What’s new at Altarama! (see below for events and announcements)
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 Altarama Blog hot topics
Personal Service vs Self Service - libraries helping the community get more from the Internet
Library 2.0 - we've been doing it for a year already!

 (January 2009) See RefTracker at Information Online 2009 (Sydney, Australia)
See us at the Information Online Conference - 20 January to 22 January, 2009, Sydney Conference and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, stand 105. We will be demonstrating the latest in RefTracker developments including interfaces to Reference by SMS and online reference using Instant Messaging. You can also see DeskStats Online for simple stats gathering and obtain information about ScheduleSource staff rostering software for libraries.

 (June 2008) American conference season 2008
See us at SLA Seattle (stand 1808), AALL Portland (stand 405), and ALA Anaheim (stand 2778)!!!

 (June 2008) National Library of Australia purchases and installs RefTracker request management
June 2 2009 Today, the National Library of Australia installed RefTracker Request management to manage the more than 20,000 enquiries that come into their library annually.

 (Februrary 2008) See RefTracker at VALA 2008 (Melbourne, Australia)
See us at the VALA Conference - 5-7 February, 2008, Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, stand 7. We will be demonstrating the latest in RefTracker developments, and showcasing Reference by SMS, online reference using Instant Messaging, DeskStats Online, DeskStats Managed Services and RefTracker Online Web Forms. You can also obtain information about ScheduleSource staff rostering software for libraries.

 (July 2007) See RefTracker at AALL Conference 2007 (New Oreans, LA, USA)
See us at the American Association of Law Libraries Annual meeting and Conference - 14-17 July, 2007, Hall A, Ernest N. Morial Convention Centre, New Orleans, stand #721. See how RefTracker improves the efficiency of answering requests in legal libraries.
See what the lawlibtech librarian blog says about the usefulness of RefTracker to law librries at http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/cat_virtual_reference.html.

 (June 2007) See RefTracker at SLA (Denver) and ALA (Washington DC)
See RefTracker Reference Request Management System at the Altarama stand 1136 at the SLA Conference in Denver, and at the Altarama stand 1445 at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington DC this June. At these shows we will be showcasing the new 3.1.1 release of RefTracker as well as demonstrating the RefTracker DeskStats Online, and DeskStats Managed Services and Online Web Forms products that allow libraries to utilitise just specific features of RefTracker.

RefTracker reported as "cool tool" SLA Denver 2007!!
The SLA official blog provdides an independant report of RefTracker as a not to be missed product at the conference. See the reporter's comments at
http://www.infotodayblog.com/2007/06/06/cool-tool-report-reftracker

 (January 2007) See RefTracker at Information Online 2007 (Sydney, Australia)
See us at the Information Online Conference - 30 January to 1 February, 2007, Sydney Conference and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, stand 128. We will be demonstrating the latest in RefTracker developments, and highlighting Reference by SMS and online reference using Instant Messaging. For libraries only needing simple stats we will also be demonstrating DeskStats Online, DeskStats Managed Services and RefTracker Online Web Forms. You can also obtain information about ScheduleSource staff rostering software for libraries.

 (January 2007) See RefTracker at ALA (Seattle)
See RefTracker Reference Request Management System at the Altarama stand 146 at the ALA Mid Winter Conference in Seattle January 19-22 2007. At this show we will be also be demonstrating the New RefTracker DeskStats Online, and DeskStats Managed Services and Online Web Forms products for the first time.

 (November 2006) Three new services based on RefTracker
Altarama has announce three new services based on the RefTracker Reference Request Management System:
- RefTracker DeskStats Online - A hosted RefTracker system but with DeskStats electronic tick sheet, and statistical analysis only.
- RefTracker DeskStats Managed Service - A service that provides access to the DeskStats electronic tick sheet for your service points, and statistics delivered promptly each month without system administration overhead, or IT assistance.
- RefTracker Online Web Forms - A RefTracker Request form designed to meet your specific data collection need (survey or registrations for example), and collected data delivered monthly or at the end of the data collection period.

 (June 2006) See RefTracker at SLA (Baltimore)
See RefTracker Reference Request Management System at the Altarama stand (402) at the SLA Conference in Baltimore June 11-13 2006. At this show we will be showcasing how effective RefTracker is for our special library customers. When our special library customers comment that RefTracker is more important to them than their Library Management System, can you afford to miss visiting us!

 (March 2006) Release of RefTracker 3.1
RefTracker 3.1 is now being shipped to customers. It has so many new features that one of its most important features is that it allows optional features to be totally configured out of RefTracker if they are not used by your library. In this way the simplicity of use that has characterised RefTracker, can be retained even now that there are so many features.

 (November 2005) See RefTracker at the VRD Conference in San Francisco CA, USA
See RefTracker Reference Request Management System at the Virtual Reference Desk (VRD) Conference in San Fransisco CA on Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th November 2005. From 1:15 to 2:00pm Arthur Brady will be demonstrating the benefits of RefTracker to the sort of libraries who send attendees to VRD - those that have recognised the benefits of e-reference and are looking for top line results - better workflows, better communication between staff, better statistics, a knowledge base for the benefit of staff and clients, and a comprehensive Ask-a-Librarian interface. He will also be showing how RefTracker can utilise Instant Messaging as a patron communication method during the process of answering patron questions.

