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What are they asking?

What are they asking?. An analysis of questions asked at in-person and virtual service points. Questions about Questioning . What are the different categories of patron inquiry? Are there differences in the types of patron inquiry at different service points? In-person Telephone Chat

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What are they asking?

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  1. What are they asking? An analysis of questions asked at in-person and virtual service points.

  2. Questions about Questioning • What are the different categories of patron inquiry? • Are there differences in the types of patron inquiry at different service points? • In-person • Telephone • Chat • E-mail

  3. Defining categories of inquiry • Current data collection models at the Information Desk and Reference Desks • Create categories based on current questions – free from preconceived “librarian” categories. • Not sources used to answer question • Not subject of inquiry (another study?) • What did patron want?

  4. Data collection • Date/time • Mode of communication • Essence of question • Does UIUC own x journal? • I need help finding articles on imagery in Led Zepplin songs • How do I find book reviews? • Can I renew my books? • How do I log into Web of Science?

  5. Creating the categories • Initial week of data collection at the Reference Desk + chat and email • Researcher and unit head separately examined questions • Determined categories • Compared notes • Discussed and defined a single set of categories • Several iterations as we collected more data

  6. Catalog/Database functionality Database Access Gateway Navigation Interlibrary Loan (could be considered part of Known Item) Known Item Library Policies Miscellaneous Research Assistance Specific Information (ala ready reference) Categories – final take

  7. Defining Service points • Two Desks – Reference and Information • For this study, looked at the two desks combined. • Four modes of communication – Chat, E-mail, In-person, Telephone • Undergraduate Library also answers chat; since patrons see chat as a single service, we did not divide out questions answered by different desks

  8. Week One Fall 2001 11/26-12/2 Questions collected by staff for in-person and via telephone Chat and email harvested from software Week Two Spring 2002 3/31-4/6 Questions collected by staff for all modes of interaction Data Collection

  9. Just the facts – mode of communication • 1109 questions examined • Week 1 – 548 • Week 2 – 525 • Chat 19.6% of total (19.3% of week 2) • Email 7.2% (5%) • In-person 51.3% (49.5%) • Telephone 21.8% (26.1%)

  10. Comparison – question type as percent of communication mode

  11. Comparison – question types by mode of communication (all weeks)

  12. Conclusions and Questions • High percent of Known Item questions across all modes of communication. Highest for in-person – why? • Does the choice of mode of communication reflect a pattern of use? Hypothesis: Patrons research from their homes/offices and come into the library for known items. (How to test?)

  13. Conclusions and Questions • Virtual questions for online functions (database access, catalog functionality, gateway navigation). • Research Assistance highest for chat, even though we do not consider this an effective use of chat. How do we respond to this demand? • Overall low percent for Specific Information Implications for training/collections?

  14. Thank you M. Kathleen Kern What Are They Asking? An analysis of questions asked at in-person and virtual service points. 9th Annual Reference Research Forum June 22, 2003

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