Springshare Celebrates Global Chat Cooperative’s One Year Relaunch

MIAMI (February 24, 2021) - Today Springshare recognizes the one year anniversary of the relaunch of the 24/7 Global Chat Cooperative service - a worldwide librarian community answering patron questions and chats when their local librarians are unavailable.

“Our 24/7 Global Chat Cooperative married QuestionPoint with LibAnswers, combining the largest and longest-serving reference librarian network with the most popular and feature rich reference software platform. The usage and growth over the past year have been impressive,” said Chief Springy Slaven Zivkovic.

Key highlights from Springshare’s 24/7 Global Chat Cooperative’s relaunch year include:

• In the past 12 months, 2,800 contributing librarians answered more than 175,000 chats from patrons – chats which would have otherwise gone unanswered.
• Institutions migrating to LibAnswers benefited from improvements in inter- and intra-cooperative communication among participating libraries with internal chat, screen sharing, and feedback options, as well as robust reporting.
• Springshare increased its MLIS accredited 24/7 librarian staff by 40 percent.

“With online learning opportunities growing at educational institutions and public libraries expanding their 24/7 digital branch offerings, Springshare’s 24/7 Global Chat Cooperative takes on an even greater importance. It ensures that patrons always have live access to an MLIS-degreed librarian to assist them with their research and information needs,” said VP of Product Cindi Blyberg.

The 24/7 Global Chat Cooperative utilizes Springshare’s LibChat module -- one of the features of its highly regarded LibAnswers virtual communication tool.

Springshare offers academic library, public library, and Spanish speaking cooperatives with the ability to organize separate local cooperatives, too.