is not going well, ask another librarian staffing Ask a Librarian if you may transfer the user to them. Briefly inform that librarian of the situation so that they are prepared when taking over the chat.
• When you are not certain that the inappropriateness is intentional, send the Inappropriate – No Question/Purpose Customer canned message to helps to ensure that the problem is not due to miscommunication.
• If you choose to end the session due to the patron’s behavior, send the Inappropriate – Bad Customer canned message. You can modify the script as needed to suit the situation.
• If the patron is threatening or overtly vulgar, send the Inappropriate – Bad Customer or Inappropriate – IP Captured canned message, mark the session using reference analytics, end the chat and notify Ask a Librarian staff.
• Before closing an inappropriate session, mark the interaction as “Bad Patron” using Reference Analytics.