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divine Virtual Reference Desk Allows Libraries to Extend Their Services Online

University of Florida Gears up for Back-to-School, Leveraging divine's Award-Winning Technology to Provide Students with Immediate Reference Service From Anywhere


CHICAGO, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Leveraging its expertise in the library market and its award-winning Customer Interaction Management solution, divine NetAgent, divine, inc. (Nasdaq: DVIN - News), a leading provider of solutions for the extended enterprise, today introduced the latest version of divine Virtual Reference Desk(TM), a proven customer interaction solution that allows library reference departments to extend their services online. As a result, libraries can offer the same high-level of customer service to their patrons online as they do in person, and increase support of geographically dispersed and remote users.
The University of Florida, one of the nation's five largest universities with a system of seven university libraries, chose divine Virtual Reference Desk for its RefeXpress service because of its ease-of-use, including single- screen presentation of information, and its availability as a locally managed, licensed product or as a hosted solution. The University of Florida system, as well as other libraries, has been using divine Virtual Reference Desk for two years and will be driving expanded use of the service this fall through a back-to-school promotion. Using the solution, University of Florida librarians can answer reference questions or assist with research through online chat, and help students, faculty and alumni navigate the site and find online reference materials in real-time by pushing relevant pages to the users. In addition, university librarians have benefited from greater internal collaboration and communication using the divine solution.

"As more and more research is conducted online, we want to assist our patrons with navigating the vast resources now available electronically. With divine Virtual Reference Desk, we can serve our students and faculty wherever they are -- across campus or from a distant remote location -- as if they were in the library itself," said Jana Ronan, Coordinator of Online Services, RefeXpress, at University of Florida George A. Smathers Library. "In addition, it has facilitated a greater sense of teamwork and improved communication among the reference staffs in the different libraries within the system, enabling us to more quickly tap into the different sources of expertise across the system."

More robust in functionality than any other reference desk solution on the market, divine Virtual Reference Desk benefits from the proven technology of divine NetAgent, and over 450 installations in enterprise organizations. The latest version of divine Virtual Reference Desk includes the following functionality:

   -- Industry-leading chat/collaboration Capabilities - Offers library users
      highly personalized and interactive reference support.  From co-
      browsing of Web sites to assisted form filing, the collaboration
      capability enables library staff to assist professors and students in
      real-time.

   -- Collaboration proxy server - Allows students and librarians to
      collaborate on all online reference sources with a chat proxy server
      that eliminates technical issues such as cookie sharing or database
      authentication.

   -- Email Reference Support - Provides another avenue for library users to
      connect with reference staff and allows patrons to ask more in-depth
      questions, and communicate with staff during non-staffed hours.

   -- FAQ Repository - Libraries can build a consolidated source of common
      reference questions, creating a robust knowledge base of frequently
      asked questions.  This allows staff to answer repetitive questions
      quickly and spend more time on research-intensive inquiries.

  -- Additional Features include: Librarian-to-Librarian instant messenger,
     session transfer, reference session transcripts, multi-lingual support
     and extensive reporting capabilities.


"As library patrons, and students in higher education in particular, grow more Internet savvy, they are increasingly looking to libraries to provide instantaneous, interactive service," said George Landgrebe, executive vice president, divine Software Services. "divine Virtual Reference Desk offers libraries the most robust solution for extending their service online."

For more information about divine's Virtual Reference Desk, call 866.999.3846 or visit divine's Web site, www.divine.com .

About divine, inc.

divine, inc., (Nasdaq: DVIN - News) is focused on extended enterprise solutions. Through professional services, software services and managed services, divine extends business systems beyond the edge of the enterprise throughout the entire value chain, including suppliers, partners and customers. divine offers single-point accountability for end-to-end solutions that enhance profitability through increased revenue, productivity and customer loyalty. The company provides expertise in collaboration, interaction and knowledge solutions that enlighten, empower and extend enterprise systems.

Founded in 1999, divine focuses on Global 5000 and high-growth middle market firms, government agencies and educational institutions and currently serves over 20,000 customers. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.divine.com .

divine is a trademark of divine, inc. All other trademarks, trade names and service marks referenced herein are the properties of their respective companies.




 
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