Gathering Meaningful Statistics

1. Gathering Meaningful Statistics Using KnowAll Enquire at John Paul II Library NUI Maynooth ARLG Conference June 24th 2014 Laura Connaughton Assistant Librarian Library Information Services Laura.Connaughton@nuim.ie

2. National University of Ireland, Maynooth • While formally established as an autonomous university in 1997, NUI Maynooth traces its origins to the foundation of the Royal College of St. Patrick in 1795, drawing inspiration from a heritage that includes over 200 years of education and scholarship • The University community comprises over 9,000 students and  800 staff from more than 20 countries • Two Libraries • Russell Library, Special Collections and pre-1850 material • John Paul II Library

3. South Campus St. Patrick’s College South Campus New Library

4. Today’s Presentation • Discuss the shift in JPII Library from paper based enquiries to online based enquiries • What KnowAll Enquire is and how it was adapted for practical use in JPII Library • How KnowAll Enquire can improve the user experience through the process of tracking the enquiry from origin through each stage of the enquiry handling process • Challenges and opportunities presented by an online enquiry management package • Advice for others considering a similar model

5. Enquiry Management @ NUI Maynooth Library • Metrics are becoming more and more important in terms of demonstrating library work and value • NUI Maynooth Library – new building, new facilities, new resources – we want to be able to demonstrate our value and commitment to teaching, learning and research at NUI Maynooth • First academic library in Ireland to purchase KnowAll Enquire • KnowAll Enquire helps us monitor enquiries and generate meaningful statistics which means we can monitor and improve our service and prove our value

6. Why introduce a enquiry management package? • Opportunity to streamline all our enquiries into one central point • Ability to measure customer enquiries, for example, amount of enquiries, time taken, busy/quiet times etc. • Opportunity to improve the customer experience by having a bank of knowledge/FAQs • Provide clarity for library staff – ability to see if enquiries are answered/resolved, what the answer is for future reference • With our new library, we expected library usage to increase and were being proactive in terms of gathering metrics

7. New LibraryNew Services at nuimaynooth New opportunities!

8. Where our Library Enquiries come from Enquiries by Type June 2014

9. Pre-2014 Paper Based Information Desk Statistics Sheet

10. Pre-2014 Paper Based Admission Desk Statistics Sheet Where did these statistics go? ...

11. Excel Cons: • Data Entry • Laborious • Time Consuming • Requires knowledge & ability to manipulate figures How do we collate these figures in one go?

12. KnowAll Enquire

13. KnowAll Enquire

14. Knowall Enquire KnowAll Enquire is an enquiry tracking software package which tracks all types of enquiries right through from initial enquiry to meaningful statistics and reports with a view to improving the customer experience and track the enquiry from origin through each stage of the enquiry handling process. How does it work? • It captures initial enquiries made at the Information Desk, via walk-ins, online form, email or library chat • We can assign queries to people i.e. share the workload according to location, specialist subjects and availability • By monitoring the enquiries we can ensure that questions are answered • We can search answers thus sharing knowledge and see how similar enquiries were answered previously • The software is capable of providing very accurate statistics and reports which means we will be able to improve our service • We can publish FAQ’s meaning enquirers can help themselves with straightforward queries

15. Timeline • Autumn 2012 - Enquire purchased • Autumn/Winter 2012 - New library move • Spring 2013 • Visit to University of Warwick, UK • Beginning initial design of NUIM Library prototype • Working closely with Bailey Solutions in setting up the technical spec of Enquire • Summer 2013 • Dedicated staff member - Edel Cosgrove, Library Assistant • Software design & testing • Autumn/Winter 2013 • Staff training and launch • Spring & Summer 2014 • Continuing roll-out to all library staff • Software changes and updates

16. Library Departments • Information Desk (11 staff) • Admission Desk (11 staff) • General Collections & Finance (12 staff) • Special Collections & Russell Library (7 staff) • Digital & Electronic Collections (3 staff) • Information Literacy (3 staff) • Subject Librarians (7 staff) • Library IT Development (3 staff)

17. Let’s take a look • Admission Desk • Information Desk • Subject Librarian

18. Interface – Information Desk

19. Interface – Admission Desk

20. Interface – Subject Librarian

21. Sample form for an English Enquiry

23. Reporting

24. Custom Reports

25. Reporting – Some ExamplesNUIM Information Desk (By Hour) Shows Enquiries By Hour Of The Day And Gives Percentage

26. NUIM Information Desk (By Contact Method) Shows Enquiries By Contact Method And Gives Percentage

27. NUIM Admission DeskShows Enquiry Count for Admission Desk

28. NUIM Subject Librarians (Work in Progress)Shows Count By Time and Subject

29. Library Infograph How we share information with our library users We let people know what we do and how busy we are year round Libraries need to proactively show our value and KnowAll is key to us demonstrating this in a variety of ways

30. Challenges Benefits Advice

31. Challenges Benefits • Cost • Time • Set Up • Testing • Rollout and Training • Change • Time • Easy to access and see previously answered queries • Demonstration of value and time • Clarity of workflows

32. Benefits for Students • Self-Directed Learning • When KnowAll Enquire is 100% customised, students and library users will be able to search FAQs for self-service answering of queries with instant answers • Students can be assured that enquires will not be ‘lost’ in the process of referrals from desk to department • Online Form – students don’t need to know exactly who should get their query, less time consuming

33. Benefits for Staff • One dedicated system for receiving, tracking and answering enquiries • Do away with paper-based enquiries, all in a central location • Potential to enhance our customer service through consistent answering and knowledge bank • Each library team can monitor their own enquiries

34. Benefits for Management • Reporting of metrics and statistics an excellent feature • The level of detail in the reports has the ability to dig down to both quantitative and qualitative information • Ability to improve customer service, e.g., what is the most asked question re. databases, do we need to do more training/advertising? • Gives an overview of busy/quiet time data to inform of changes to opening hours etc.

35. Advice • Having a dedicated person to work on the software set-up side is not necessary but definitely an advantage • You need the time to learn the product and how you want to use it. The capability is huge, you need to be able to harness it • Emerging body of literature about development of statistical packages – we made our decision informed by practice and met Bailey Solutions at LILAC 2012 • Visited site before purchase (A&L Goodbody) and after purchase (University of Warwick) • Remember it’s not an ‘overnight’ product. We still have lots of work to do on it including student import, diversion of emails into Enquire, more training and rollout. Be patient!

36. Thank You Laura Connaughton John Paul II Library, NUI Maynooth Laura.Connaughton@nuim.ie 00353 (0)1 708 3429 http://library.nuim.ie

37. Contact KnowAll Enquiry Management from Bailey Solutions www.knowallenquire.com penny@baileysolutions.co.uk

38. Credits • NUI Maynooth KnowAll Enquire • http://nuim.knowallenquire.co.uk/Home.aspx • J. Gabe Gossett, Elizabeth Stephan, Rebecca Marrall, (2012) "Implementing reference statistics collection software at multiple library service points", New Library World, Vol. 113 Iss: 5/6, pp.235 - 248 • All photos by kind permission of Alan Monahan, NUI Maynooth Library