Chatstaff: Afterhours Coverage Now Available

North Carolina's state-wide service, NCknows, transitioned to LibraryH3lp last year.  With that change, I started managing a dedicated crew of librarians to provide the after hours coverage.  Our transition to LibraryH3lp and our own backup service has meant: 

• Higher Quality: Our librarians pick up calls faster, spend more time with patrons and are empowered to go the extra mile to make sure patrons get what they need. No more dropped patrons due to long waits or response times.
• A More Popular Service: Traffic has increased dramatically since we transitioned to LibraryH3lp and provided our own staff. 
• More Savings: We've been able to increase traffic, increase quality and provide software that is more flexible and easier to use while increasing savings at the same time.

Now that NCknows has been up and running for nearly a year with this arrangement,  we are ready to expand this service to other libraries and consortia, and I've formed a new company, Chatstaff, to provide this service to other libraries and consortia.  My hope is to continue to provide the same high-level of quality service, while further reducing the cost for all participants.

Chatstaff is designed to offer backup and after hours coverage for virtual reference services. It is founded by NCknows Coordinator Phil Blank and librarian Pam Sessoms. We aim to provide the highest quality reference coverage in a way that makes sense for all libraries. Here's how it works: 

• Our staff is composed of a select crew of MLS level librarians. They have extensive experience with academic and public libraries and LibraryH3lp.
• We can work with you to decide your hours of coverage. Unlike other services, Chatstaff is flexible to your needs.  Do you need 24/7? Great, we can help, but if you only need after hours coverage or select hours, we can provide that as well and save you resources. We can also help you implement the service, generate reports or do anything else your service requires. 
• Cost is determined by size of population and hours of coverage. We would be happy to send you a quote - just ask us using our pricing page. 
• When you're preparing to go live, we will work with you to make sure we have your library's information recorded so we can more easily assist your patrons and refer them back to you when necessary. After you go live, we continue to work with you to make sure the quality of the service and the effectiveness of your marketing is maximized.