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Hello All,<br>
<br>
I just got wind of a request process going on to staff L-Net after
hours (see below) . It's kind of late in the game for this year -
the proposals are due by Friday March 30th, and the last day for
questions to Sue Robinson ( 503 988 3355) is this Friday, March
23rd. If you call Sue Robinson you can get a copy of the full
Request for Proposals and also a spread sheet of the times that need
to be covered as well as the number of questions that typically
happen during those hours.<br>
<br>
I just thought it would be great for an enterprising Oregon
Librarian to put together a proposal that might help keep more
librarians in Oregon working - and doing great L-Net work at that! <br>
<br>
-Bob Schroeder <br>
<br>
<br>
<big><b>Request for Intermediate Proposals (RIP)<br>
for Virtual Reference Service Provider<br>
<br>
March 1, 2012<br>
<br>
PROPOSALS DUE: Friday, March 30, 2012 4:00 PM PT<br>
<br>
<br>
Refer Questions in Writing to:<br>
<br>
Sue Robinson<br>
Senior Procurement Analyst<br>
205 NE Russell Street<br>
503-988-3355 Fax 503-988-5511<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:suer@multcolib.org">suer@multcolib.org</a><br>
</b></big>
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<![endif]--><b>The last day for questions regarding this solicitation is
Friday, March 23, 2012-- 2:00 PM PT<br>
<br>
<br>
</b><big><b>Submit Proposals to the Attention of: <br>
Multnomah County <br>
Department of Libraries <br>
Attention Sue Robinson<br>
205 NE Russell Street<br>
503-988-3355 Fax 503-988-5511<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:suer@multcolib.org">suer@multcolib.org</a></b></big><br>
Proposals by fax, Proposals by email <br>
<br>
<br>
Here is the first part of the RIP:<br>
<br>
INTRODUCTION: Beginning in 2003, The Multnomah County Library
(MCL) received a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant
from the Oregon State Library to coordinate a statewide virtual
reference service, L-net. L-net provides access to a reference
librarian via live chat, text messaging and e-mail to everyone who
lives, works or goes to school in Oregon. 39 libraries in Oregon
work together to deliver the service roughly Monday-Friday, 9am-8pm
Pacific Time, plus some weekend hours, and a virtual reference
service provider extends the hours to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.<br>
The Library is seeking a virtual reference service provider to
extend the hours to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for July 1 2012 to
June 30, 2013. The provider should employ librarians who have
experience in libraries as well as experience providing virtual
reference. The provider and their employees should be willing to
follow L-net's service philosophy
(<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.oregonlibraries.net/philosophy">www.oregonlibraries.net/philosophy</a>) and rubric for quality in
virtual reference (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.oregonlibraries.net/notable">http://www.oregonlibraries.net/notable</a>) when
delivering virtual reference service to L-net patrons.<br>
<br>
SCOPE OF WORK: The Library currently provides virtual reference
service via live chat, e-mail and text messaging. The Library is
seeking to contract a virtual reference service provider to deliver
chat and text messaging reference service through our SparkRef
instant messaging client, as well as new formats that can be
integrated into that client in the future.<br>
SparkRef is a modified version of Spark from Jive Software. It is a
Java-based instant messaging client and is available for Windows,
Macintosh and Linux. It can be downloaded from
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.oregonlibraries.net/spark">www.oregonlibraries.net/spark</a> and test logins are available upon
request.<br>
<br>
The library seeks staffing (all times Pacific): Sunday: Midnight to
1:59pm, 7:00pm to 11:59pm<br>
Monday – Thursday: Midnight to 8:59am, 8:00pm to 11:59pm<br>
Friday: Midnight to 8:59am, 5:00pm to 11:59pm<br>
Saturday: Midnight to 9:59am, 2:00pm to 11:59pm<br>
<br>
For these hours, our service is generally busiest during the school
year (mid-September to June) during the hours of our local coverage,
9am-8pm. The rest of the time, traffic averages fewer than five
patrons per hour. Attached is a spreadsheet detailing traffic by
hour on our service from February 1, 2011 to January 31, 2012, and
broken out by weekends vs. weekdays. <br>
<br>
In delivering service, librarians will follow L-net's service
philosophy (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.oregonlibraries.net/philosophy">www.oregonlibraries.net/philosophy</a>) and rubric for
quality in virtual reference
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.oregonlibraries.net/notable">http://www.oregonlibraries.net/notable</a>). Specifically, librarians
will:<br>
<br>
1. Respond to queries in a reasonable amount of time. Patrons
should wait less than one minute for service.<br>
<br>
2. Greet patrons with a friendly and welcoming tone. <br>
<br>
3. Conduct a reference interview to clarify the patron's request.<br>
<br>
4. Use authoritative sources to answer questions, including
licensed resources available to Oregon citizens. The Library will
provide access to these for the contractor.<br>
<br>
5. Ask follow-up questions to confirm the patron's needs are met.<br>
<br>
6. Offer additional help to each patron.<br>
<br>
7. Offer to refer patrons to L-net's follow-up service when
questions can't be answered in live chat. The SparkRef software
provides an easy way to refer patrons to local or subject expect
librarians.<br>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
"OCCUPY RESEARCH!"
_________________________________________________________
Robert Schroeder
Education and University Studies Librarian,
Coordinator of Library General Education Instruction
Associate Professor
Portland State University
503.725.4519 phone
503.725.4524 fax
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:schroedr@pdx.edu">schroedr@pdx.edu</a>
P.O Box 1151
Portland OR 97207-1151
280F Millar Library
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