USC LibGuides Committee Toolkit

LibCal Appointment Features:

• Allows patrons to schedule one-on-one appointments with library staff, both in-person and virtually/online.
• Staff define which dates and times they are available
• You can view and manage all of your appointments right from within LibCal
• Outlook/Exchange integration available to avoid double booking/scheduling conflicts

LibGuides Workgroup Administrators will need to enable your account and set up the following:

• Location (physical vs. online)
• Grouping (fall under location, but can also be organized by subject)
  • Individuals can be assigned to multiple groupings/locations
• Appointment durations (will be applied to individual groups, for groups with multiple users, users will need to agree to duration options)

Once you have an account, you'll want to set up your availability.  You can either do batch availability or individual dates and times. 

An overview:

1. Go to the Availability tab under the Appointments section of LibCal
2. Select an End Time for your availability.
3. Use the Repeat Pattern to choose how often to apply these availability times (i.e. just a single date, or on multiple dates).
4. From the Location dropdown, select the location where you'll be available during those dates and times.
   • The list will be divided between locations you're a member of and all other locations.
5. From the Group dropdown, select the group from that location where you'll be available during those dates and times.
   • If you select a location you are not a member of, your times will not be listed on that location's booking page. Rather, they will only appear on your personal booking page unless an Admin adds you to that location in the future.
6. In the Directions Override field, you can provide optional directions for how to find you during those dates and times (i.e. in the Reference office, Room 101, etc.).
   • This will not override directions for existing availability. If you want to provide new directions, you must delete the existing availability and then re-add your times with your updated directions.
7. Click the Add Availability button.

For detailed instructions with screenshots, check out Springshare's Appointments: Add and delete availability times from your appointment schedule

It is recommended users utilize Outlook calendar integration using the Azure OAuth 2.

Overview:

1. Log into LibCal Appointments page
2. Go to integrations tab
3. Under Outlook/Exchange Settings box click on "Authorize with Microsoft Account" button
4. Enter Outlook username and password to log in, when prompted, click Yes to grant permissions
5. In the Outlook/Exchange Settings box, select which calendar to sync and approve permission for LibCal to check your Outlook calendar for "Busy Times"

For detailed instructions with screenshots, visit Springshare's Integrations: How to sync your appointments to your Outlook calendar using the Azure OAuth 2 integration

To integrate your Zoom account for online appointments:

1. Log into LibCal account, click on Appointments
2. Click on the Integrations tab of your Manage Account page.
3. ​In the Zoom: Online Appointments & Events panel, click on the Authorize with Zoom account button and follow the prompts.

Using appointments with padding is recommended to provide flexibility for both user and patrons.

If you need a custom category & duration appointment and you'd like to include padding, select the amount of padding to add.

• This is helpful if you have back-to-back appointments and need to ensure that you have time to switch locations or prep.
• Just keep in mind that the amount of padding you select is deducted from the duration. Because all time slots must have the same duration, the padding cannot be added to the end of the appointment slot. Otherwise, you'd have uneven time slots. 
  • For example, if you have a duration of 30 minutes and a padding of 10 minutes, then the patron will be presented with a 20-minute appointment duration on the public booking page.
  • However, the librarian will still see this as a 30-minute appointment slot on their Appointments. It's just that the last 10 minutes of that slot will be reserved for the padding.

The "My Settings" tab is where you can:

• Set booking Limits (customize daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly limit) if desired
• Appointment settings (How far in advance appointments must be booked/canceled, create friendly URL, provide directions to users, restrict bookings by email domain, enable LibAuth Authentication)
• Appointment instructions/description (provide free-form text of what additional information users might need to know regarding appointment)
• Appointment Form File Upload- allow patrons/users to upload documents as part of the appointment booking
• Setting up colors seen in the personal availability calendar
• Edit email templates
  • Includes the following email types for patrons: Confirmation Email, Rescheduled Email, Patron (or Admin) Cancel Email, Reminder Email, and Follow up Email (Reminder and Follow up emails can be sent automatically)
  • Best Practice: Include a link to your personal "appointment feedback form" in Follow up email template