Introduction

Pidgin is a free, open-source, multi-protocol client for the PC and Linux. It has been tested with libraryh3lp on the PC, but not on Linux.

Do NOT use Pidgin 2.6.x at this time. It does not send notices on window close and will cause problems when used in a multi-operator environment. Instead, install version 2.5.9, which you can get here.

We have a plugin for Pidgin on Windows that is useful in a few ways:

1. Displays the full roll-back of a chat to the recipient of a transfer.
2. Repeats an incoming chat alert noise at a configurable interval in seconds until a librarian sends a message to the patron.
3. Automatically approves incoming buddy requests.
4. Some automatic cleanup of guest buddies (guest123456@libraryh3lp.com) that accumulate as your patrons chat with your librarians.

For now, it is probably easiest to see our blog post for details about the plugin, or you can read the readme file when you download the plugin's zip file.

Generally, there are a lot of little tweaks you can make to the Pidgin's Preferences. We'll outline the most important ones below. Don't be put off by the length of the documentation; it is long because we know the most about this particular client.

You may wish to periodically delete the buddy list file from Pidgin. This will help prevent it from getting really large from left-over guest IDs. This file typically lives at c:\documents and settings\USERNAME\Application Data\.purple\blist.xml This is not a harmful thing to do since your real buddies are stored server-side (the local copy is more like a cache).

Details

After you've created accounts at http://libraryh3lp.com, your librarians can sign into them using Pidgin. From Accounts-->Add/Edit-->Add, create a new XMPP account with the chosen username and libraryh3lp.com as the Domain. You can opt to have Pidgin save the password if you wish.

By default, Pidgin will hide in the system tray when the user closes the application using the big X in the upper right corner. This confuses many people, who will think they have logged out and exited the application when they really have not. It can result in your chat service appearing online even when no one is actually there. To make it never hide in the system tray, select Tools-->Preferences-->Interface and set Show system tray icon to Never.

Also in Tools-->Preferences-->Interface, you can make the important tabs vs windows decision. While we understand that many users are very attached to separate windows for multiple chats, there is one important reason that tabs may work more gracefully with libraryh3lp. If a librarian is working actively on one chat, and a second chat arrives, if Pidgin is configured to use windows instead of tabs, the new chat's window may pop in front of the other chat. If the librarian was busy typing a response to the first patron, and the new window pops in front of the first window, they might not notice. If they then press enter to send their message to the first patron, they will have accepted the second chat accidentally. They can transfer the chat to another operator if needed, but it can be confusing for all involved. If Pidgin is set for tabs instead, the new chat's tab will stay in the background, and the librarian will have the opportunity to accept the chat or wait to see if another librarian will take it.

The next important area to consider is typically Tools-->Preferences-->Sounds. What you do here is largely up to you and what works best for your staffing model. I always set Pidgin to Enable sounds-->Always. Some people will want a sound every time the patron sends a message and others will want a sound only when a brand new chat arrives. If your staff will rely on a sound alert heavily, be sure to check Sound when conversation has focus. The screenshot to the right shows only playing a sound when a new chat arrives. Note that if the librarian closes the window, and the patron replies, that reply counts as a new chat. Note you can also customize the sound and set it to play any sound file available on the computer. Our plugin lets you set a looping alert noise on the arrival of new chats that plays until a librarian sends a message to the patron.

The next area is Tools-->Preferences-->Logging. You only need to configure this if you're trying to store transcripts locally. You can opt into transcript storage on the LibraryH3lp server, on any or all of your queues. That works MUCH better than trying to store transcripts with Pidgin's logs. By default, Pidgin stores logs in c:\documents and settings\USERNAME\application data\.purple\logs. You can change this location by assigning an Environment Variable on the computer, but this greatly complicates matters because that this centralizes not just the logs but also the accounts and buddy list files.

The final area is Tools-->Preferences-->Status/Idle. I typically configure Pidgin to never report a status of away when it is being used for a library's public service. You might make a different choice here. Since libraryh3lp is set to work with online/offline presence very dynamically, I prefer to have the client always display an available status, since showing away will cause my chat widget to either not display entirely or perhaps roll over to an e-mail form. Of course, the trade-off here is that if this is done, librarians must be certain to sign out of their accounts properly or to fully exit Pidgin when a shift ends.

A quick note about some inconsistent behavior. As of this writing, if librarians are monitoring a libraryh3lp Queue, Pidgin will accept new chats by default and everything will work fine. Buddying for queues is done automatically on the LibraryH3lp server. However, if librarians are monitoring an individual's chat widget, Pidgin will prompt for authorization and addition to the Buddy List when a new chat arrives. Our plugin solves this by automatically approving incoming buddy requests.