Patron Services for your library
Help more patrons with chat and phone support
What is UniqueChat?
For forward-thinking libraries, Chat has become an invaluable tool for communicating with and assisting patrons. We take over the task of answering chat inquiries from your patrons so your staff can focus on patrons inside your library. Not only does your patron get the benefit of uninterrupted service, but your staff can stay on task in the library, all while your online patrons get top-tier service.
Chat not only adds another channel for your patrons to get in touch with your library, it also gives you access to five star service.
We helped hundreds of libraries answer thousands of chats in 2022, check out some of our stats from last year.
Engage with your virtual patrons.
UniqueChat efficiently and conveniently delivers chat support to online patrons. UniqueChat provides the ease patrons want and the flexibility libraries need through customization, automation, staffing models, and affordable pricing.
What our clients are saying
“In the beginning we thought Unique chat service would be a nice add-on service…Now we consider it a core part of our service, not just an ‘add-on.’ The staff at Unique is accurate, courteous and enthusiastic. They know our policies and procedures just like our own employees… We were so happy it was already in place these past two challenging years. It’s really been a lifesaver for us!”
Thais Rousseau, Collection Development Director
Flexibility
Delivering an excellent patron experience through UniqueChat is just the start. With over 100,000 chat interactions, we understand that each library’s needs are different. Our modern chat design is easy for libraries to customize and easy for patrons to use.
Staffing Options
UniqueChat provides flexible staffing models including self-service, answered by the library, full-service, answered by Unique’s experienced staff and hybrid options. Our chat support frees up your team to focus on what they do best while we take care of answering patrons’ questions.
Multiple Language Support
Our chat supports over 80 languages, so you can communicate with your patrons, no matter what language your they speak. The chat widget automatically translates from the input language into English, so everyone is able to communicate in their language of choice.
Reduce Calls and Emails
Add Branding
Expand Service Hours
Analyze Reports
Drive Usage
Delight Patrons
Trusted by Top Libraries
“Having the chat feature present on our website and catalog has facilitated interactions to a whole new set of users! Unique has provided us an access point that customers increasingly expect to have and the feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive!” –Ashley Trew, Public Services Manager, Sacramento Public Library
We handle your calls so that you focus on your patrons.
Free up your staff
Unique Phone keeps your staff where they belong: helping patrons in the library. Let Unique handle the phone traffic to your library, while your staff can focus on their daily tasks without the distractions of a ringing phone.
Our call agents are equipped and trained to answer nearly any question that a patron can ask. We can handle anything from transactional requests and room reservations to ready-reference inquiries and account questions.
How it works
We offer a number of solutions that can accommodate any level of need for your library. Our most popular solution is the roll-over service, where after a few rings in the library, calls roll over to one of our call agents and we handle the interaction. This enables your staff to answer calls if they are able yet remain engaged with their task if they are not.
We can also answer all of your library’s calls directly, or simply just answer them outside of your library’s open hours (we offer hours from 7am-9pm EST). Whatever the level of need for your library, we can help.
What our clients are saying
Here's what we did in 2022...
We helped nearly half a million patrons in 2022, including answering over 300,000 calls on behalf of our client libraries. Thats 300,000 patrons that were not interrupted while in their local library.
We also pride ourselves on our 5 star service that we provide to our clients. Our agents routinely get top marks on reviews. Find out more why patrons love using our service!
We're Ready to Chat!
Unique offers a wide variety of cost effective tools that can help your library by reducing workloads for managers and frontline staff, which in turn increases in-house efficiency.