Analysis of Reference Transactions Using Packaged Computer Programs

Motivated by a continuing education class attended by the authors on the measurement of reference desk activities, the reference department at Scott Memorial Library initiated a project to gather data on reference desk transactions and to analyze the data by using packaged computer programs. The programs utilized for the project were SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and SAS (Statistical Analysis System). The planning, implementation and development of the project are described.     

Reference Ready Beyond the M.L.S.

Entry level reference librarians must make a rapid transition from the reference classroom to the scheduled service hours at the reference desk. A questionnaire was sent to academic and public librarians to ask them to list the most important items of information or abilities they find they need to teach the entry level librarian. This is a brief discussion of relevant literature and a report of the 72 per cent return on the questionnaire. Five "needs" surfaced as ranking high for each type of library with three listed in common. Some suggestions are given for developing in-service education programs for reference librarians.     

Questions asked at the virtual and physical health sciences reference desk: how do they compare and what do they tell us?

The questions asked at the traditional reference desk are decreasing while questions asked at the virtual reference desk are on the rise. Over a one-month period, the types of reference questions asked at an academic health sciences library were coded. This paper examines and compares the types of questions asked at the current day reference desk versus the virtual reference desk. This paper also reviews past literature examining the types of questions asked via virtual reference and the traditional reference.     

How Do I Get a Campus ID? The Other Role of the Academic Library in Student Retention and Success

Academic libraries have long gathered data at the reference desk to facilitate informed development of services and collections, and have long known that regardless of whether questions are related to doing research, the library is a safe place a student may go to find answers. This article highlights the role of the library and information commons service desks as valuable windows into the student experience. The authors suggest that librarians share with campus stakeholders information about students’ non-research-related questions to aid in the development of programs and services designed to help students adjust to campus life and, ultimately, succeed.     

Where did the reference desk go? Transforming staff and space to meet user needs

ABSTRACT

A sharp decline in the number of reference queries prompted the library administration at Indiana State University to begin a project to combine the circulation, reference, and IT desks to reduce staffing at a new consolidated service point. All faculty and staff in the reference/instruction and circulation units participated in the project. The new arrangement and subsequent removal of librarians from routine desk duties have expanded instructional opportunities, consistent with the university's goals. Project participants plan further assessments to better determine the impacts of the new service arrangements.     

The Reference Desk,Points-of-Sale,and the Building of Loyalty: Applications of Customer Relationship Management Techniques to Library Marketing

This article argues that the reference desk is a primary interaction point for direct marketing of the library and remains, despite all the other marketing methods (e.g., posters, speaker's events, email announcements, brochures, RSS feeds), an extremely potent agent to act as a physical point of sale for the library, so necessary in producing a loyal community of returning scholars. This method of marketing the library by the reference desk librarian has much to do with face-to-face interactions. Summaries adopted from Customer Relationship Management literature are discussed as marketing guidelines for the reference desk librarian.     

Desk Bound No More: Reference Services at a New Research University Library

The authors discuss a newly established academic library at the University of California, Merced, as a model for reference service that foregoes a desk staffed with reference librarians. The library provides innovative, quality reference services for its users by using well-trained staff at a library services desk and employing new technologies for asynchronous communication and instruction.     

Nothing is Permanent but Change: The Journey to Consolidation and Back

Responding to a staffing shortage and assessment of usage data, eight of Hale Library's nine service desks were consolidated into one service point. Fourteen months later, the Libraries conducted an assessment of the consolidation using reference transaction data, responses to a survey administered to Libraries’ staff, and responses from a student focus group. The assessment revealed many logistical and staffing challenges with the new desk. As a result, a separate service point for reference was created directly outside the consolidated desk. Our statistics indicate that this was a successful change.     

Improving the Quality of Business Reference Service

Business librarianship is affected by a combination of forces. Among them are the nature of business as a discipline, the characteristics of business publications, and the needs and expectations of business patrons. Business reference queries are almost always complex. To handle them well, the librarian must spend considerable time with each patron. Bibliographic expertise and subject knowledge are also requued. Ways to improve the quality of business reference service include a willingness to help patrons devise appropriate search strategies, assisting them in understanding and evaluating search results, investing in self-education, developing service-oriented reference policies, implementing flexible reference desk schedules, and establishing formal staff training programs.     

Integrating the imposed query into the evaluation of reference service: A dichotomous analysis of user ratings

A secondary analysis of a user survey administered in 13 public libraries examined user ratings of reference services by transaction type. Transaction type is defined dichotomously as self-generated (users transacting questions they have determined for themselves) or imposed (agent users in the library seeking information on behalf of someone else). Users with self-generated questions rated library services lower than did users with imposed questions. Both groups rated the library experience lower than their reference desk experience, and imposed queries were responsible for proportionately higher “first time” use of the reference desk. No significant difference existed between groups for ratings of finding useful information in the library, finding everything wanted in the library visit, frequency of library use, or levels of attained formal education. There were significant differences found for ratings of the reference librarian's service behaviors, user satisfaction with reference service, and frequency of reference desk use.     

