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Library and Information Science Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2011

Series

University of South Florida

Staffing

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Library and Information Science

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 Jun 2011

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

Academic Services Faculty and Staff Publications

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 Jun 2011

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

Academic Services Faculty and Staff Publications

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 …