Informed Desk Staffing with Quantified Reference StatisticsUsing Electronic Data Collection to Re-Envision Reference Services at the USF Tampa Libraries

ALA 2011 Annual Conference PresentationRUSA MARS Top TrendsJune 25, 2011

Lily Todorinova, University of South FloridaAndy Huse, University of South FloridaBarbara Lewis, University of South FloridaMatt Torrence, University of South Florida

University of South Florida

Campuses: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, LakelandStudent Population: (Tampa): approx. 40,000Profile: Urban, Undergraduate, High Research Activity

The Libraries

Re-Envisioning Public Services

• Context for the project: 2010, Inter-departmental

• History of the Learning Commons

Assessment

• Tally sheets and/or "clickers"o Sample days throughout the semester

• Experimentation & anecdotal information• Aeon• Desktracker

Recommendations

• Single-staffing librarians with GAs at peak times only• Instituting a referral system between GAs (or

paraprofessionals) and librarians, when desk is single-staffed

• Instituting better referral between other departments and units (Special & Digital Collections, as well as Circulation, the Writing Center, and Tutoring and Learning)

• Eliminating night hours and reducing weekends• Increasing reliance on virtual reference

Virtual Reference: The Solution

• Started with email in 1999• Moved to, from, and back to collaborative services

o TBLC Statewide• Chat and text services

o Supplement, or replacement?• The future...?

Management Decision-making

• Decision-making literature• Structured interviews

o Past, present, & future data collections What? How? Why?

o Decision-making process What types of decisions? How was it done? How do you want to do it? What type of data do you need?

Results in Special Collections• The old backup desk model (staff/students with faculty

backup) had problems: two scheduled for each hour, duplication, no benefit to patrons.

• Aeon and Desk Tracker provide important data: Similar ratio (9:1) of basic informational questions to actual reference queries.  Majority of patrons required "retrievals," not "consultations.”

• New desk model, relatively small cadre of two staff and two students.  Advantages: Frees faculty for other duties, a stable lineup of well-trained desk staff, eases schedule creation.

• Statistics determined cuts in hours. • Small department, fast implementation.

Results in Academic Services

• Changes in daily schedulingo Down to one librarian/GA for slower timeso Modifications to evening coverage (TBLC chat help)o On-call hours

• Changes to weekend schedulingo Librarian shift moved to Sunday evenings (4-8pm)o Email and chat coverage on Saturdays

• Increased focus on consultationso Workshopso Research Rescueo Individual sessions

Conclusions and the Future

• Knowledge Tracker• Systematized referral process• Cross-informational training between service points