LibaryH3lp is a platform for building library chat and IM services. It brings ALL of your chat and IM traffic into one seamless librarians' interface and lets you create nearly any service and staffing model you'd like.

Download a printable one-page PDF features handout here.

Widgets for Your Webpages

• Fully customize your widget's appearance.
• Provide your own CSS if you want to!
• Embed your chat box OR create pop-up widgets.
• Try our unique follow-me widget.
• Patrons can e-mail their own transcripts.
• Optional alert sound for your patrons.
• Patrons can send you files, or you can disable this.
• Works with screen readers.
• Customize your online AND offline appearance.
• Lightweight widget written in JavaScript, Flash not required.
• Works on all major browsers, including Firefox, IE, Safari, Opera, iPhone/iPod Touch, and Nintendo Wii.
• Developer-friendly: powerful presence API, hackable code.

IM Integration

• AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ, Google Talk, and Meebo Me gateways.
• Works with "AIM SMS Hack."
• ANY number of your librarians can be connected at the same time.
• No disconnects at shift change!
• Transfer IMs to any other LibraryH3lp queue or operator on your system.

SMS Gateways

• Our SMS gateways lets patrons text you at a phone number, not a short code/library ID combination.
• Text messages can be transferred just like chats and IMs.
• Text messages answered in our webchat client get a character countdown.
• Use a library-supplied Android phone, our Twilio SMS gateway, or try Google Voice SMS integration.

Robust Queueing and Routing System

• Create unlimited numbers of queues.
• Staff your queues with only one librarian or many librarians.
• Only first librarian to respond to patron gets connected.
• All librarians on a queue can tell which librarian answered the chat.
• ALL chats on queues, IMs, and text messages can be transferred!

Flexible Librarian Staffing

• Use our web-enabled librarians' client for staffing your service OR install a Jabber client.
• Web client requires NO locally-installed software and NO weird browser settings.
• Prefer a locally-installed Jabber client? No problem. Works with Pidgin (PC, Linux), Adium (Mac), and Psi (PC, Mac, Linux).
• Custom plugin for Pidgin (PC) provides convenient extra features.
• Librarians can buddy and IM each other directly.
• Librarians can send files to patrons: includes all IM patrons too!
• You can create a collaborative service spanning many libraries if you wish.

Powerful Administrative Interface

• Quickly, easily create user accounts, create queues, and assign users.
• See the online/offline status of your users and queues at a glance.
• Create and share custom widget skins.
• Generate HTML to paste into your web pages.
• View chat activity on all your queues in real-time.
• Turn transcript storage on or off.
• Bulk download of transcripts.
• Delete or anonymize transcripts.
• Download statistical data.
• Create reports.

Secure and Private

• No ads; no data mining; privacy of utmost importance.
• Supported by low‐cost hosting fee after extended free trial.
• Delete transcripts or entire record of chats and IMs at any time.

For More Information

• Blog: announcement of new features and other important communications.
• Google Group: Support Forum.
• Documenation and FAQ
• Twitter: System Status Updates.
• Email: Pam Sessoms, psessoms@gmail.com