Reference queries through the web

[Jeff Cottingham]

Thanks for the reply, Jenny.  My comments are are interspersed through the
message.

At 10:55 AM 7/14/97 -0700, you wrote:
>     Hi. We currently use an e-mail account for reference questions rather
>     than a form.  (That's because our techie time is at a premium and I
>     haven't gotten around to learning about scripts yet!!!)
>

I don't know much about scripts either.  Our IS department introduced me to
a program called Cold Fusion, which has wizards to write web forms and CGI
scripts for you.  The program is designed to provide an interface between
the web and any database, but it can also format and send data via email.
Cold Fusion runs on a Windows 95 or NT web server.  I have experimented
with it a little, but I haven't come up with a presentable form yet.  As
with any new program, there is a learning curve that I must climb.

>     We have a mailto link on the bottom of many of our pages, and that
>     mail goes to a box that's currently read by the reference department
>     head.  We also publicize the e-mail address on our promotional
>     materials and handouts.
>

That's a good idea.  We put our web URL on promotional materials, but, as
far as I know, we don't have an email address for the reference department.
 Each librarian has a personal email box.  I guess this will turn into an
issue of procedures and responsibilities.  (Should we have a Reference
email box?  Who will be responsible for answering email queries?)

>     I'm in the process of trying to get the address on the Web site
>     changed to go to me (I'm the Webmaster), as about half the mail is
>     non-reference related - suggestions for improvements to the site,
>     spam, etc.  I'm also one of the reference librarians, so I should be
>     able to deal with those messages that are reference questions.
>

I'm in a rather different situation.  Since I'm not a librarian, I don't
want anything but web page comments and tech questions coming to me.

>     One of the other folks here suggested we put two mailto's on our site:
>     one for comments about the site, one for reference questions.  That
>     seemed a bit cluttery to me.  I think what we'll do is continue to
>     publicize the reference e-mail via our promotional literature and
>     reference services pages, but move the general "feedback" mailto
>     to a "webmaster" function rather than a "reference" function.
>
>     The other problem we've had is one that an earlier poster alluded to:
>     we have lots of problems with people not putting in their return
>     address info - especially people sending in messages from shared
>     computers, or total newbies who haven't figured out how to put their
>     name in their e-mail program.  We now include an instruction with our
>     mailto, "please include your name and return address in the body of
>     your message if you would like a reply."

This is where forms work well.  With Cold Fusion, you can specify certain
fields as "required".  The form can't be submitted without data in the
required fields.  You can even insert the user's email address in the From:
header of an email message, which makes a reply easy to send.  I plan to
use this type of mailto form for several applications, including ILL
requests, Acquisition requests, and web page comments.

I apologize for sounding like a commercial for Cold Fusion, but I have been
impressed by the product.

>
>     Good luck, and please share any useful info with the list....
>
>     Jenny Reiswig
>     Biomedical Library
>     University of California, San Diego
>     jreiswig at ucsd.edu
>
Jeff Cottingham
Technology Coordinator, Murray State University Library
email:  cottij02 at msumusik.mursuky.edu
Phone:  502-762-4773  Fax:  502-762-3736