Connecting with AIM

Abstract

Launching virtual chat reference services at Boatwright Library at the University of Richmond has been an interesting challenge of “trial and error” over the years. After trying several different software programs and staffing options, librarians have finally found a niche with AOL's Instant Messenger service. The first section of the article describes a path of experimentation, including early collaborations with the computing services help desk, staffing patterns within the library, technical and financial challenges with virtual reference software, and attempts to get students to use reference chat services. The second half of the case study describes the great success with AIM service in the past year, providing statistical information as well as coverage of training and guidelines, advertising, and staffing. This article touches on a number of themes, including the value of experimenting with a variety of chat reference software programs, and the need for library staff to stay current with new technologies.     

Extending the reference desk experience: Information Resources for the Nursing Care Plan

Both nursing and library science literature discuss the information needs and information-seeking behavior of nurses. Some research has focused on information needs of nursing students, but little research is available regarding information-seeking behavior of nursing students, specifically baccalaureate nursing students. Only a few key references were identified addressing nursing students' information seeking with regard to nurse care planning. At the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, George F. Smith Library, a wide range of nursing students from those in traditional BSN programs, to students in accelerated BSN programs, to masters' nursing students of all types visit the reference desk asking direct and indirect questions involving the nursing care plan. This article highlights repeated categories of information sought by nursing students at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, George F. Smith Library via both formal and informal reference interviews. Information sought most frequently was categorized and formed the basis for a new library workshop entitled "Information Resources for the Nursing Care Plan."     

Scheduling Technical Services Staff at the Reference Desk

Summary

New reference desk staffing configurations are required as reference service evolves from locating in-library resources to using and teaching the use of electronic resources. The tangible and intangible benefits achieved by scheduling technical services staff to assist at the reference desk are discussed. Intangible benefits include improved library service due to technical services staff expertise, and greater flexibility for reference desk staffing. The reference staff can also learn more about the automated library system and current processing initiatives from their technical services colleagues. Technical services staff benefits from seeing the results of their work in a public services setting and experiencing the satisfaction of helping users locate needed information. A stronger sense of library service is instilled in the “back room.” Technical services staff will also enjoy more challenge, opportunity, and variety in their work. Some tangible benefits realized at the University of Minnesota's Bio-Medical Library, which are directly related to the scheduling of technical services staff at the reference desk, are also briefly described.     

Eliminating traditional reference services in an academic health sciences library: a case study

Question:

How were traditional librarian reference desk services successfully eliminated at one health sciences library?

Setting:

The analysis was done at an academic health sciences library at a major research university.

Method:

A gap analysis was performed, evaluating changes in the first eleven months through analysis of reference transaction and instructional session data.

Main Results:

Substantial increases were seen in the overall number of specialized reference transactions and those conducted by librarians lasting more than thirty minutes. The number of reference transactions overall increased after implementing the new model. Several new small-scale instructional initiatives began, though perhaps not directly related to the new model.

Conclusion:

Traditional reference desk services were eliminated at one academic health sciences library without negative impact on reference and instructional statistics. Eliminating ties to the confines of the physical library due to staffing reference desk hours removed one significant barrier to a more proactive liaison program.     

Telling Their Story with Data: What Academic Research Libraries Share on Their Websites

Abstract

Communicating library data with external stakeholders is a growing area of importance in the profession, and library websites provide an easy way of disseminating this information. Determining the types of data that will be most impactful in telling a library’s story is vital to an effective online data display. This research project reviewed the websites of 143 academic research libraries to determine if the libraries were publicly sharing general library data via a dashboard or other data display. For those libraries sharing data, information was recorded on the types of data shared, the types of data visualizations utilized, the age of the data presented, and whether multi-year trends were represented. The results showed that just under half of the academic research libraries in the study population had general library data displays on their websites. Most focused on traditional types of library data, such as collection size, reference and help desk interactions, instruction sessions, and circulation numbers for physically-held materials. Data visualizations were used infrequently.     

Effectiveness of fieldwork at an information desk: A prototype for academic library-library school collaboration

This article presents a model of how academnic libraries and schools of library and information studies (LIS) may collaborate to provide useful educational experiences to LIS students and reliable reference service to library users. LIS students staff an information desk for s fieldwork component of a basic reference course. Research shows that the students provide accurate services at the desk.     

Floating and Idea

Abstract

During the 2001-2002 academic year, Augustana College Library (Rock Island, IL) and St. Ambrose University Library (Davenport, IA) began a unique joint venture of peer observation between the reference staff members of the two libraries. Librarians from each college took turns visiting the other library and conducting peer observations of reference desk service. Although the reasons each library had for initiating this venture differed, both libraries benefited from this project. This article discusses the development of the program, the results, and plans for the future.     

The Fragile Allure of Reference

In spite of sometimes difficult working conditions, reference services continue to have an allure, both for prospective and experienced librarians. This attraction is explained in terms of a number of factors, including the archetypal role of reference, the various roles public service librarians perform, the positive feedback they experience, the different work rhythm of a reference desk, and the "encounters with reality" the desk provides. Yet the allure is fragile, and the same factors that give the reference desk its attraction also threaten the pleasures it can provide.     

大学图书馆开展咨询台服务的若干思考

本文在深入分析大学图书馆开展咨询台服务存在问题的基础上,有针对性地提出了完善咨询台服务的对策。