Helperoo launched earlier this week, offering a low cost, web-based email support system for small businesses. The service allows companies to forward support email into a system that functions as a ticketing system to keep track of open and closed support requests. This could potentially be used by a library to keep track an respond to email reference questions.

In fact, I've been turning over such an idea in my head for about six months now, but with some different features that are geared more to the specific needs of a small library reference staff. Here's a taste of what I'm thinking.

1. Patron submits question
A library patron fills out a web form that requests a patron's name, contact information, and question.

2. System processes question automatically
When the patron hits the submit button, a number of things happen within the system immediately. First, a librarian is automatically assigned to the question based on a simple rotation system. The question is forwarded automatically to the assigned librarian's email address. The question is also posted as an entry into a blog-like site that is password protected and only accessible to librarians. This provides a central archive of all questions so that a reference supervisor can keep track of statistics and maintain a knowledge management system for future reference.

3. Librarian responds
The librarian simply replies to the email question forwarded by the system. The system catches the reply and passes it along to the patron. This step allows the system to strip the librarian's personal email from the message and insert the generic reference desk email address, thus all correspondence comes from the same address, providing a central contact point for patrons. This also protects the librarian from revealing personal contact information, if that is a concern (as it sometimes is when dealing with public patrons). In addition, the system recognizes which question the reply is associated with and posts the reply as a comment to the question on the password-protected blog.

4. Subsequent communication
Should the patron reply to the librarian, the system will once again recognize the question with which it associated and a) post it as another comment to the question on the blog and b) forward it to the librarian assigned to the question.

At any time in this process, a librarian can post to the blog system instead of using email. This shouldn't hinder the process at all. A comment posting will simply result in an email being sent to the patron.

Elmer Masters has already accomplished the two way interaction between blog and email with the Teknoids listserv and archive using Drupal and some of its add on modules. (Drupal is also the platform for Library Laws and just about every web site I've built in the last 18 months). Elmer doesn't alter the email addresses in any way, but in his environment there's no need to.

For me, the killer app here -- and one that simple systems like Helperoo don't address -- is the automatic assignment of a librarian to each question on a rotational basis. Honestly, if a reference supervisor has to go in and manually assign questions, she could just as easily forward the question to that librarian manually as well. But with that step automated, the system becomes far more efficient.

This system really only seems applicable to libraries dealing with public patrons, because direct and personal interaction between faculty and librarians is typically deemed a good thing at universities, especially at institutions where a liaison system exists. Many public libraries also desire such personal relationships with patrons, meaning this system's efficiency might not be worth it unless the system does NOT strip the librarian's info from messages (an easy enough task, surely). For law libraries that deal with members of the public, however, some measure of anonymity might be desirable. More importantly, with a central system in place, it ensures that patrons will still have a central contact point with the library even if the librarian who previously helped them goes on vacation or quits.

Now if I just had the time to build this thing.