Welcome!
This brief tutorial will teach you how to create a personal chat widget within Butler's new LibChat system.
A personal chat widget is for your account only; chats from these boxes/links come directly to you whenever you are logged into the system. It's a great tool to embed into your LibGuides profile, Subject Guides, Moodle courses, etc.
We'll get started from the BUAnswers page. LibChat is tied directly to BUAnswers and uses the same log in. Please click on the 'Admin Sign In' link in the upper right corner and log in.
If you don't have an account with BUAnswers, at this point you will want to pause the tutorial and contact a system admin for access (Julie Miller, Sally Neal, Josh Petrusa).
Once logged in, click on LibChat in the orange menu bar; then click on the last option on this drop-down list (Personal Chat Widgets).
The first thing you will have to decide is what type of widget you want. Selecting either option should bring up a preview in the right column (Chat Widget Example).
An in-page chat widget will be a typical embedded chat box. Patrons will be able to type directly into this box and will need to keep the page open or manually pop out the chat box.
A chat button widget allows you to embed a button that indicates chat availability; in order to chat, patrons must click on this button to open the chat window as a pop-up.
Select a widget type.
You will see your page change to display different options based upon which type of widget you select. You can customize your widget to best meet your needs; you have the ability to select size, color, labels, feedback methods, and more.
We strongly suggest that you allow patrons to give some sort of feedback, either by rating or leaving comments.
Customize your widget.
Select the options that you wish and click on the 'Generate/Update Code' button. Copy the entirety of this code.
Then paste the code into the HTML box where you want the chat to appear. To add the code to your LibGuides profile, paste the code into the text box under "LibChat/LibCal Integration" on your Edit My Account page.
If you decide to make adjustments, you can change the code directly or return to the widget generator.
Be sure to check your widget while you are both on and offline, to see if it displays as you wish.
That's it! You should now have an embedded chat widget that will allow patrons to connect directly to you whenever you are logged into LibChat. If you have any questions about LibChat, please visit the LibChat LibGuide, contact an Information Commons student, or ask Amanda Starkel.
Please enter your name and email address to retrieve a copy of your completed quiz.
You can enter multiple email addresses separated by commas. If you are doing this for a class, you may need to enter your instructor's email address also.
What did you think of this tutorial?