Live
Help
Frequently Asked Questions
 What
is Live Help?
Who
can use this service?
What
questions are best suited for Live Help?
Who
answers the questions?
How
is my privacy or anonymity protected?
Is
any special software required to use Live Help?
What is Live Help?
Live Help is a reference service provided by Jesuit colleges and universities
throughout the country that enables patrons to ask questions about research,
library resources, and
library
policies
through
a realtime
instant messenging service. Following a chat session, patrons can receive
a transcript of their online discussion in their e-mail.
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Who can use this service?
The service is available to current students, faculty, and staff of the
participating Jesuit institutions without restrictions. When
a non-affiliated patron accesses the service, the librarian may do a
brief reference interview and point the patron
to freely available web based resources, or may refer the patron to a
local public institution if the question does not pertain to Georgetown's
unique collections or resources.
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What
types of questions are best suited for Live
Help?
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Help searching the library
catalog.
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Assistance selecting and searching
appropriate databases.
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Information about the library and its services.
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Help accessing library resources
when you are off campus.
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Internet search strategies.
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Patrons may be referred
to other resources if chat is not the most appropriate
medium for answering their question.
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Who answers the questions?
Librarians from Georgetown's Lauinger Library answer questions
Monday through Friday, generally during the day and early evening hours.
Librarians from
other Jesuit
colleges
and
universities
or
contract
librarians
provided
through a division of Tutor.com will answer questions
received outside
Georgetown reference
staff's online service hours. If you would like assistance from a Georgetown
librarian outside of Georgetown's Live Help service hours, please
stop in, call,
or send us an email.
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How is my privacy
or anonymity protected?
Chat
transcripts are available to the individual librarian who helped the
patron for 90 days and to the Georgetown LiveHelp administrators
for 2 years. The form patrons fill out to initiate a chat requests the
patron's name and e-mail, but patrons are not required to provide that
information. Transcripts of chats are purged of any identifying information
before being used
for training purposes.
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Is any special software
required to use Live Help?
Live Help works with Firefox, Internet Explorer (version
6 SP1 or higher) and Netscape Navigator (version 8.0 or
higher). It does not work with Mozilla. If you use American
Online (AOL), we recommend that after connecting, you use
Internet Explorer, Netscape or
Firefox instead of the AOL browser.
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We welcome
your comments and suggestions.
Last updated: 5/21/07
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