LibCal Best Practices

Appointments Best Practices & Tips

General

• Keep your Google calendar and your Libcal Appointments Availability up to date! This will ensure minimal confusion for you and for those booking appointments with you.

Google Calendar

• Be sure to mark yourself as busy or out of office for all holidays that the library is closed.

• The visibility settings of Google calendar events must be set to “Busy” in order for LibCal to correctly interpret availability. This is especially important to keep in mind when creating all-day events (Google automatically sets the visibility for these events to “Free”) and when accepting events from other people (if the owner has set the event’s visibility to “Free” then that is how it will be listed on your calendar until it is updated - this is rarely an issue, but has happened).

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• How to add in appointments at a later date 

• How to mark “no-show” users 

• What the system tracks for stats - no need to double enter if someone books an appointment via LibCal

LibCal Appointments - My Settings

• Appointment Settings

  • The available settings give you quite a lot of control over how your bookings are made. Let the systems department know if you have any specific questions.

• Appointment Instructions/Description

  • Inserting some text here is helpful for those wanting to book an appointment. Ex: “If there are no times available, or if the available times don't work for you, please email Anders Lyon at alyon2@usfca.edu”

• Appointment Form Questions

  • Name and Email are automatically included. Some other questions to consider:

    • How would you prefer to meet?

      • In-person meeting at Gleeson Library

      • Online meeting via Zoom

    • What is the purpose of this session?

    • What course or project is the research related to?

• Did the patron show up?

• Confirmation Email to Patron

  • If you are offering both in-person and zoom meetings with the Appointment system, the following text is a good example of. Let the systems department know if you have any questions regarding zoom and/or zoom meeting URLs.

Hi {{NAME}},

This email confirms your appointment:

When: {{TIME_DATE_DIRECTIONS}} Pacific Standard Time

With: {{MY_NAME}} ({{MY_EMAIL}})  

{{NOTES}}  <b>For in-person meetings: </b>

Ask for Anders Lyon at the reference desk, the desk on your left as you enter the library.

<b>For online Zoom meetings: </b>

Zoom works best on Mac or PC computers

<a href="https://usfca.zoom.us/j/XXXXX">Join Zoom Link for Mac or PC</a>

Zoom meeting ID for mobile devices and Chromebooks: 415 422 XXXX

<a href="https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/sections/200305413-Mobile">Mobile devices (phones and tablets) require installing Zoom app</a>

<a href="https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/213298746-Getting-Started-On-Chrome-OS">Chromebook users must install app and follow these directions</a>

To cancel this appointment visit:  {{{CANCEL_URL}}}

• Follow Up Email to Patron

  • The systems department will enter the following text into this field and enable the Patron Follow Up Email setting under your Appointment Settings. This will ensure that the patron is able to access the follow-up survey.

Hi {{{FIRST_NAME}}},

Thanks for attending the appointment with {{{MY_NAME}}} on {{START_TIME}}, {{DATE}}. Please take a moment to fill out this <a href="https://usfca.libwizard.com/id/3bad8eaf6832f127d5445509e22b8dc3">  brief and anonymous survey</a>.

If you have any further questions, please contact me.

Thank you,

{{{MY_NAME}}}

{{{MY_EMAIL}}}