 (November 2005) Altarama announces "Using IM for online Reference" white paper
In creating links in RefTracker so that Instant Messaging can be used as one of the communication methods open by librarians when answering reference questions, Altarama learnt a great deal about Instant Messaging systems. In order to share our knowledge about Instant Messaging, how it can be used by libraries for online reference, and what sorts of libraries it is currently most suitable for, we have developed the white paper "Using Instant Messaging for Online Reference". If you would like a copy of this paper, click here as ask for a copy of the "Using Instant Messaging for Online Reference" paper.

 (June 2005) RefTracker announces "Contact Freedom" at ALA Annual Conference 2005 (Chicago, USA)
At ALA in Chicago, Altarama will be demonstrating the newest features of RefTracker, including a new range of ways for library staff to communicate with patrons.  In addition the desk, phone email and web form communication already supported by RefTracker, communications links can now include:
-                      Commercial and open-source chat reference products
-                      IM products such as AOL IM, Yahoo IM, Microsoft IM, etc.
-                      SMS/text messaging products
-                      VOIP products including Skype
 
These capabilities allow library staff to accommodate a patron's preferred method of interaction, and even change contact methods over the course of managing a question/response.  For example, an asynchronous request received via your web forms could be followed up with a request to, and response from, the patron via text messaging; further communication might be via online chat or instant messaging to interactively explore the question, then the answer might be delivered by email with imbedded hyperlinks and attachments.
 
RefTracker's traditional focus on enabling library staff to work effectively and efficiently in managing inbound reference requests has been broadened to provide a flexible range of ways for library staff to communicate with patrons.
 
Called "Contact Freedom," this advancement in integration of reference management, together with the rest of RefTracker's newest functionality, can be seen at a number of ALA events:
1)   In booth #1512 in the ALA exhibit hall.
2)   During two open forum product reviews:
                  - Saturday, June 25, 2:30 - 4:00 - Hyatt McCormick Center, Conference Center #22 (in the Hyatt)
                  - Monday, June 27, 3:30 - 5:00 - Hyatt McCormick Center, Conference Center #22 (in the Hyatt)
 
3)               As a sponsor of the MARS session "Reinvented Reference:
                 The Integration of Digital and Traditional Reference" :
                  - Friday, June 24, 8:00 - 4:30 - Palmer House Hotel, Adams Ballroom
                   (Information about how to register for this session is available at:  http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=pressreleases&template=/contentmanagement/contentdisplay.cfm&ContentID=88534)

 (September 2004) Altarama announces "Reference by SMS"
Altarama has announced "Reference by SMS", the first service allowing libraries to add mobile phone SMS messaging to the to the ways in which libraries can accept requests for assistance and deliver responses to those requests. By integrating SMS messages with you normal email, or with RefTracker, this cost effective service can be implemented by libraries without any now procedures. And the service advertises itself. Send a massage to a group of enthusiastic library users and see how quickly they pass it on to all their friends!
For more information about "Reference by SMS" contact Altarama or see us at ALIA conference stand 84.

 (September 2004) See RefTracker at LIANZA (New Zealand) and ALIA (Australia)
See the new 3.0.1 version of RefTracker at the LIANZA conference in SkyCity, Auckland, New Zealand 6 - 8 September, and the ALIA conference at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia 21-24 September, 2004.

 (January 2004) Dynix creates leading ILMS reference story by partnering with RefTracker
Dynix and Altarama have announced an exciting partnership that makes Altarama's RefTracker product available to Dynix customers as a reference management module for their ILMS or Horizon systems. With addition of RefTracker to Dynix's mix of Horizon Information Portal, Horizon Consolidated searching, Horizon Remote Patron Authentication, Dynix clearly leads the integrated library management system marketplace in providing advanced functionality for reference librarians. For ful details of this new relationship go to http://www.dynix.com/about/press/2004/990.asp.

 (October 2003) ScheduleSource adds to integrated reference story
How much time do your staff spend scheduling staff onto circulation and reference desks, and onto online reference shifts? ScheduleSource is an online service specifically designed to meet the scheduling needs of libraries (including academic libraries with student staff). It will reduce the time and frustration involved in creating all of the staffing schedules for your library.

 (October 2003) Altarama opens office in USA
To support our growing customer base in America and Europe, opened an office in Maryland USA on 1 October 2003. Linda Arret, an MLA with 30 years experience in the reference functions of libraries, and experience with both reference searching, reference tracking and online reference products, will provide sales and support assistance to our customers and prospects throughout North America and Europe.

 (January 2003) Online 2003 keynote speaker and specialist event provided by Altarama and LSSI
Altarama, in conjunction with LSSI, was a major sponsor of the Online 2003 conference to be held in Sydney Australia from 21-23 January 2003, through our provision of the keynote speaker, Steve Coffman, presenting "We Are All Agreed That Life Is Better In the Books".  Steve was also a presenter and member of the discussion panel for the Virtual Reference special interest stream, and a participant in the closing presentations.
- Altarama presented its products including RefTracker at stand 84 throughout the conference.  Thanks to everyone who visited the stand and made the event such a busy and useful time!
- We had over 70 people join us for “PR for VR”, a satellite event to Online 2003, specifically for reference librarians.  If you were unable to attend please contact us for access to some of the information presented at this session.

 (October 2001) RefTracker launched!
Altarama’s new product for management of the library request function, RefTracker, was launched at the “Revelling in Reference 2001 Symposium” in Melbourne Australia in October 2001. 

All contents copyright © 2001, Altarama Information Systems Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. Revised: July, 2007