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Instruction Librarian (IL) Guide

Providing policies, procedures, and other useful information for STLCC's Instruction Librarians

Ask a Librarian Emails

The emails are now distributed to a district-wide group. In the inbox, they will be from "Do-not-reply" with the subject "Ask a Librarian"

  • Use "Reply All" to let the other librarians know you are answering,
  • Forward or start a new message to answer the patron. 

Recommended Practices for Chat Help

  • Pick up questions promptly.
  • Introduce yourself using a canned greeting similar to "Hi. This is _______, a librarian from the _______ campus. I am reading your question and will be with you very soon."
  • Restate the patron's question and ask clarifying questions.
  • Ask about the assignment and course and what types of resources they could use.
  • Ask what sources the patron has checked and how much time they have.

For more ideas see:

  • Establish and maintain a professional, friendly tone.
  • Use canned messages to let patrons know that some questions are tricky or take time. (Relieve that feeling of being rushed.)
  • When pointing someone to a website, provide the link.
  • Avoid using too much library jargon and explain unfamiliar terms.
  • Take a teaching approach rather than simply answer questions.
  • Suggest improved search strategies when necessary.
  • Provide more than one type of resource, if appropriate.
  • Use shorter sentences when possible and break longer messages into shorter segments.
  • Ask plenty of questions throughout the session to get feedback.
  • Use other communication methods (e-mail, phone, etc.), as appropriate.
  • Encourage the patron to come back for more help, if necessary.
  • If possible, let the patron disconnect first.
  • Let the patron know if you need to leave before they disconnect and encourage them to initiate a new chat if they have more questions.
  • Thank the patron for using Ask A Librarian.

Chat Login Screen

Canned Messages for Ask a Librarian Email

Scripts/ Canned messages

Use these as starting points when answering student emails. Please edit according to the particular situation.

Hello _______________

Thank you for using Ask a Librarian. I am sorry you are having problems________________________________. Below you will find suggestions on how best to get help. I am also copying _________________ on my reply,  and someone from that department may reach out to you as well. However, I encourage you to be proactive and contact them with your questions. 

 

Enrollment Questions? Contact Admissions & Enrollment 

Enrollment Services offices are open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. on all campuses. St. Louis Community College is dedicated to supporting our students. If you have questions about course modalities or any other admissions or enrollment questions,  you may contact them via phone, email, or chat. 

866-452-7579
askus@stlcc.edu
Chat With Us / Admissions Campus Contact Info

 

Advising Questions? Contact Academic Advising 

Academic Advising can help with questions about courses, too.  If you have an immediate question, please email us at stlccadvising@stlcc.edu. 
If you are a current, degree-seeking student you have an assigned a student success advisor. Not sure who your student success advisor is or how to contact them directly? You can learn all of this in Navigate. Once logged in to Navigate you will click on Resources and then People. Find my Student Success Advisor (Navigate). If you do not have an advisor assigned to you yet, please contact Academic Advising to schedule an appointment. You can also contact them during work hours using their chat service.

314-539-5465
advising@stlcc.edu

 

Holds 

There are several reasons that you might have a hold on your records. You can find contact information for each type of hold by logging into Banner, choosing Student Services, then Student Records, then View Holds. For each hold, a contact is provided so that you can find out more about how to resolve the hold that appears on your record.

If you have a hold because of unreturned or billed library materials, let us know and we will put you in touch with circulation staff who will be able to check your record and make recommendations for how to resolve it. 

If you have more questions about holds, I think your best bet is to begin with contacting Academic Advising.

 

Additional Info:

You can find contact information for many departments on the Ways to Connect page: https://stlcc.edu/student-support/ways-to-connect.aspx. Finally,  if you have a smart phone and have not already done so, we recommend downloading STLCC's new mobile app: https://stlcc.edu/about/stlcc-mobile.aspx.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Thanks for choosing St. Louis Community College.  If you have questions about using the STLCC Libraries, please do not hesitate to contact Ask a Librarian. 

Chatstaff (Extended Hours Service)

Chatstaff is being integrated into our Libraryh3lp system so that students will have access to a librarian’s help after hours and on weekends when we’re not open. The Chatstaff hours as contracted with MOBIUS are:

  • M-F Midnight-8am and 5pm-Midnight
  • Sat Midnight-8am, 10am-10pm
  • Sun 10am-Midnight
  • Closed on Federal Holidays

You will notice there is some overlap between Chatstaff hours and our libraries’ opening hours. During those overlap times Chatstaff librarians will not see the questions if any STLCC librarians are logged in. To allow for those rare occasions where we forget to log out when we leave, there’s a timed rollover in place – after 120 seconds, the unanswered chat will roll into the Chatstaff queue to be picked up by their librarians. (You may already be aware that after 90 seconds, patrons receive an automated message: “We’re sorry! Right now our friendly librarians are away from the desk or helping other patrons. You can wait here for a few minutes or go to https://www.stlcc.edu/libraries/ssl/ask.asp and contact us by e-mail, phone, or in person.”)

During the overlap, we can transfer questions to Chatstaff by selecting transfer→ queue→ stlcc-chatstaff-transfers

If Chatstaff librarians feel they can’t adequately help our patron, they will ask for a student’s e-mail and then flag the transcript for follow up by us.

We can view Chatstaff transcripts in our dashboard; Chatstaff librarians have usernames that start with cs-

Transcript Analysis Guide

St. Louis Community College Libraries

Florissant Valley Campus Library
3400 Pershall Rd.
Ferguson, MO 63135-1408
Phone: 314-513-4514

Forest Park Campus Library
5600 Oakland
St. Louis, MO 63110-1316
Phone: 314-644-9210

Meramec Campus Library
11333 Big Bend Road
St. Louis, MO 63122-5720
Phone: 314-984-7797

Wildwood Campus Library
2645 Generations Drive
Wildwood, MO 63040-1168
Phone: 636-422-2000