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Lansing Community College Library

Reference & Instruction Guide: Phone

Policies, procedures, best practices and training guide, for reference and instruction services.

Best Practices - Telephone

  • In-person service takes precedence over in-coming calls.
    • Let calls go to voicemail while working with a student.

    • Research help desk calls will ring through Web-ex also. Only the person scheduled on desk needs to monitor the desk phone. See Closed Campus for when the phone needs to be monitored via Web-ex.

  • Provide source information to callers when providing research help.
  • If students approach the service area while you are on the phone, offer to take the caller's name and phone number and call back. Ask how long the caller will be at that number.
  • Rather than keep callers on the phone while you look for info, offer to take the caller's name and number and call back. Ask how long the caller will be at that number.
  • If the Library is busy and the caller has a database access problem, refer the caller to the Library > Help > Off-Campus Access webpage. <lcc.edu/library/help/access.html>

Procedures - Telephone

The Research Help Desk phone is located at the Research Help Desk. Calls for the x1615 line will also ring through Web-ex, but only the person scheduled on the desk needs to monitor the phone. See Closed Campus for when the person scheduled on desk would monitor the x1615 line via Web-ex. There is a way to mute the desk phone on Web-ex when you are not scheduled. See the Muting instructions for this.

  • When you call or answer the phone, identify the LCC Library Research Help desk and give your name.

Check for voicemail messages and missed calls when opening the Research Help Desk and throughout your shift.

To retrieve voicemail messages:

  1. Dial the voicemail phone number 5800 or press the voicemail button messages iconTo check Reference Desk messages from a different phone, such as your office phone, press the * key and then enter 1615
  2. Enter the passcode for the voicemail 195700#
  3. Press 1 to access voicemail messages

Return all voicemail messages. Consider returning missed calls. You can save a message if you need to gather more information and return the call later, or need to follow up with more details. Delete all voicemails and missed calls after the transaction is resolved.

Transcripts for voicemail messages will also be sent to the LibAnswers email: lcc@researchhelpnow.libanswers.com and will show up in the Tickets. You can view the transcripts in LibAnswers but should use the desk phone or Web-ex phone to answer the message. After responding to the voice message you can change the ticket to Closed.

If another librarian is coming to the desk after your shift to relieve you, keep them informed of any voice messages we received and you answered. If you are closing the desk for the day, you can inform the next person coming on the desk for the first shift the following day.

Always ask a caller first if they would like to be transferred to the other person's voicemail and give the caller the phone number to which you are transferring them.

  1. While on a call (not on hold) press the Transfer button.
  2. Dial the extension you wish to transfer the call to.
  3. Press the Transfer button or the Transfer soft key (before or after the recipient answers).

To transfer a call directly to Voicemail:

1. From a connected call (not on hold) press the Transfer button.

2. Enter *55 + transfer recipient's phone number, then hit the Green "Call" button.

For more help, see the Wired Phone Quick Guide and Webex App Softphone Instructions.

 

Muting Calls

To stop the Research Help Desk phone line from ringing on your laptop and office phone, follow the instructions below.

  1. Click your user icon at the top left of WebEx.
  2. Click Settings.
  3. In the settings page click the Notifications tab. Once you click the notification tab it will expand.
  4. Click Calls in the expanded notifications tab.
  5. On the call notifications tab, you should see an option that says Multiline. 
  6. Change the line to the one you would like to mute and then change the ringtone to Off.