The Qwidget

About the Qwidget

The Qwidget is a Meebo-like chat box that libraries can place anywhere on their website, at the customer's point of need. Unlike other widgets (like MeeboMe), the Qwidget will allow multiple concurrent sessions on the librarian side. For the librarian, the Qwidget is another customer entry point into the chat queue they already monitor. The only difference apparent to the librarian is the term “[Widget]” displayed at the beginning of the question. If you are assisting a Qwidget customer, there is no automatic page push functionality. You can still send pages as you normally do, but the customer will receive only the link and will need to click on the link to view the web page. (The link will open in another window for the customer if they click on the link.) You may need to direct the customer to click on the link to view the web page.

Are any Maryland libraries using the Qwidget?

Montgomery County Libraries are using the qwidget for customer questions above and beyond their AskUsNow! hours. Until the qwidget customers are viewable to the rest of Maryland and/or the whole of the cooperative, we will not be pushing qwidget use. See Qwidget Pilot for more info.

Where could we put the Qwidget?

The Qwidget can be placed anywhere on your website or other online spaces but key locations are on your front page and in a recurring table of contents, if possible. Other great locations for the Qwidget:

• Subject guides
• Young adult pages
• Readers advisory
• In the catalog (specifically, on a "no results" pages)
• In the subscription databases
• Social networking sites like MySpace, FaceBook, etc.

The QuestionPoint Widget (as customized for this test page):

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