Research Guides: Web Technologies Guides and Documentation: Guide: LibCal Appointments

About

This guide is intended to help MSU Libraries faculty and staff set up and use LibCal's Appointments feature.

For best results, you must keep your Outlook/Exchange calendar up to date.

Department setup

To request setup for a new department in LibCal Appointments, please fill out the form below.

This form should be completed only by a department's coordinator, and only once for each department.

Individual setup

Note: Before you can use LibCal's Appointments feature, a system admin must enable Appointments for your account. Put in a ticket to request that your account be granted access.

Step 1: Authorize LibCal/Exchange sync

Log into LibCal. On the orange Command Bar, click on Appointments, then Integrations. Click the blue button labeled "Authorize with Microsoft Account." You'll be asked to authenticate with your netID and netPassword.
Once you've logged in, LibCal will be authorized to read your calendar and add appointments to it. You'll need to select which calendar you want LibCal to use. If you don't have more than one, or just use your main one, choose Calendar. Otherwise, select the calendar of your choice. The toggle for "Check Outlook/Exchange Busy Times" should have Yes checked. This will keep times you've already scheduled in Exchange from displaying in LibCal as available. Set the toggle "Set Created Outlook/Exchange Meetings to 'Private'" however you want - if you don't want anyone in the library to be able to see LibCal-originated appointment details, toggle it to Yes. Once done, click Save. If you ever want to stop syncing your appointments with Exchange, come back to this screen and click Remove Authorization.

Step 2: Customize your settings

In the Appointments section, click on the My Settings tab. There are several sections here that you can customize.
Booking Limits You can choose to use whatever the system default limits are, or no limits, or you can set up your own limits. If you set your own booking limits, you can choose to restrict individual patrons to a set number of appointments per day, week, month, and/or year.
Appointment Settings Patron Must Book In Advance: You can require users to book a set number of minutes, days, or weeks before their appointment. This allows you to build in preparation time for appointments that might require it (research consultations, for example). Patron Can Cancel Appointment: You can also restrict how long before an appointment users can cancel. Patron Booking Window: Set the maximum number of days a patron can see ahead in your calendar, up to 180. Public Nickname: How your name should display. You can add a title or other descriptor (e.g., "History Specialist"). Friendly URL: Enter a label for the link to your personal scheduler. Map Image: Upload a floorplan that shows your office or other location where you'll hold your appointments. Directions: Provide some directions to where you'll meet patrons. Patron Reminder Email: Choose to send a reminder email to your requesters. Patron Follow Up Email: Send a follow-up email after the appointment. Could be used to send a satisfaction survey. Enable LibAuth: Requires users to log in with CAS in order to make an appointment with you. If you wish to enable it, select "Mississippi State University.
Appointment Instructions/Description Add a bit of "flavor text" about yourself - what you can help patrons do, why they should request an appointment with you.
Appointment Form File Uploads Sometimes patrons will be working on a specific project that it will help you to see before you meet. Here you can choose to allow them to upload files.
Color Settings You have the option to change the colors in your availability grid. Please only use the default colors. They have been chosen to optimize accessibility.
Email Customizations Here, you can customize the emails that you and users will receive when appointments are booked. Edit with care; always copy the original template into a text file so that you have a backup, just in case.

Step 3: Authorize Webex integration (optional)

If you wish to offer only online appointments via Webex, you will need to enable the option for yourself.

This will make all future appointments virtual meetings via Webex. Do not enable the integration if you want to offer any in-person appointments!

Follow Springshare's instructions to enable the integration. When prompted, log in to Webex with your netid@msstate.edu email and your netPassword.

If you wish to offer virtual meetings as an option alongside physical meetings, you can offer a link to your personal Webex meeting room. Get this link by logging in with netID@msstate.edu and netPassword at https://msstate.webex.com. The link to your personal room should display beneath your name. We can set up your booking forms to ask users whether they prefer to meet online or in person; you can then follow up with a link to your personal Webex room.

Using the system

Now that your LibCal account is set up and configured for Appointments, you can begin receiving bookings! You will be notified via email when a user books an appointment.

My Appointments Use the My Appointments screen to view and add appointments. On the orange Command Bar, click Appointments. Make sure you're in the My Appointments tab. Your availability grid displays your schedule. Gray blocks are unavailable for booking Maroon blocks are marked as busy in Exchange Blue blocks denote available times Confirmed appointments will display in yellow You can add a new booking here; for instance, if you're talking on the phone with a patron and need to schedule an appointment to talk further. Links for your personal landing page and others are listed here; you can use these in your LibGuides or Canvas. This line tells you when the system last synced with Exchange. This happens automatically, but not instantly - if you've set up an appointment in Outlook but it doesn't yet appear in LibCal, this is probably why. Your upcoming appointments will be listed here. Click "View Past Appointments" to see past ones. If you have upcoming appointments and need to suggest a new place or time, click on the Edit icon beside "When". You can also note later whether or not the patron showed up to the appointment.
Availability Sometimes, you may need to make yourself unavailable for appointments while leaving your Outlook/Exchange calendar intact. This screen allows you to block yourself off in this way. You can add or delete availability once, daily, weekly, monthly, or on multiple specific dates. If you need to delete availability, make sure to run pre-delete checks to ensure there are no future bookings already made during the times you're deleting.
Calendar You can view your appointments, or any other LibCal user's, in a calendar view here.
Booking Explorer Get detailed statistics on your or anyone else's appointments in Booking Explorer. Filter by user, location, group, category, status, date range, or patron email. Export results to manipulate further in Excel.