SUNY Empire Library News & Alerts

Howie the Hummingbird Wants to Help You!

by Sara Hull on 2023-09-15T09:50:00-04:00 | 0 Comments

Howie the Hummingbid is a friend of Blue and the library's newest reference service.

Howie is a chatbot designed to help you find answers to common library questions, from how to see if the library has your textbook to how to find peer-reviewed articles on your topic.

As of Monday, September 18th, Howie will appear in most places you already find library chat widgets but, for now, he will not appear on our homepage. For the Fall term, Howie will be active in places like the subject guides whenever there is no SUNY Empire librarian logged in to our live chat.

Howie is for those of you (like me!) who prefer the self-checkout at the grocery store. But, if you find you would rather Ask a Librarian, you can choose the "Something Else" button to chat with a live AskUs 24/7 librarian or use our other communication channels to reach us.

Image of Howie the Library Help Chatbot widget with blue, purple and green hummingbird and welcome message. Image of first round of options for asking Howie a question. Options are clickable blue buttons. Image of options further down the list, including "Something else" button. Image of options to bypass Howie the chatbot in favor of contacting a librarian or viewing all FAQs or all tutorials.