Ask Us at SMU Libraries is our chat service that allows people, affiliated with SMU or not, to
connect with SMU librarians in real-time. We do our best to answer questions on the spot, but
more specialized inquiries are followed up by emails from others, including individuals who work with
special collections and subject librarians. Ask Us allows librarians to help with questions from getting
started on research and accessing resources like newspapers to booking study rooms and even
citing TikToks in MLA format!
The opportunities to build relationships through Ask Us are endless and we welcome any chats
we get. While shifts on chat can vary greatly, there are commonly asked questions, and a look
behind the screen of Ask Us shows just a few ways I get to engage with the SMU community.
The volume on my computer is set to 72, not so loud that the chime of someone asking a
question scares me, but loud enough for it to get my attention. Though, no matter how many
chats I answer, there’s always a bit of panic to connect quickly with the person on the other end.
When the day’s first question comes in, the little ring lets me know someone has asked me a
question.
“I need to find peer-reviewed articles on the psychological impact of social media for the
research paper I’m writing. Help please!”
After talking through what class their assignment is for and getting a better understanding of
their research topic, I direct them to the psychology research guide where we search a few of
the resources listed there. We chat about search strategies and they leave with a few sources
for their paper and an appointment with the psychology subject librarian.
And then,
“can we eat in the library? and is there a designated place?? 😀”
I describe which libraries allow food and drink and send them the page where information on this policy
is given, in case they forget or want to double-check in the future. I also end the conversation with a 😁.
A few minutes later another comes in:
“Someone told me that SMU has copies of the Rotunda online. I’m looking to see if my
uncle is in one, but I don’t know the year.”
After sharing the link for our digital collections page on the Rotunda, SMU’s student yearbook,
I tell the patron that I would be happy to pass on their question to our Special Collections
department so they can share any research insight. Before I am able to finish helping with this
question, another comes in:
“Is it possible for me to talk to a business librarian? I really need help with an
assignment.”
I message the business librarians to see if someone is available to chat and luckily one is! I tell
the student that someone is on the way to answer their question and transfer them over to the
librarian.
A short while goes by before I hear the chime again. With no current questions, I click through
pages of the digital yearbooks I shared earlier to get an idea of their layout for future reference.
When the next chat comes in, I click back to the tab as soon as I can to answer it.
“Can you check my citation for this book? I haven’t used APA format before.”
Because I know that we have guides for citation help, I share the link with the student to use in
times when chat might not be open. Luckily for me, APA citation style is what I often use for
school and my familiarity allowed me to correct a few missing elements. I tell the student that
their instructor has final say on citations and they end the chat with a more complete citation.
The last question I get is a combination of a few from a guest:
“Voting? Is there public wifi? Can the public go to Fondren Library?”
Our Guest Services page answers most of these questions, so I send the link while also typing
out Fondren Library’s Public Access hours for the day and the ability to connect to guest WiFi.
As for voting, I share the link to our Voting Guide and also share links to other official websites.
While it may be the end of my shift on Ask Us today, another librarian’s is just getting started.
We message each other hello before I logout and they get to begin chatting with whoever would
like to Ask Us.
This post was written by Diego Najera, a current intern at SMU Libraries.