Reference & Instruction Guide: Appointment

Service Model

• First Come, first served basis
• Patrons use self-service booking available on our website
• Patron's receive an personalized appointment with a librarian to discuss their research needs
• Librarians will offer suggestions, clarification, and relevant resources, along with next steps for the patron
• Courses that wish to embed the service into assignments or courses will work with the Information Literacy Librarian or Online Learning Librarian.

Delivery Method

• WebEx 
• Phone
• Face to Face appointments can be directed to the research help desk

Time

• Appointments start on the hour and there is a built-in buffer of 30 minutes between appointments.
• Consultations should last between 20 to 40 minutes. Occasionally appointments may run longer than 40 minutes, but librarians should aim for 30 minutes.  
• Appointment times will be available for every semester, with extra availability during times of high demand. 

To obtain a private, personalized and uninterrupted 30 minute research help session.

Help may include:

• know how to select the best resources for their assignment
• accessing and navigating electronic resources
• developing search strategies
• evaluating sources
• citing sources

Students should leave the session with a plan for next steps to continue their research.  As well as to all options for follow-up or future research help.

Patrons can self-schedule a research appointment using the online scheduler and completing the form. The link to the online scheduler can be found on the “Meet with a Librarian” webpage. It is also listed under the Ask A Librarian Help options.  

Patrons should: 

• Schedule 24hrs in advance 

• Upload a copy of the assignment or note information about topics 

• Provide contact information 

Patrons will receive an automatic reply to their request that contains: 

• Dates and time for the appointment 

• WebEx Meeting link 

• Cancellation link 

Patrons will receive a reminder email 24hrs in advance of the scheduled appointment. 

When a patron schedules an appointment, the librarian will receive a notification email. 

Prior to the appointment 

• Add scheduled appointments to Outlook Calendars 

• Prepare for the appointment by reviewing the form and any uploaded documents. 

• Consider potential resources and tools that could be shared with the patron. 

During the appointment 

• Arrive a few minutes early in the WebEx room. Wait at least 10 minutes for the student to show-up. 

• Discuss with the patron their research needs though a brief reference interview and give an overview of the appointment and outcomes. 

• Ask if the patron would like to share their screen or if they would rather have the librarian share their screen in WebEx. 

• Recap at the end of the session and discuss next steps. 

• Remind students how to get additional help. 

After the appointment 

• Record if the patron showed up by selecting the radio button in your LibCal Appointments page. 

• Send follow-up emails if necessary. 

Librarians are responsible for adding availability in the LibCal Appointments module every semester.

• Librarians will split their evening shifts between the research help desk and appointments.
• In addition to scheduled evening hours, librarians will select 2 to 4 hours of daytime availability for appointments. These hours are decided by each individual librarian and documented on the Sharepoint Excel Spreadsheet.
• For detailed instructions on adding appointment availability in LibCal, see the Sharepoint-Reference-Appointments-Procedures-LibCal Appointment Scheduling