Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Review Of Agriculture In History, 3 Volumes (R. Kent Rasmussen, Proj. Ed.; Salem Press, 2009), Sue Ann Gardner

Sue E. Gardner

Review of Agriculture in History, 3 volumes (R. Kent Rasmussen, proj. ed.; Salem Press, 2009).

Departing The Desk: Reference, Change And The Art Of Letting Go, Christopher A. Sweet, Sue Stroyan, Stephanie Davis-Kahl

Stephanie Davis-Kahl

What happens when librarians decide to radically change their reference service model? Our presentation will discuss the impact of the new model on librarians’ time and workload, student assistant perspectives on their new roles, and the student training program developed to support student assistants at the desk.

Departing The Desk: Reference, Change And The Art Of Letting Go, Christopher A. Sweet, Sue Stroyan, Stephanie Davis-Kahl

Christopher A. Sweet

What happens when librarians decide to radically change their reference service model? Our presentation will discuss the impact of the new model on librarians’ time and workload, student assistant perspectives on their new roles, and the student training program developed to support student assistants at the desk.

Informed Desk Staffing With Quantified Reference Statistics: Using Electronic Data Collection To Re-Envision Reference Services At The Usf Tampa Libraries, Lily Todorinova, Andy Huse, Barbara Lewis, Matt Torrence

Matt Torrence

Andy Huse, Barbara Lewis, Lily Todorinova, and Matt Torrence participated in a panel presentation for RUSA MARS Hot Topics. Their presentation titled "Informed Desk Staffing Through Quantified Reference Statistics” discussed the data collection, data analysis, and decision-making aspects of the Re-envisioning Reference project at the USF Libraries. This project examined the implementation and effectiveness of online data collection tools and the use of their data to inform managerial decisions as to scheduling of desk hours and staffing levels. Interviews with key library administrators were conducted in order to provide an historical perspective as to weaknesses of past data collection and …

Making Decisions: Using Electronic Data Collection To Re-Envision Reference Services At The Usf Tampa Libraries, Lily Todorinova, Barbara Lewis, Andy Huse, Matt Torrence

Lily Todorinova

Declining reference statistics, diminishing human resources, and the desire to be more proactive and embedded in academic depart- ments, prompted the University of South Florida Library to create a taskforce for re-envisioning reference services. The taskforce was charged with examining the staffing patterns at the desk and developing recommendations to give librarians greater flexibility and to better respond to the information-seeking needs of users. These recommendations were based on statistics of desk usage, collected with the newly adapted online tool Desk Tracker, and structured interviews with library administrators. The taskforce was interested in how these stakeholders use quantitative data in …

Students, Faculty, And The Library: Research At The University Of South Florida, Susan Silver, Matt Torrence, Barbara Lewis, Drew Smith

Matt Torrence

This study will assess various aspects of library services and resources from the user perspective, utilizing a number of methodologies, including surveys, usability testing, observation, and focus groups. In-depth examination of how students and faculty use the library will guide our efforts to improve library services and resources and facility that relate to student success.

Library Stats As An Assessment Tool, Maira Bundza

Maira Bundza

Western Michigan University has been working on creating a culture of assessment for ten years. The libraries have been using LibQUAL, a user satisfaction survey, since 2004, but have been gathering other statistics and assessment data over these same years. It is time to put it all together into an assessment plan.

Library Stats is an open source tool for maintaining reference statistics. It provides the opportunity to keep rich statistics on each reference transaction, including the actual question and answer. WMU implemented the use of Library Stats across all reference areas in 2009 and has already used the data …

Reference Is Neither Here Nor There: Connecting Through Sms, Amy E. Vecchione, Margie Ruppel

Amy E. Vecchione

Have you ever wondered what your patrons think about SMS reference service? Do you wonder what other libraries are doing with SMS? Or what types of questions you would be asked through SMS reference service? Don’t try to reinvent the wheel! Join Boise State University librarians Amy Vecchione and Margie Ruppel to learn the results from their recently conducted national and local surveys on SMS reference. By attending this session participants will learn the most common types of questions asked through SMS, ways to market this service, best practices for answering SMS reference questions, and patrons’ perceptions of this new …

Sms Reference Service: A New Point Of Need For Libraries, Margie Ruppel, Amy Vecchione

Margie Ruppel

Boise State University's text reference service is growing in popularity among students. BSU librarians chose SMS software and started the service during Summer 2010. Join BSU librarians Amy Vecchione and Margie Ruppel for this session to learn what types of questions are asked through SMS, students' opinions of the service, as well as helpful guidelines for starting your own text referencing service.

Using Learning Objects To Enhance Distance Reference Services, Susan Ariew

Susan A. Ariew

No abstract provided.

Should Chat Reference Be Staffed By Librarians? An Assessment Of Chat Reference At An Academic Library Using Libstats, Patricia Bravender, Colleen Lyon, Anthony Molaro

Patricia Bravender

This study analyzes 1,557 chat reference questions received at Grand Valley State University Libraries over four semesters to determine the quantity and nature of the questions. Results indicated that use of chat reference was low and that less than a quarter of chat questions required a librarian to answer. The cost of a librarian answering a chat question ranged from $37 to $439 per question. The findings suggest that assigning chat reference to trained reference assistants will not affect patron service and that it is not cost effective to use reference librarians to answer chat questions.